I knew the team the US was putting on the field didn't have a chance. When I recognized almost as many names on the Argentine roster as I did on the US roster, I knew we were toast.

But when Eddie Johnson got a breakaway and all the Argentines could do was run over him like twin moving trucks in the penalty box, I had a spark of hope. When we held them to one goal all the way to halftime, I had so much hope.

So it turns out everyone's first instincts were right. With a roster full of Champions League players, Argentina put three past a USA defense that just wasn't up to the task of stopping a world-class team.

Paraguay, by the way, scored five against Colombia. It will be interesting to see PAR-ARG. USA-PAR, I'm a little afraid of. 

I don't expect the United States to advance out of this group.

Mexico fans can correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet they wouldn't trade tonight's win over Brazil for a win over the USA last Sunday.

In a game sponsored by the movie Transformers, I wouldn't have been more suprised if Castillo had transformed into a robot spider right there on the pitch. His goal was superb. He took a pass, tapped it up to evade one Brazilian, and never let it hit the ground before he hit it again to arc it over the keeper. It was even more impressive in slow motion. Then they scored a clinical second and went into halftime ahead 2-0.

Brazil got it together and was the better team the second half, but they couldn't beat an incredible performance by portero Guillermo Ochoa. It wasn't quite Shaka Hislop scale, and still a little short of Kasey Keller's '98 blanking of the Brazilians, but it was close.

I get the feeling Mexico wants a chance at Argentina, and not in some friendly dubbed a rematch.

Also, Chile beat Ecuador 3-2, a minor upset in that Ecuador has been to the last two World Cups and Chile hasn't been since '98.

I know we just finished the Gold Cup, but it's time to move on to the next major international tournament: the Copa America. It's the world's oldest continuous international tournament, and the third most prestigious, after the World Cup and the European Championships.

The Copa America is the championship of South America. South America has only 10 countries*, and it takes a multiple of four to make a good soccer tournament, so they invite guests to bring the number up to 12. The U.S. and Mexico essentially have standing invitations, but the U.S. hasn't made the trip since 1995, the year before Major League Soccer launched with a summer season. The 1995 Copa America was important for me; I saw all the USA games, mostly in a dark bar in a strip mall on the outskirts of Houston with a satellite dish. That bar was nearly empty for USA-Bolivia, and completely packed for the brilliant Brazil-Argentina game. I went back several times over the next year, mainly for USA World Cup qualifiers in central America, which criminally were sometimes not televised except on Spanish pay-per-view. Anyway, the USA did phenomenally well in 1995, beating Argentina and Mexico on the way to losing to Brazil in the semifinals.

As I write this, Venezuela (traditionally the whipping boy of South American soccer) is beating Bolivia 2-1. The Venezuelans jumped on two bad giveaways by an otherwise superior Bolivia. Earlier, Peru upset Uruguay with three precise goals to none.

The marquee game of the opening round is Wednesday: Mexico vs. Brazil, 5:30 on Telefutura, channel 31 on Bright House cable in Bakersfield. As Max Bretos said during the Gold Cup final Sunday, Mexico plays to the level of its competition, and there's no competition like Brazil, even if it will be missing a few stars, as it often is for the Copa America. (When you're favored to win every World Cup, what's a Copa America? Most of the other countries take it more seriously than Brazil does, although Brazil often still wins.)

Speaking of the Gold Cup final, AP reported today that the Gold Cup final drew 41 percent more households than the Stanley Cup final decider. They're not strictly comparable, and let's not pretend this means more than it does. The draw here was Mexico, and Mexico vs. the U.S. was the second biggest draw.

The U.S. gets its first game in the Copa America on Thursday, against Argentina. The psychology here will be interesting. Will Argentina want to avoid its mistake of 1995? Or will they again look past the U.S. to perceived tougher opponents? And how will the U.S., missing several stars, do against such tough competition?

It looks to be a good tournament. A Mexico-Argentina game or Brazil-Argentina game in the later rounds will be the ones to watch for.

