The Gold Cup Final was played yesterday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Most people at the start of the tournament probably expected a Mexico vs USA final, instead they were entertained with a USA vs Panama final. I like Panama way better than Mexico, so it was good that they made it into the finals. Of course I had to be for my home country USA!! I didn't watch most of the first half because my cousin was over and I was hanging out with him. Unfortunately I did see that Stuart Holden received another knee injury. The young guy has had some serious injury problems these last few seasons. He was finally back and ready to impress, and he was impressing. He's kind of like the Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere of the United States National squad. Anyways I watched all of the second half and we had plenty of chances. Panama looked good, but their offense didn't really kick into gear until close to the end of the game when the United States was getting tired. Panamas defense held tight. I really don't like Joe Corona, but apparently all of our fans do, so he got the start in front of Jose Torres. Finally they took out Corona and put on the wonderful Brek Shea! Shea can pass the ball and he has the right soccer mind, but I guess for a tall guy he is not very strong. He needs to work on the physical side of his game. Panama kind of pushed him around a little, but when they didn't he usually put in a good pass. In the 69th Minute Alejandro Bedoya sent in an amazing ball. Landon Donovan took a wild swing at it and missed it completely, but his dummy move caught the goalie off guard. Then Brek Shea was right there to tap it in. The funny thing is, Bedoya probably would've scored anyway even if Shea didn't tap it in. It looked like it was going in. Anyways, Shea got the goal and later Donavan said something along the lines of "I took a giant swing at the ball and completely missed it". The USA got the Gold Cup win and hopefully this will give them momentum going into World Cup Qualifiers in September!
To wrap up the tournament we'll list some of the players that impressed me the most! Jose Torres and Eddie Johnson really impressed me. When I went to the Semifinals game in Dallas Torres took quick precise touches and made good decisions on the ball. I had always liked Eddie Johnson at Seattle even though he had some rough times. In this tournament he proved that he needs to be on the A Team when World Cup Qualifiers come around! A more surprising player that impressed me was Mix Diskerud. Diskerud is actually from Norway, but I'm glad he decided to play for the US. He seemed to have a right soccer mind like Torres and was always in a good position on the field. He knew where to be, even off the ball making runs. Blas Perez, the FC Dallas man, looked very good. He had some nice assists and some cool goals. Dallas has missed him these last weeks while he's been helping his home country, so now he needs to go lead FC Dallas to the top. Lastly, Alberto Quintero impressed me from the very first group game against Mexico. He's a great winger from Panama and his skill and vision on the ball is of very high quality.
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