This tournament is so well renowned, and deservedly so, that it's at the semi-finals and I've yet to see it mentioned anywhere on Juventuz. So here's a token thread on it, as I've been following this rather farcical international cup tournament thus far.
So who's in it? CONCACAF teams of course - North and Central America, including the Caribbean. This year that includes Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and USA. But several years back they also started inviting interlopers... Brazil, etc. This year, it includes Columbia and South Africa as the invited guests.
Mexico has largely dominated this competition. But as a reflection of this competition's stature, a number of Mexico's internationals from the Confederation's Cup sat this one out. Mexico surprisingly lost their first match to South Africa, but then won their group by defeating Guatemala and Jamaica.
So the quarterfinals were held this weekend... some of the highlights.
USA 3 - 1 Jamaica
All DaMarcus Beasley for the US. Even give credit to him for the shot deflected in by teammate, Josh Wolff, for the first goal. Keller also made some killer saves, including an early PK. This was never a contest. USA plays the winner of...
Honduras 3 - 2 Costa Rica
After taking a pretty stunning 3-0 halftime lead, Costa Rica showed guts and fight in this one. I was wondering if I'd see another comeback in the vein of Liverpool- Milan in the CL Final, but Honduras locked down defensively for the last 10 minutes and held on for the win. They next face the US.
Columbia 2 - 1 Mexico
What a strange game. Columbia pulled the upset, but Mexico again looked like a vulnerable side without it's usual cast of characters. What was wild was the 40-meter game winner by Columbia's Abel Aguilar. He barely made it to the ball around a defender near the touch line and just flicked it in a giant arch, Hail Mary style, towards the goal. Mexico's goalie, Moises Munoz (no Oswaldo Sanchez), was well off his line and not expecting it, and the ball cleared under the crossbar and landed firmly in the middle of the goal box. One of the wilder shots I've seen all year. Columbia faces the winner of...
Panama 1 - 1 South Africa (Panama 5:3 on PKs)
Defensive lapses in poor offside trapping lead to both regulation goals. This one seemed headed for PKs 20 min before the end of regulation. Panama keeper, Jaime Penedo, was key... as he effectively blocked two shots. One was rekicked as a result of what looked like Penedo getting a step off of his line in advance of the kick... which seemed rather tame given the three steps Jerzy Dudek got on Pirlo in the CL final this year.
So it's Panama-Columbia and USA-Honduras. Looks like a USA-Columbia final, IMO, which could be interesting...
And yes, I've decided that Pablo Ramirez is my favorite announcer in all of world football. Some think he's absurd (and he most definitely is), but the Univision man is the master jazz riffer of play-by-play football commentary. How that guy can shake the rafters with his goal-calling excitement, immediately drop it 20 levels to make a five-word restrained sidebar comment, and instantaneously pick up where he left off in his fully animated Tarzan-like yell is pretty incredible...
Univision is already showing TV commercials for the 2006 World Cup, as they're covering all games again. I'm psyched. Since 1994, I will never go back to brain-dead English commentary again. Latin America has football announcing hands-down over the rest of the world.
So who's in it? CONCACAF teams of course - North and Central America, including the Caribbean. This year that includes Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and USA. But several years back they also started inviting interlopers... Brazil, etc. This year, it includes Columbia and South Africa as the invited guests.
Mexico has largely dominated this competition. But as a reflection of this competition's stature, a number of Mexico's internationals from the Confederation's Cup sat this one out. Mexico surprisingly lost their first match to South Africa, but then won their group by defeating Guatemala and Jamaica.
So the quarterfinals were held this weekend... some of the highlights.
USA 3 - 1 Jamaica
All DaMarcus Beasley for the US. Even give credit to him for the shot deflected in by teammate, Josh Wolff, for the first goal. Keller also made some killer saves, including an early PK. This was never a contest. USA plays the winner of...
Honduras 3 - 2 Costa Rica
After taking a pretty stunning 3-0 halftime lead, Costa Rica showed guts and fight in this one. I was wondering if I'd see another comeback in the vein of Liverpool- Milan in the CL Final, but Honduras locked down defensively for the last 10 minutes and held on for the win. They next face the US.
Columbia 2 - 1 Mexico
What a strange game. Columbia pulled the upset, but Mexico again looked like a vulnerable side without it's usual cast of characters. What was wild was the 40-meter game winner by Columbia's Abel Aguilar. He barely made it to the ball around a defender near the touch line and just flicked it in a giant arch, Hail Mary style, towards the goal. Mexico's goalie, Moises Munoz (no Oswaldo Sanchez), was well off his line and not expecting it, and the ball cleared under the crossbar and landed firmly in the middle of the goal box. One of the wilder shots I've seen all year. Columbia faces the winner of...
Panama 1 - 1 South Africa (Panama 5:3 on PKs)
Defensive lapses in poor offside trapping lead to both regulation goals. This one seemed headed for PKs 20 min before the end of regulation. Panama keeper, Jaime Penedo, was key... as he effectively blocked two shots. One was rekicked as a result of what looked like Penedo getting a step off of his line in advance of the kick... which seemed rather tame given the three steps Jerzy Dudek got on Pirlo in the CL final this year.
So it's Panama-Columbia and USA-Honduras. Looks like a USA-Columbia final, IMO, which could be interesting...
And yes, I've decided that Pablo Ramirez is my favorite announcer in all of world football. Some think he's absurd (and he most definitely is), but the Univision man is the master jazz riffer of play-by-play football commentary. How that guy can shake the rafters with his goal-calling excitement, immediately drop it 20 levels to make a five-word restrained sidebar comment, and instantaneously pick up where he left off in his fully animated Tarzan-like yell is pretty incredible...
Univision is already showing TV commercials for the 2006 World Cup, as they're covering all games again. I'm psyched. Since 1994, I will never go back to brain-dead English commentary again. Latin America has football announcing hands-down over the rest of the world.
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