* French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana are culturally more aligned with the Caribbean than South America, so while they're physically on the continent, they're futbolitically part of the Caribbean zone of CONCACAF, the confederation that also includes North and Central America.

First half:

I knew we were in trouble when I saw Mexico's first real attack. A Mexican player had the ball and was facing a line of four Americans. But on either end of that line, there was a Mexican. The Mexican with the ball passed to the right, and that Mexican crossed to the guy on the left. They missed, but it was like the Americans were static obstacles.

The U.S. attack was pretty great at times, but it's the American attack, the gritty chaotic bursting attack. I love it, but it's hard to not feel it's inferior to the Mexican on-the-ground attack, which you can see evolving as it comes. Especially when the Mexican attack results in a goal from a practically unmarked player just before halftime: 1-0 Mexico.

Second half:

The U.S. defense is a mess. I enjoy our messy offense, but a messy defense is not as good. We're trying to repel them in a disorganized way, and it just leaves them to take close shots on us.

I am unconvinced by the foul that resulted in the penalty. Ching fell onto the Mexican player as much as the Mexican clipped him. But, I'm biased, and I'll take it. Landon put it away, wiping his forehead in celebration. 1-1, and the Americans are on.

Feilhaber with a 22-yard rocket for the lead! 2-1 USA! Ching with a fantastic run, slips his defender, dodges the goalkeeper, a gentle lob... and off the post! And the Mexicans, at 78', pull in Cuathemoc Blanco. Donovan and Beasley alone against Sanchez... off the crossbar!

Mexico turned it up at the end, but the U.S. matched it. This was the game of the tournament.

It sure would be great if these two teams played again next month in the Copa America.

Mexico was, front to back and start to finish the superior team. At the same time, props to the Little Caribbean Overseas Department of France That Could for putting on a good fight. The game was one of the better ones I've seen this tournament.

In about the 35th minute, a Guadeloupe player went in for the ball, his leg so high that his knee got caught ON TOP OF the Mexican player's shoulder. The momentum brought both of them to the ground. It was amazing, and somehow didn't merit a card. Perhaps a referee out there can comment, but as a fan, a challenge that high (and no, it didn't get to the ball) seems awful cardworthy,

Guadaloupe's goalkeeper turned back some good chances for Mexico, and he came within a respectable distance of stopping the ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC 35-YARD SHOT that was Mexico's goal. Pavel Pardo had too much space. Never mind the defenders between him and the goal; he cued up the shot and took it, a straight floater into the upper right. Sometimes the announcers wait a second before adding the -azo onto the gol. Not this time.

El Gran Final is el superclasico: The United States vs. Mexico. It should be a good one.

 

Between the Bakersfield Planning Commission and the Space Shuttle Atlantis, my day job kept me from watching the Gold Cup semifinals sooner than on a 27-hour delay.

Let's go straight to the headline: That should have been 2-2 after regular time. The game was 2-1 for the USA, and Canada scored a goal, and it was called back on a bad call. Canada's players surrounded the referee, as if that ever helps, but what else can they do?

The game was sharp, but got occasionally brutal. Bodies flew! The TV couldn't show the replay of Bocanegra's tackle enough; his Canadian victim did a full 270 flip.

There was a sequence around the 50th that was fantastic. Johnson got a breakway, slipped it to Wynalda, who whiffed. Whiffed! He turned around and got it back and tried to distribute it, but Canada had a counterattack and within seconds it was up to Frankie Hejduk to get in the way, saving Kasey Keller from certain doom.

Frankie also scored the only run of play goal. Dude, Frankie Hejduk is still playing.

Landon Donovan is now at 33 all-time goals for the USA; Eric Wynalda, the record holder, has 34. But I feel like attaching an asterish to Donovan's score, just because of the sheer number of penalties he's scored. Maybe, solely for the purpose of meaningless chart chasing, we should only count goals scored in the run of play and from set pieces; the penalty is too easy, especially when DeMarcus draws the penal and Landon takes it.

