Gold Cup: USA 2, Canada 1

A complete domination by the American side. Canada claimed to have the equalizer in stoppage time, but two players were clearly offside on the play -- which came shortly after Michael Bradley was sent off on a horrid call. (And, sensing that SJ.ca will argue that ESPN says they weren't offside, here's how the WWL is wrong, again.)

"A player in an offside position is penalized if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by interfering with play, interfering with an opponent or gaining an advantage by being in that position."

Suck failure.

But here's some progress for the Canuckles, who dipped to 0-7-6 against Team USA since 1985: They scored against the US for the first time in their last seven matches.

 

And amazingly enough, 98 percent of the population of Canada didn't give a shit.

 

Oh, I'd say if the score was reversed, some would have been sprinting to their keyboard.

 

From what I saw on the replay . . . . . I thought he was onside by a half step.

I've only seen it once, and reserve the right to see it again and change my story. But right now, I think the call was bogus.

 

They play soccer in Canada?

 

Lots of people play soccer in Canada. Quite a few of us, as Flash points out, don't really care and wouldn't even if Canada had won this game. Personally, I would have thought, "oh, that's nice," if I had bothered to think anything at all about it.

My reaction might have been a tiny bit stronger if Canada had managed to beat an actual soccer powerhouse or even a country where soccer matters more than it does here - the USA fails on both counts.

 

My reaction might have been a tiny bit stronger if Canada had managed to beat an actual soccer powerhouse or even a country where soccer matters more than it does here - the USA fails on both counts.

When on earth would Canada ever play a "powerhouse" in a game that counts for something? They can't even make it through CONCACAF qualifying to play big boy soccer. Losing in Gold Cup semis is the best they can do.

Suck it, Canada.

 

Hey, we just jumped 38 spots to 70th (!) in the FIFA World Soccer Rankings.

Tied with Venezuela.

Let's map out the parade route.

 

The M.Bradley red card was the right call. The second he went down for the slide and brought his leg, and studs, up, he was getting sent off.

Canada was actually one of the better teams in this tournament. Mexico has the history but they havn't been playing well enough. Canada gave the US a game towards the end (more so than it should have been) but this happens sometimes.

Hume, the Canadian striker brought on late, essentially scored two goals for Canada. He put one in on the US and he saved the Dempsey header while on the goal line.

The final offsides call was also correct. The ball came off of Onyewu. When Onyewu touched it, both Canadians were offsides.

It wasn't a bad game at all. The US should have put in some better players, but I'm thinking that Bradley wanted to save them for the Final against Mexico on Sunday. Here's hoping for another 2-0 US victory!

 

Pastor, I think the call was right, but it doesn't matter where Hutchinson was standing when Onyewu headed the ball. It matters where they were when the Canadian tried a long shot/pass. It seemed Hutchinson was barely offside at that time.

Bradley's red card was deserved. Reckless tackle. Hejduk's yellow card was not warrented, and DeRosario should have been sent off for the head butt.

Canada wasn't bad. But I felt the US defense was horrible. Just horrible.

 

Where is Sunday's final?

 

Same field as last night: Soldier Field, Chicago. It is listed as already being sold out.