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Gold Cup: USA vs. Haiti (Match Night Commentary)

USA Crest 

The U.S. men's national team is in Foxborough, Mass. tonight to take on Haiti at Gillette Stadium in the final Group B match for both teams. a win or draw clinches first place in the group for the USA, which has already secured a place in the quarterfinals.

The Americans will look to field a different looking squad as midfielders Freddy Adu and Benny Feilhaber have left the team. With the quarters already secured, look for Bob Bradley to give some new faces looks in the starting lineup.

The USA will take on a fast Haiti team that has shown some flashes of attacking skill in posting a 1-1 record in the tournament.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

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FINAL– The United States will find out on Sunday which team it will face in the quarters. It's opponent will come down to what Panama does against Nicaragua. If Panama wins, as expected, then the two third-place teams in the quarterfinals will be Haiti and either Mexico, if Mexico loses to Guadeloupe, or Panama, if Mexico beats Guadeloupe. In the scenario where Mexico loses and Panama wins, then Mexico will face the USA on Saturday in Philadelphia. If Mexico wins and Panama wins, the United States will face Panama. If Panama ties, then Jamaica would advance and face the United States. Nicaragua is still technically alive but it would need to beat Panama handily to have any chance of qualifying.

That's all for me. Thank you for following along tonight.

Good night.

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FINAL– The tie means the United States wins the group and will face either the third-place team from Group A or Group C. That will be determined by which group's third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals. Yes, there is a scenario where the United States could play Mexico, but they could also play Panama or even Jamaica.

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FINAL– USA 2, Haiti 2. A great and entertaining match for the fans tonight. Sure, there was plenty of ugliness and poor soccer, but both teams tried to attack and we saw some absolutely beautiful goals. What more can you ask for?

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93rd minute– Goal of the tournament. Holdenjust blasted it from 28 yards out, giving the keeper no chance. And for those of you scoring at home, that's two starts and two goals for Holden with the national team.

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93rd minute- GOAL USA!!!!!!!!!! WOW. Stuart Holden with an absolute rocket from distance to tie the game. WOW.

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91st minute– Three minutes of stoppage time.

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88th minute– Clock is ticking.

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87th minute– The Haitian defense is holding up, if only barely.

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85th minute– DAVIES with a volleyed blocked by Haiti for a corner.

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82nd minute– If this score holds, the United States will need Honduras to beat Grenada (likely) in order to have a three-way tie in the group, which would result in the United States winning the group (depending on how many goals Honduras scores tonight.

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81st minute– Beckerman with a yellow card.

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78th minute– Anybody else noticing how strong Davies is on the ball. He's a tank and his combination of speed and strength should serve him well in France.

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76th minute– Cronin blasts one wide from distance. Better passing from the Americans, but they need to come up with a better shot.

Brian Ching is coming in for Colin Clark.

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74th minute– Haitian fans are in full voice here at Gillette Stadium. Surprisin to see this much support. Can the United States find an equalizer?

More Haitian histrionics. We are going to start seeing some phantom injuries now.

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73rd minute– Haiti with an injury. Will we start seeing some El Salvador-like gamesmanship from the Haitians here late?

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69th minute– Who knew R. Kelly played for Haiti?

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69th minute– Davies is oh so close on a breakaway but can't get his shot on frame.

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68th minute– Holden so close, but sends his header wide.

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66th minute– Arnaud has his shot blocked out for another corner.

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65th minute– Jay Heaps lucky not to get a card for a pretty clumsy studs-up challenge.

Davies draws a corner right away.

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63rd minute– There he is, Charlie Davies, coming into the match. Kyle Beckerman also comes in. He's better equipped to handle Haiti's quick midfielders. Look for Holden to move to the right wing to replace Santino Quaranta. Kenny Cooper also exits, and not a great showing by him tonight.

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61st minute– You heard it hear first. Charlie Davies will come in as a sub and he will score a goal. I know, not a big reach, but he's playing so well these days that it would only be fitting for him to score here.

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60th minute- The U.S. midfield moves the ball around well but the Cooper Arnaud forward tandem isn't doing well to take advantage of that.

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56th minute– It's time for the rare triple sub from Bob Bradley. Charlie Davies, Heath Pearce and Robbie Rogers need to come into this match.

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53rd minute– The Jay Heaps homecoming was a nice idea but Heaps is overmatched. He has made Saint Preaux look like a star (and yes, the Red Bulls had Saint Preaux in pre-season camp and passed on him).

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52nd minute– Robles came out way too early on that second goal, but as well as it was hit I don't think it would have mattered if he had been in the middle of the net.

How will the Americans respond?

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49th minute– Mones Chery just hit a blast from distance into the far corner of goal. WHAT A SHOT. And it started with a terrible Heaps clearance. Haiti 2, USA 1.

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49th minute- GOAL HAITI!!! AGAIN

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46th minute– Leonel Saint Preaux schooled Jay HEaps on the flank and sent a cross in to Raymond Ednerson, who headed it home. Quick work by the Haitians.

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46th minute- GOAL HAITI. It took them 46 seconds to equalize. WOW.

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HALFTIME– USA 1, Haiti 0. Americans in control, but Haitians providing a very good test to the U.S. defense. Goalkeeper Luis Robles has had his shaky moments, but stepped up right at the end of the half with a clutch save. Davy Arnaud provided the lone finish on goal and the Americans look well on their way to winning the group (though Haiti does look poised to snatch a point here).

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47th minute– Robles with a clutch save just before halftime as Haiti nearly found an equalizer after Brad Evans was stripped in the defensive third.

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42nd minute– Conrad with a header off a corner that goes high. Americans should be doing better on set pieces.

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41st  minute– I don't want to say Kenny Cooper got schooled by Haiti on that play but he's still looking for his ankles.