With a man advantage for the entire second half, Mexico couldn't score. It took overtime before they could put Costa Rica, down to eight men by the end of the game, away. Mexico looked like a mess. (I only saw the second half and overtime, because I made the mistake of trusting AP to know what time the game was. Sigh.)

Meanwhile Guadaloupe, not even really a country* but part of France, dispatched what I'd thought was the second coming of Honduras without much trouble. They looked crisp and solid, and their goals were good.

Guadaloupe has beat Honduras, who beat Mexico. If the transitive holds, Guadaloupe will be in the final. Of course, more often you get circles, and Guadaloupe can only be so lucky for so long. Or can it?

 

 

 

I had to work today, so watched the first half of the USA-Panama game before work and then recorded the second half.

Panama's goal was awfully sweet and made me very nervous. I was generally pleased with the U.S., except I'd like them to put more than two past Panama.

Canada's beatdown on Guatemala doesn't worry me at all, frankly. Canada will fold to the United States, and then the U.S. will beat whoever wins tomorrow's Costa Rica-Mexico game.

 

So there are two great games on Sunday. There's Mexico vs. Costa Rica at 3, available on just about any TV anywhere. But then there's also Real Madrid vs. Mallorca at noon, available on GolTV, which is on Dish Network.

This is a big game. If Madrid wins, they win La Liga. And it's the last game with Madrid for both David Beckham (going to L.A.) and Roberto Carlos (going to Fenerbache in Turkey). I'd like to watch. But I don't have GolTV at home. (I did once; it's a great station to have, and it allowed me to watch the Australia-Uruguay and Trinidad-Bahrain WCQs.)

So, my fellow Bakersfieldians, where would you recommend I go? What sports bars or Mexican restaurants have the Dish Network package that includes GolTV -- it's the many-many channels one -- and would show a game from Spain?

Let me know, and I'll see you there. i'll be the guy with the shaved head and the Real Madrid Champions League jersey (which I bought in Bilbao at a store for 50 percent off because it was the previous year's design).

You may remember the Honduras of 2001, the one that came thiiiis close to making it into the 2002 World Cup. This Honduras must be the same team. Mexico, on the other hand... what is the deal?

The quarterfinals are now set. Mexico v. Costa Rica has to be the biggest match, and Mexico's form suggests the Ticos will be putting El Tri on a plane back to el D.F. The United States should have an easy time with Panama, in a rematch of the 2005 final. Honduras should have no trouble with Guada-"just happy to be here"-loupe. And Canada v. Guatemala... whoever wins will lose in the next match, so I'll find something better to do than watch this Saturday morning.  

Tonight's U.S. Open Cup game was no classic, but it wasn't too bad either. I missed the first goal by Portland, and arrived just before the second goal. (I hold the Kern County Board of Supervisors responsible.)

Portland was up 2-0 within 20 minutes. Like I said, I missed 99 percent of the time before the second goal, so I can't really say whether the Timbers took the pedal off the metal, but I certainly suspect it.

Still, you have to credit the Brigade players. A 2-0 scoreline is one you expect from teams in the same division, not two divisions apart.

I didn't make any USL games in 2006 -- I spent the first part of the season getting ready for the World Cup, the middle part watching the World Cup and the end part mourning that there was no more World Cup -- so I didn't recognize any of the Portland players. I'm sure they're all bad people, though.

In other news, my TV just told me that it's exactly three years from today that the 2010 World Cup kicks off. That's one thousand ninety-six days.

Real life has gotten in the way of watching soccer this weekend, so I've caught just snatches of the Gold Cup games this weekend.

(Quick note for the uninitiated: the Gold Cup is the continental championship for national teams for our region, CONCACAF, which is shorter than saying North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It has no impact on the World Cup, but the winner apparently gets a berth into the 2009 Confederations Cup, a kind of alternate World Cup that really ought to be eliminated but at least now is used as a World Cup practice by the host country, which will be South Africa in 2010.)

