This Is Not My Beautiful Game; This Is Not My Beautiful Team

Musical Accompaniment for this post Courtesy of the Talking Heads

I watched all or part of three matches on Wednesday.  By the end, I was ready to take up curling.


Waiting for Godoy

Joined the Costa Rica-Panama Gold Cup quarterfinal match at about 50 minutes with the score 0-0.  What I didn't know at the time was that earlier Panama's Anibal Godoy had pulled down a Costa Rican attacker in the box but was not penalized.  Neither team offered much of an attack and the match was seemingly drifting towards PKs to get a result (no extra time for the quarters or semis in the Gold Cup, straight to kicks).  But in the 77th minute Godoy sent a beautiful header off a free kick into the net; the problem was that it was his own net.  The header was awesome - check it out here.  
Textbook case of karma.  That was it for the scoring and Costa Rica is on to the semis.


El Salvador Not So Toothless

Eric Lichaj puts US up 2-0

Moving to the US - El Salvador match, things were not much better even worse.  The US were mostly disorganized on defense and couldn't string together two passes in the attack.  El Salvador had them on their heels.  Tim Howard saved Eric Lichaj's butt after Eric delivered a classic hospital ball off a back pass and there were several other breakdowns but fortunately no goals.  Late in the half Michael Bradley delivered a flat free kick into the box that Omar Gonzalez slightly redirected for the opening goal.  Minutes later, Lichaj - holding up his run like an experienced striker even though he's a right back - took a clever and perfectly weighted pass from Clint Dempsey and nutmegged the keeper for a wholly misleading and arguably undeserved 2-0 half time lead.  Lichaj's poor celebratory head-first slide into the corner presaged the greater ugliness to come in the second half.

After the break, the US continued to have breakdowns and errant passes so a third goal was unlikely.  Fortunately, El Salvador seemed more interested in physical play and simulating fouls than scoring.  Just an ugly half that featured Henry Romero giving Jozy Altidore a purple nurple (there's an expression I never expected to use in my adult life, much less a soccer blog).  Not satisfied with that assault, Romero bit Altidore minutes later.  I am not making this up.  Neither infraction was spotted by the referee or his assistants.   Neither side cloaked themselves in glory but the US does advance to play Costa Rica in the semis.

I can see a number of line up changes for the Costa Rica match.  Hedges was not too good at center back and Morrow (who had showed well in earlier matches) wasn't much better at left back.  Gonzalez and Lichaj had some bad moments but also some decent stuff plus they each got a goal.  Arriola wasn't awful but can't seem to get a shot on goal.  So we might see Besler, Villafana and McCarty get starts.


Playoffs?  Playoffs?

Wednesday's depressing trilogy with the beautiful game concluded with the Union's underwhelming 1-2 loss to Montreal.   As I said last week, a draw wouldn't be good enough for a side with playoff aspirations so the defeat suggests we are back in Jim Mora territory with respect to the Union's playoff chances.  Totally forgettable - all I remember is that the Union goal was an absolute gift and that the winning goal came off some confusion/misplay by Wijnaldum and Elliott.  Missing Bedoya, Pontius, Blake and Herbers didn't help the Union cause.  Just a bad night and a blow to the playoff chances.


The Other Side of the Bracket

 The other Gold Cup quarterfinal matches were much more watchable.  Canada spotted Jamaica two goals, got one back but came up short in a 1-2 loss; Andre Blake did some decent work in goal for the Reggae Boyz.   The speed of Honduras gave Mexico all they could handle but El Tri came away with a 1-0 win that featured good up and down the field action.  Despite six yellows and a few dust-ups, I didn't find it as chopped up by constant fouling as the US-El Salvador match.  Maybe because it was more competitive, maybe it was better refereeing but it was just more fun to watch.


In Praise of the Fourth Official

Yeah, I know they don't actually have the pressure of making the big calls, but after watching the Honduran manager blister the fourth official for a non-call by the referee, I have to give these guys some love.  Checking the Laws of the Game to see the specific duties of the fourth official we find:

- Taking sh*t from managers and players

Look it up if you don't believe me.


Action on the Tyne

A veritable flood of new signings by Newcastle.  First they added winger Jacob Murphy from Norwich; Murphy hasn't played above the Championship level yet but did appear for England's U21 team this year. Shortly after, they added full back Javier Manquillo from Atletico.   Manquillo is listed as right back but can play both sides.  I'll maintain that they still need a striker, especially with the departure of Daryl Murphy.  Mixed feelings about Murphy moving on; he's probably not EPL level at this point in his career but he saved Newcastle's butt a few times last season.

It was reassuring to see the Magpies reel in some targets.


Hoping for Better

So Saturday will be another USMNT/Union double header.  The Union is on the road to take on the Columbus Crew, who fell out of the top six last week.  Still an important chance for the Union to gain ground on a side ahead of them.  That's at 7:30.  Later that night (10 pm on FS1), the US takes on Costa Rica in the Gold Cup semi-final.  What to expect?  Who knows.  I'm not planning for a pretty game.  The other semi - Jamaica vs Mexico - is Sunday night at 9 pm on FS1.  The final will be on Wednesday at 9:30 on FS1.

21 days to go for the EPL season, 23 if you're Newcastle or Tottenham.