The Soccer Thread (Version 7.0)

And one mile away, protesters are battling the police.

 

And your Final 4 for the 100th U.S. Open Cup are DC/Chicago and Portland/RSL

No upsets, was hoping Carolina or Orlando City could knock off a big boy tonight. Fun matches to watch though.

 

Gold Cup roster ...


GOALKEEPERS (3):
Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (8 ):
Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Malaga), Michael Orozco Fiscal (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (FC Augsburg)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Helsinborg), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Joshua Gatt (Molde FK), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Tigres)
FORWARDS (5): Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Club Tijuana), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

 

Goodson and Gooch aside, that's not a very big team. Hope set pieces aren't an important part of Klinsmann's plan.

 

Wondolowski's time is over, especially with Altidore playing well right now. Hopefully, McInerney is the MLS-based striker who can find the net for the national team.

 

Wondolowski carried on the grand tradition of Jason Kreis -- a fine MLS striker who didn't have what it took to succeed on the international level. Sometimes being a skilled poacher just isn't enough. We'll see if JackMac is any different.

Kinda surprised to see Boyd being left out since he barely saw the field for the qualifiers. Maybe he needs more time to find a way out of Austria.

 

England should be forced to watch that penalty shootout every day until the next World Cup. That was a damn clinic.

 

Those PKs were insane. Almost boring how clinical it was. Perfect shots.

When they showed the slo-mo of Pirlo's shot, his face basically makes it look like he was disgusted by how easy it was for him to score.

 

I did think Casillas in particular could have adjusted, given that three of Italy's were pretty much carbon copies. But that's also a product of the takers waiting for him to commit and then slow-rolling to the other side.

 

I felt like I watching Roberto Baggio walk up to take a kick...

I've no issue with the roster. I thought Gomez was injured though.

I am not so sure Donovan is in shape yet. He didn't look good a few weeks ago against the Red Bulls.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing McInerney. You can through Holden onto that as well. When he was healthy, he was a player the USA needed.

 

Although Baggio missed the most important penalty of his life ...