I could deal with the groups in order, but never mind, let's skip to the good part, Group C. Mexico lost to Honduras, who two days earlier had lost to Panama, who play Mexico Wednesday. The math is way too complicated for me this late, but I think it's possible for Mexico not to advance at all. If that happens, Hugo Sanchez should just assume he's fired. It's also possible to see a USA-Mexico match in the quarterfinals. Now just watch Cuba pull an upset against Honduras. Wednesday night is going to be fantastic.

Tuesday night is only about positioning. Even if Guatemala and El Salvador both pull of huge upset victories, the USA is guaranteed a spot in the quarters. Trinidad isn't technically out. Frankly, I'm going to get more excited about the Bakersfield Brigade Open Cup match than the USA match. (I will be TiVoing the USA game, though, so I hope the Brigade staff don't try to be helpful by telling us the USA result.)

Group A is over, and Canada won despite (*snicker*) losing to Guadaloupe. Note that this result, for me, is less about glorifying the Caribbeans than making fun of the Canadians. I think Dwayne De Rosario is one of the most exciting players in MLS, but if I ever happen to be at a game where he's playing I'm going to yell, "Look out, it's Guadaloupe!" First, I'm going to have to learn to pronounce "Guadaloupe." It looks French, so I don't know how to deal with that e on the end.

What really matters in the Gold Cup, of course, is the USA-Mexico match. Let's hope Hugo pulls his team together so it's not in the stupid quarterfinals.

Well, Mexico sure took it to the Iranians. That was nothing like the match last year in Germany. Mexico won easily, 4-0, with a goal in the second minute to start and a brace close together at around 80.

My favorite part was the circling run Mexico did around the box at the 78th minute or so. The shot was nothing, but it was clear that Mexico was just playing with the Iranian defense.

Perhaps someone who knows Mexican soccer better than I (or who watched the game and understands Spanish) can weight in with some better insight.

There were two surprises in Euro 2008 qualifiers this weekend. Bosnia got an upset win over Turkey, 3-2. Turkey placed third in the 2002 World Cup and then failed to qualify for 2006, losing on away goals to Switzerland, who went on to give us some of the most stultified soccer ever. (Seriously, retreating into the Alps may be a good way to defend your country; it's an awful way to play soccer. Neutrality doesn't mean not bringing a forward.)

And Denmark battled back from 3-0 down to Sweden to tie the game, only to have a fan rush and attack the referee with minutes to go. The game was abandoned, and UEFA is going to have to decide. I say they should declare it over at 3-3 and then penalize Denmark a point. Three points, which is the common penalty these days, is way too harsh. But in an environment as tight as Euro qualifying, that point could make all the difference, if Denmark ever gets close to sniffing distance of qualification. Also, I thought Denmark was all calm and measured and Lutheran. This is more a throwback to Hamlet-level crazy.

Wednesday doesn't feature any big games, but there's sure some drama in those groups. Portugal is in a dogfight with Serbia for the second spot in Group A; Ukraine and Scotland are hot on France and Italy's heels in Group B; and England and Spain are both on the outside looking in in their respective groups. Have a look at the standings <a href = http://www.uefa.com/competi... here </a>; the top two in each group go straight into next summer's tournament.

I'm torn about the USA's play in its 4-1 win over China today.

On one hand, the young team showed some exciting inventiveness and some of the push-through-it spirit that is the best part of the American style of soccer. (If only every player were like DaMarcus Beasley.)

On the other hand, the team showed a lack of discipline, form and polish. It was a messy team that any team with a decent defense will be able to shut down.

We're heading into the Gold Cup. Winning the Gold Cup means either beating Mexico or beating the team that beat Mexico. And either way, it's going to be harder than beating China.

China, by the way, looked good through the first half. They certainly have improved since 2002, and I suspect they'll have a good shot at qualifying for 2010. Sure, they collapsed at the end, but they'll get better. And I suspect that young team is what we'll see in the Olympics next year, too.

I recorded Mexico-Iran; I'll watch that probably tomorrow.

Friday's game at Wembley Stadium was fantastic. If you have a chance to catch the re-air, stop reading this post and do that instead.

