The U.S. Men's Under-23 national team returns to action tonight in CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying with a showdown against Canada (7pm, Universal Sports Network/mun2).
The Americans opened the tournament with a resounding 6-0 victory against Cuba, while Canada struggled through a scoreless draw with El Salvador. A victory against Canada would automatically qualify the United States for the tournament semifinals. A win tonight would also mean the United States could clinch first place in Group A with a draw against El Salvador on Monday.
The United States made two changes to the lineup that faced Cuba, with Juan Agudelo out of the tournament with a torn meniscus suffered in the Cuba match. Teal Bunbury will replace Agudelo and take on the same country he once represented on the youth level. Jorge Villafana replaces Kofi Sarkodie in the U.S. lineup.
SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight's match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Tonight's commentary is after the jump):
Sorry, after he was part of the team that defeated italy then. and hamid played well against mexico, surely you saw that?
In fact you cannot be offside directly from a corner kick. Only on the subsequent touch from an offensive player. Like a head on or something.
bs that is just a bunch of BS. Bring them on!!!!!!!!!!
You know what reminded me of US teams of old? This US U23 team. Why? Because they are crap!
Dear USA,
You are not nearly as good as you think you are. Actually, you are quite ordinary and your players are extremely overrated by your own fans. Your coach is not a tactical genius. Trying to play like Barcelona is embarrassing for you, you cant pull it off with your crappy, unskilled players.
Why would I trash Shea in regards to the Mexican game. I was sitting right behind Hamid, I didn’t see Shea on the left…. Hhhmmm, I wonder why I didn’t see Shea on the pitch.SMH
I did bash Shea in regards to his play against Cuba. His two assist didn’t do anything for me. It was decent play against a weak team. I’m not impressed. I said Gyau should have started on the left. He by far is superior to Shea in all aspects of the game as of now.
Por favor, papa!
Thanks for the info. I did not realize. Would it have killed him to read a couple articles on the teams beforehand, though? Too bad there isn’t any way for you to access information from your computer, something like an interconnected net of computers where people could share data and information, hmmmmm?
It’s not an excuse, just common sense. You shouldn’t read too much into any single performance especially for young kids who are bound to be inconsistent and especially in this format. I understand the need to vent but some of the trashing I have read is kind of ridiculous. I am still very high on a lot of these kids and the coach. I am certainly disappointed but the talent level is still a solid step up from the last generation, I think.
Seriously, be careful what you wish for. The best case scenario would be for Mexico to also fall somewhere and then face Canada. We need our best in the olympics. I truly believe Mexico beats us if we play them again.
Yes. Mexico would rather face anyone but us but they have a different team now with Cortez, Aquino, Cubo Torres, and Pulido than when we beat them. I am seriously concerned.
I think it is almost impossible to be off sides on a corner kick. Everyteam puts a defender on the post. I have never seen it called before.
HA! Where did you get your information from?
Mexico did not call in any of their foreign based players, don’t you read SBI?
You were surprised to hear him speak perfect english?
What the hell were you expecting?
Would be an incredible story.
Are you twelve?
We are playing vs El salvador, not exactly world beaters.
If we cant beat El Salvador then we had no business going to the Olympics.
It is neither the time nor the place for perspective! Take your reasonable, measured thinking elsewhere! It’s not wanted here! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
EJ currently at Seattle? Has played 15 minutes of soccer the past year.
On another note, Corona said that he had a dream where we faced Mexico in the semifinal and he scored the winning goal. I sure hope that he is Corona Nostradamus.
Yeah I was surprised to hear him speak perfect english.
Mexico will be better this time. They have all their starters and Porter will probably start Shea over Gyau and Burnbury over Boyd.
Mexico called in Davila the kid that signed for Chelsea, and he makes them better wiwth his movement off the ball. He is mexicos Agudelo, a kid that makes smart runs.
I still believe that the US can win again vs Mexico but this time it will not be as easy as last time.
From the comments on this board it seems everyone thinks this is a single-loss elimination tournament.
Yes we had a stinker of a game. Yes the road to London, in all likelihood, just got a lot tougher.
However, this tournament is far from over. I look forward to seeing how this team responds Monday. That game will be a true test of these young men’s character.
yeah call me names. He cnat go 1v1 against a defender thast as fast as him.
