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USA vs. Panama: The Pre-Game Tailgate

The U.S. men's national team can qualify for its fourth straight CONCACAF Gold Cup Final tonight (7pm, Fox Soccer Channel) by beating Panama in a rematch of the group stage match Panama won, 2-1, eleven days ago.

The Americans are coming in confident after a comprehensive 2-0 victory against Jamaica in the quarterfinals, while Panama comes in off a grueling penalty shootout win against El Salvador.

Both teams are missing top strikers, as Jozy Altidore is sidelined by a hamstring injury and Panama star Blas Perez is suspended due to a red card.

SBI will be providing a pre-game chat to discuss tonight's match so please join us. Feel free to share your own pre-game thoughts in the comments section below.

Enjoy tonight's match (Pre-Game Commentary is after the jump):

Comments

  1. Marden, did you watch the world cup? we had so much injury compensation going on at that tourney it’s a wonder we got as far as we did.

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  2. I think Landon is on the way to past it. His biggest strength was his speed and it’s obviously on the downside. However, him riding the bench isn’t a big deal to me seeing how well the group played last time out.

    Think it was a bad idea to start Jones as you know he will now miss the final due to yellow cards.

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  3. You could try futbolsapiens.com, its more of a blog type news website like SBI. Also Record.com.mx is closer to marca.com type website.com

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  4. Thanks Mike.

    I need it for a backup plan since severe thunderstorms are heading my way within the hour and I may lose my satelite feed.

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  5. Hoboy. I understand not starting a guy who had an hour of sleep the night before. But just benching your best player for no obvious reason?

    Perhaps there’s something physically wrong with Donovan that Bradley knows about and we don’t. If not, this is just retarded.

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  6. I will be the last one to give Bob Bradley any slack. But we are playing without at least five guys who would have likley been starters on this team if they hadn’t been hurt. Gooch, CD, Steart holden, Jozy, and Landon. If we win tonight Landon will most likley start Saturday. Still, just saying.Injuries are part of the game but we have had what seems a larger incidence lately

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  7. true.. but if we lose today and bradley left donovan on the bench?? i think that will create to much backlash and bradley will be out

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  8. Well, it appears Bob finally grew a pair and now he can’t resist flaunting it. To be honest I was wondering to myself this week if iy was possible we played better without him sometimes, but i thought i’d never see it like this. He is a great player, but we do play differently. I cannot say I am not giddy with Bob doing what he wants, and though Landon is a great player, I do enjoy him getting some humble pie. Maybe he will play harder. Don’t forget, he could have been hungover last game which could have influenced this as well.

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  9. Mediotiempo is the equivalent of what you’re asking for, BUT the best of the best is Martin del Palacio! A mexican reporter living in Barcelona who really knows his s&it! He submits an editorial piece to Mediotiempo on Thursdays, he has his own website and you can follow him on twitter both in English and Spanish.

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  10. I always thought the two players Bradley would never bench no matter how they played were Donovan and his son. At least now we know it’s just his son.

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  11. Pretty surprising to me. I know Bedoya and Kljestan played a good game against Jamaica and you shouldn’t mess with a good thing but its Donovan.

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  12. Which US team is going to show up tonite? The one that played Jamaica or that other one? Surely the US can be Panama especially on home soil.

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  13. Sorry for multiple posts, but in case anyone is interested, the FIFA ethics committee report on Warner was leaked:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/22/jack-warner-corruption-fifa-report1

    Fifa will face renewed pressure to reopen its investigation into the former vice-president Jack Warner after a leaked report from its ethics committee alleged he had been told last week that it was quite likely he was, at the least, “an accessory to corruption”.

    The full report of the ethics committee also finds that there was “comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming” evidence that the presidential challenger, Mohamed bin Hammam, tried to bribe voters, and that Warner helped facilitate this.

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  14. Ives: I just noticed there’s a typo in your link to “L’Equipe (France)” on Top Soccer News Sites on the right hand side of the page. Should only be “L’Equipe” not “Le’Equipe”

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  15. Hey,

    Is there a Mexican equivalent to soccerbyives? I mean, the Germans have kicker.de; the French have L’Equipe; the Russians have sovsport.ru; the Spanish have marca.com. What would the best source for Mexican news be? I’m curious to see the Mexican view of the Gold Cup thus far.

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  16. Really looking forward to tonite’s match. Panama is having a bit of a Cinderella run rigt now, so it will be interesting to see what role that plays in everything. Tonite we answer teh question of did Panam win round 1 or did USA lose it.

    Either way I’m hoping for a fight where USA comes out on top. COYY!!!

    Reply

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