Hardware!

The sand of the ocean is still ringing in my ears (not a typo, I got slammed by a wave and am still shaking sand out of various body parts) but we will soldier on.  A good win for the USMNT, a split for the Union and continued activity in Newcastle.


A Trophy Is A Trophy

ROBYN BECK/Getty Images

CONCACAF is a trap for the US - damned if you don't win, discounted if you do.   Screw that - winning the Gold Cup was a key accomplishment.  First of all, you can only win the confederation championship of your confederation - we can't move to Europe.  Second, CONCACAF is not as bad as people say.  Third, I realize Jamaica didn't even make it to the Hex for World Cup qualifying but this group of Reggae Boyz is way better than they were a year ago, when Theodore Whitmore took over as interim manager.  Fourth, yes some of the teams were not at full strength (e.g., Mexico and Costa Rica) but remember the US was without all of their European players (Pusilic, Cameron, Yedlin, etc.).  Let the confetti fall!

After a string of lackluster outings, the US put up two consecutive strong performances.  The 2-0 semi-final win over Costa Rica was a bit of payback for the 0-4 WC qualifier disaster last year.  If I remember right, the US got off to a good start but needed a couple of key saves from Howard to stay level.  Then Dempsey came on to set up Altidore for the first and put the match away with a well-struck free kick.

They also started brightly in the final against Jamaica.  Of course, that can be a little misleading because Jamaica willingly cede possession to the other side and then catch you napping with their speed on the counter.  Altidore's late first half free kick gave the US a 1-0 lead at the break (Question - does Andre Blake, who had to leave the match with a lacerated hand, make the save on that shot?  Miller got a hand to it so maybe Blake gets all of it.  Hard to say and it was a great take from Jozy) but Jordan Morris lost his man on a corner kick and Jamaica leveled things at 50 minutes.  That got Dempsey into the match possibly a little earlier than planned.  US had the run of play for the rest of the match and Jamaica were clearly running out of steam.  Subs Zardes and Dempsey combined to put a ball right on Morris' foot and he buried the game winner in the 88th minute. The sweet finish from Morris is this week's YouTubeableMoment.

So where do we go from here?  Back to the WC qualifiers in September.  For me some of the players whose stock went up in the Gold Cup were Morris, Nagbe, Villafana, and maybe Dwyer.  Acosta was up and down but did show some promise.  Howard is still a force in goal.  If Dempsey is cool with the role of super-sub, that's good.  Altidore got some goals after a long quiet period.  I'll be interested to see how the team plays when they fold the European guys back in. But certainly the best we've been able to feel about the USMNT in a while.


Treading Water

The news is not so good on the local front.  The Union completed its third straight match on a night with the USMNT playing and finally got a win.  Last week's 0-1 loss at Columbus wasn't much fun to watch, though you could argue that an 0-0 draw wouldn't have been a totally unfair result.  The winning goal was a random deflection off of Yaro.  However, when you manage zero, zilch, nada shots on goal, 0-0 is the best you can hope for.

Wednesday's home return against the Crew went a little better.  An early goal provided some momentum and they could have been up 2-0 after Sapong got pulled down in the box.  But Alberg was stopped on the PK.  Did you notice the "discussion" between Sapong and Alberg as to who would take the kick?  According to The Inquirer, before the match Curtin had said Alberg would take any PKs.  You can see Sapong pleading with Alberg to take it.  Bedoya has to come in and tell Sapong to stick with the plan.  Not the best thing to have happening on the pitch but apparently they got things smoothed out at halftime.  Playing a man up for much of the match, and two up at the end, the Union sailed to an easy 3-0 win.  Sapong for his part had a role in all the goals.

But trading wins isn't going to make up ground.  With 13 matches to play, the Union are in 8th, five back of Columbus (with a game in hand) and three back of Orlando.  Not insurmountable but they will need some road wins to cut into the gaps.  Tonight's match (7:30) at Foxboro vs the Revolution  would be a good place to start.  I can hardly bring myself to watch matches at Foxboro; almost as bad as Yankee Stadium as a soccer venue.


Another Signing

On Friday, Newcastle completed the transfer for holding midfielder Mikel Merino (loan with purchase after a year).  He played at Osasuna first, then Borussia Dortmund.  Looks like a decent acquisition.  All the activity so far seems helpful, but mostly in adding depth to the squad - certainly an important step in preparing for the coming season so that when, for example, Shelvey gets suspended, as he inevitably will, we're not shorthanded.  But IMHO, all of this work, which has been done with a very low net spend, needs to be capped off by at least one bigger signing.  I'd prefer that be for a high quality striker.  I keep hearing about getting James McCarthy but the price of $25m (euros, pounds, dollars, whichever) seems like a ridiculous sum to spend on a player of his quality.  Also too, he doesn't help the striker situation.  Still plenty of time in the transfer window.

Either my internet skills are declining or maybe it's too early but I didn't find any good team-by-team previews of the upcoming EPL season.  I did find one betting firm's computer prediction here.  Will keep looking.