After the USWNT’s triumphant performance earlier this month at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, soccer craze has taken over the States and is bigger than ever. This time around, it is the men’s national team that is making headlines after recently reaching the semi-finals in the Gold Cup in Baltimore this weekend.
The Gold Cup, which is the competition among the different men’s national teams in the CONCACAF that takes place every two years in different host cities throughout the U.S, began earlier this month in the Chicago and is now in its semi-final stages, with the final around the corner to take place at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia on July 26.
The USMNT secured a spot after winning against a weakened Cuban team 6-0, with Clint Dempsey scoring a hattrick. Gyasi Zardes, Aron Johannsson and Omar Gonzales also came through with some goals to add to this weekend's win.
The other clash of the night was between Jamaica and Haiti. Giles
Barnes was able to make a goal early in the game to book put The Reggae Boyz on the schedule to meet with the USMNT, however, Haiti had plenty of possession throughout the game and was able to give Jamaica a challenge till the end. Despite efforts, a lack of accuracy and a final score of 1-0 was able to send Haiti
home and put Jamaica in the semi-finals, who will be playing against the red, white and blue on Wednesday.
contenders were revealed after a series of unexpected events sent two sides home. The night started off with Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. After an impressive game against a favored Mexican side in the group stage last week, Trinidad and Tobago came into the quarter-final match ready. Luis Tejada was able to come through for Panama at the 37th minute and put them with the advantage going into half-time. Kenwyne Jone was able to even things up with a great header early in the second to get extra time rolling in after the 90 minutes ended tied. After a long fought battle by both sides, the match went to penalty kicks, and Panama was able to advance to the semi-finals after defeating Trinidad and Tobago 6-5 in a penalty shootout.
The final match of the night was between El Tricolor de Mexico and Costa Rica. While both sides were aggressively seeking the game changer, Mexico’s offense many times failed to seize the opportunities to close in the win. Many close calls by Carlos Vela, Oribe Peralta and Jesus “Tecatito” Corona and a strong Costa Rican defense set the game to a full 90 minutes with a score of 0-0. After extra time was added, the two seemed to be headed in the same direction as the match beforehand until a controversial call gave the Mexican side the advantage at the 124th minute. Costa Rica’s Roy Miller appeared to push Mexico’s Oribe Peralta in the back and was immediately pointed at by the referee. Mexico’s captain Andres Guardado was able to execute the penalty kick to send his team off to play Panama in Atlanta on Thursday; however, many are still wondering how accurate the call actually was and if poor judgment was what sent the Ticos home.
The results of this weekend’s games lead us to a United States versus Jamaica, and Panama versus Mexico semi-final round. The winners of each set will meet for the final showdown in Philadelphia. With the surprises this cup has brought us, there’s no telling who will win the gold this time around.