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34th minute– Some nervy moments from Robles so far this game, but can you blame him? He's been a pro starter all of one half season and here he is earning his first national team start.

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33rd minute– The free kick barely misses high. Haiti is playing with a lot of confidence now.

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31st minute– Fabrice Noel with a beautiful turn and run at goal, before he's brought down by Parkhurst for a yellow card and dangerous free kick. Haiti is buzzing.

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30th minute– A pair of disputed goal-line plays in a row. FIFA might want to get on that goal-line technology.

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29th minute– Holden hits the crossbar with a shot and it bounces down. There's no sideline camera angle so we can't tell if that went in.

WHOA, Haiti with a shot, but Robles taps it out before it can go in. Haiti is protesting.

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27th minute– Arnaud with the yellow for tugging of the jersey. Here comes Haiti

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24th minute– Javier Aguirre was suspended three games for his clash with Ricardo Phillips in Gold Cup play. The Mexican federation was also fined $25,000.

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20th minute– For those who haven't noticed, Sam Cronin has become the first member of the MLS draft class of 2009 to earn a cap. Can't say it's that surprising that he's the first to get one out of that loaded group.

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18th minute– The Haitians have recaptured off the ball movement and are looking much sharper. The U.S. team must stay organized.

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16th minute– Much better passing from Haiti. We might have a game after all.

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13th minute– Haiti isn't getting any time or space as the U.S. team is applying considerable pressure. The Haitians must be feeling a shock after playing Grenada on Wednesday.

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10th minute– Clark does well to get forward before a rough tackle brings him down. Confident moments from the Rapids winger.

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7th minute– Nice play by Cronin to start that sequence with a perfect pass.

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6th minute- GOAL USA!! And it's Davy Arnaud, off a nice feed from Holden.

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6th minute– Cronin with some good early touches today. He looks very confident.

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4th minute– Clark with a nice shot from outside the box. It's high but it was a good effort.

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3rd minute– Conrad gives up a corner, Haiti takes it short, and we have another corner.

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2nd minute– Conrad has his hands full early on.

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1st minute– We're underway 

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PRE-GAME– The Americans need a win or tie to clinch the group.

The Americans have a team made up of all current or former MLS products, except for Luis Robles.

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PRE-GAME– Okay, I'm back and locked in. We've heard the anthems and are about to get underway. We've got a lively and surprisingly decent crowd tonight. Weather is perfectly cool.

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PRE-GAME– Jimmy Conrad wears the armband tonight. Well-deserved for the veteran.

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PRE-GAME– Tonight's match will mark the national team debuts for youngsters Colin Clark, Luis Robles and Sam Cronin.

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PRE-GAME– You can bet that local Boston College product Charlie Davies will seeing some playing time in the second half.

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PRE-GAME– Here are tonight's subs for the USA: Troy Perkins, Heath Pearce, Clarence Goodson, Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Rogers, Charlie Davies, Brian Ching

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PRE-GAME–  Here is the USA lineup:

———Arnaud———-Cooper————

Clark———————————Quaranta

————-Cronin—–Holden—————-

Heaps—–Parkhurst—-Conrad—–Evans

——————-Robles———————-

As expected, all the players who hadn't played are in the lineup.

Share your thoughts on the lineup. I will be back in a few. I need to take care of some gameday matters.

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Comments

  1. Eric,

    We don’t disagree then. I did not say Ching was his equal, only that his numbers compare favorably with what Bake produced.

    I really don’t see anyone on the scene to replace McBride (Jozy is fine but he is a very different player). I also think the notion Ching is limited to Route One English football is misguided. He originally got on the USMNT because he seemed to work very well with Donovan, who he had linked up with in San Jose. Incidentally, I was talking about Olympic figure skating but, as in diving, to LOOK good when doing that, you really have to be good and strong and have great technique etc.

    By the way, they will never hire you to manage Man U. Or at least don’t be the one who directly succeeds SAF. Leave that for Quieroz.

    Reply
  2. on more thing – can the Holden love-fest take a break? yes, he looked very good in this game. loved to see that composure on the ball. but it was against HAITI for christ’s sake. hopefully he’ll get some minutes in upcoming friendlies against much better opposition to give us all an opportunity to see if he’s the real deal.

    Reply
  3. mssr. greaves,

    your earlier point was using “style” in relation to olympic diving, which in my mind is about LOOKING good. i could give a rat’s ass about how a goal looks, only that it was was completed as intended, or at least close. call that style if you like, but it is certainly different from your earlier assertion, IMO. honestly, i’d prefer to see simple tap-ins versus dramatic bicycle kicks and the like, because that usually indicates good build-up and team play.

    comparisons are great, if proportional. you seemed to have been saying that Ching is equal to McBride. i’d say that’s an absurd statement. if that’s not what you meant you might want to be a bit clearer.

    acting’s alright, but i prefer to keep my feet in the sand…

    Reply
  4. Howard
    spector onyewu demerit boca
    dempsey bradley jones feilhaber LD
    altidore davies

    torres, ching, holden off the bench

    Reply
  5. Eric,

    “its not about style, it’s about technique, composure, skill, and probably a number of other factors.”

    From the online dictionary definition of style:

    “The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed: a style of speech and writing.’

    What you described sounds a lot like style to me. I don’t want to get into a semantic battle. Let’s just say you like your players to score stylish goals and I don’t care if they deflect a rocket from midfield into the net with their groin while falling down on their face. If Ching can do that once every 2-4 games that’s fine with me. It’s his body not mine.

    Of course, I can compare Ching to McBride.

    That is the template against which he,and Casey,Cooper, Altidore and whoever else is around, will be judged against. Who else is there?

    By the way how is that acting career going?

    Reply

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