It had all the quality of a competitive game, without quite the intensity. And Beckham, wow! I generally think he's overrated (no player is worth his money and hype, not Ronaldinho, not Zidane) but he put in a number of good plays, including the free kick that led to England's second-half goal.

Joe Cole, the guy who scored what was the best goal in the World Cup until Maxi Rodriguez did it better, put in a great game. I've always thought Wes Brown was not quite national-team worthy, but he slipped within minutes of coming on, almost giving up the equalizer.

Brazil played well, having a goal disallowed in the first half on what seemed to be a bad but difficult call. (I had to go back with slow-motion several times; it would have been a miracle for the linesman to get that right.) When they slipped behind England's defense at the very end of the game, it was not that big a shock.

The game ended tied at one apiece. Brazil faces Turkey later in another pre-Copa America game; England goes on to try to salvage its Euro 2008 qualifying hopes.

I know I said I was going to talk about the international game, but this is too big to ignore.

The local PDL team, the Bakersfield Brigade, is hosting a U.S. Open Cup game against the Portland Timbers.

I'm a big fan of the Open Cup. Don't tell my bosses, but back in '96 I faked sick to get off work early to drive to a Monday night Open Cup game in Dallas. I've been to Open Cup games in eight stadiums in four states, from games pitting semi-pros against each other to the 1997 final in Indianapolis.

What makes the Open Cup so great? If you know soccer, know that it's the American version of the FA Cup. If that means nothing to you, here's the short version: The Open Cup is a tournament that runs at the same time as, but separate from, the soccer leagues. It is open to any adult team in the country. Any team. There are no rules to guarantee that the winner is a top team in the top league. The only thing keeping Mario's Pizza from winning the trophy is every other team in the tournament.

And it's single-elimination soccer, which makes for great drama. The potential for upsets is huge, and sometimes it happens. Just a few years ago, a team in the PDL -- the same league as the Brigade -- upset the Dallas Burn of MLS. That's a fourth-division team taking it to a first-division team. It can, and does, happen.

Now, I don't expect the Brigade to pull this off against Portland, mainly because it will be their third game in four days, all under the Bakersfield sun. But even if I didn't have an undying hatred of Portland (I just moved here from the Seattle area), I'd be cheering for the Brigade to fell the Timbers.

The game is Tuesday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Bakersfield Christian. It's going to be awesome.

Ever wonder if maybe nations should solve their problems without war, but with some sort of sporting contest? Well, they'd pick the one game that unites the world, and Brazil would be the world's only superpower.

This blog is about soccer, mainly the international variety, the kind that pits nation vs. nation on 110 yards of grass.

A few notes about my predilictions: I like the international game best. Yes, I know that the superclubs are eclipsing national teams as the top level of quality soccer in the world. I still prefer the romance of Brazil vs. Argentina to the money-driven superstar accumulation that results in Chelsea vs. Milan.

Which is not to say I don't follow the club game. I watch the Champions League and I pay some attention to MLS and La Liga -- back in the '90s, when I lived in Texas, I was a Dallas Burn season ticket holder, and I've seen Barcelona play on two continents (and North America isn't one of them). I don't pay much attention to the Premiership or the Mexican league, but I invite comments about them.

There is a pair of international matchdays coming up, and there are some pretty good matches on TV -- all of which are friendlies. The action starts today with Brazil v. England. Saturday is USA v. China and Mexico v. Iran, both at 5 p.m. I'm a USA fan, but there's no question Mexico's game is going to be the better match, so I'm torn. If either was on FSC I could rely on the endless reruns, but it's ESPN2 and Telemundo, so maybe I'll just channel-flip.

For my money, the best game of the week will be Tuesday's Brazil-Turkey friendly. The two games these teams played in the 2002 World Cup, and then their game in the 2003 Confederations Cup, were all fantastic.

I'll post later on the week's Euro 2008 qualifiers, none of which are on TV in Bakersfield but which could be interesting to follow anyway.