I said this in the past and I will say it again right now Gyau is better than Shea.
i feel so terrible, Porter sucks, horrible nigthmare
Lots big words being thrown around here tonight not to mention all the knee jerking and overreactions. USA had a bad game Really bad. The first half looked ok and looked like they could turn it around in the second. Of course they came out even worse. Mistakes were made by both coach and players but I believe the best teams learn from these experiences. And after all that sometimes a good butt kicking loss is the best lesson for a tired team.
I’m not gonna give up on my team. Let’s see what happens Monday.
The Canadian team had 7 new players put in for this match from the El Salvador one. I think Porter mis-judged what was needed. He probably thought to put the best possible lineup out against Canada, get the win and then rest players for the El Salvador game. In hindsight, he should have used many more fresh players for this game.
Lol I dont even know what to say. He likes to catch high balls at his chest lol
Good , bring Mexico on. We’ll beat them like we did two weeks ago.
Ricky B. Hatin, we’re all frustrated. But if your gonna take it out on the players, learn how to phrase proper criticism.
And he definitely can’t go 1v1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6udVFBFDy3w
Canada’s strategy was more wait for Hamid to be an idiot and Opara to fall down on set pieces.
Horrible team we need morales and corona play together
Re-read my post again, in particular the second part.
All I know is that he has bricks for hands. If you are quality you make a mistake but you cant keep doing them over and over again.
Watch him when he plays for DC. He doesnt come out for the crosses and he doesnt hold on to the ball. Those are 2 huge no nos when you are as big as him.
Chances to qualify are now less than 25%, just hope they play well.
His a good player and I agree with some on this board that it will take time like Dempsey to get to the next level. But for now, he isn’t a Gyau type player.
Gyau should have started and Corona left on the field.
Everyone has an off night. You should have trashed shea and Caleb after the mexico win and the cuba win as well, but you didn’t.
We may play better and make it to London, we may not. But I’m not sure we won’t until I see the results. And I didn’t hear you predicting a loss to Canada either.
He likes to catch high balls at his chest. Is there a coach involved with this?
Corona speaks perfect English. What are you talking about? Don’t forget that most Latinos in this country speak two Languages in the household. Most of us can’t dominate two languages at the same time perfectly.
Go learn to speak a second language you one speaking language troll.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just beat them not too long ago and dominated.
Exactly !
Mexico would destroy that team today, just with energy.
Energy yes. Skill absolutely not. RemindeD me of the US teams of old. Goals off the corners and set pieces.
We did two weeks ago. Duh… Everyone has off nights, apparently except you. This could be motivational, or not. We will see. But we definitely CAN beat them, even after tonight.
How soon we forget. Didn’t we just beat Mexico not too long ago? Yes. Give me a break!!!!!Mexico playing the U.S.is Mexico’s worst nightmare.
It looks like the US will now have to win a one-off against Mexico to earn a trip to the olympics. Canada is virtually guaranteed to beat Cuba meaning they finish with 7 points. Even if we beat El Salvador, the most points we can get now is 6. So we will finish 2nd at best and thus have to play the winner of the other group, which will almost definitely be Mexico.
To be fair on the Body one, i thought that is how I saw spelled on screen when he subbed in. If so, the entire CONCACAF broadcast team had that one wrong.
Those of you who said Shea is a better attacker than Gyau, well, you have just witnessed that he lacks a bit with or without Corona and Mix running the show. Gyau once again the few touches he was able to get he almost created something out of nothing. Gyau should have half moer touches than he did. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Corona for him in the middle.
Porter’s tactics failed miserably. This wasn’t the game to try a Shea and Gyau in the corners. Especially if you are only going to distribute the ball to Gyau 4-5 times. Gyau and Adu should have been the attacker on the wing with Corona and Mix running the show.
We lost to Canada. Embarrassing. We were the team that went out there looking for the game, and lost to a Canadian team who decided they were going to wait for the counter. SMH.
lol
I happened to admire Adu at U-17. He was better than Pato then. And now? A complete bust! There is some deficiency of character, I guess. I wouldn’t make him a captain of my team for a million bucks.
Again, we’ll face Mexico in the Semis. You think we’ll beat them after tonight?