By IVES GALARCEP
The U.S. Men’s National Team will play its final tuneup match before the CONCACAF Gold Cup tonight when it takes on Guatemala (7pm, Fox Sports 1).
Jurgen Klinsmann will be trotting out a mostly first-choice lineup tonight as he looks for the right combination to turn to when the Gold Cup begins on Tuesday with an opening match against Honduras.
The U.S. will be entering with momentum after posting a pair of impressive wins against the Netherlands and Germany, and Klinsmann is calling on many of the players who took part in this wins. Mix Diskerud earns the start tonight ahead of Kyle Beckerman, while DeAndre Yedlin gets the nod for Alejandro Bedoya, who projects to be a starter when the Gold Cup begins.
SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match so please feel free to follow the action 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):
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Wondolowski was one of the high points in the game.
The game looked fairly dismal until Chandler scored. I wasn’t confident that they would score in the first half. An own goal by the opposing team doesn’t qualify. Timmy Chandler’s goal was very unexpected but great to see. In my opinion the ref was wrong awarding a PK on which Dempsey scored. The Guatemala defender had no choice but to trip over Dempsey who had fallen down in front of the player. In my opinion “no PK” for that. The reason why the ball even got to that spot was that Wondolowski initiated a sequence of passes that eventually sent the ball over to Dempsey.
and with a name like birgit you would have a commentary like that…why don’t you birgit your way on over to the Guatemalan version of sbi ; )
No, Birgit is All-American. I promise. And Wondo’s mom. Or sister. Or stalker. Or something.
Whatever, she loves her some Wondo. But she’s consistent, whatever. And distinctly Not Guatamalan.
did you watch THIS game? Bradley won that PK… the Guatemalan player knocked him down in the box, hit him with his foot and then dragged his leg across the back of his head, watch the play again in real time, the ref didn’t really give the PK for knocking him down (though he could have), he gave it to him for the that PLUS the deliberate leg drag. in an earlier sequence, the US had a free kick and a US player was next to the GUA wall, the GUA player shoved him down the line and another GUA player pushed him forcibly to the ground…. all on a dead ball, like how dirty can you be??? classless players riddle the GUA team. i feel bad for the respectful ones.
The US player happened to be Lazydore, who embellished the mild push. Of course, I would’ve pushed him too, if he was disrupting the integrity of my wall.
and my bait worked perfectly. I purposely left out the players name to see if you’d somehow jump to attack him. like a slaveshopworker you said ‘how high’ when i said jump. good boy, here’s a doggie treat…
Let’s be honest: The ref eventually awarded the penalty because of the initial foul. I realize you wrote BOTH, but the following is mostly a rant against FoxSports commentary. so bad………
No ref in his right mind forgoes the initial foul and calls a spot kick for someone dragging their leg across another player as they claimed. It was simply a matter of the referee taking way to long to make up his mind. He was slow the entire game. For Altidore’s penalty, he choked on his whistle and never blew it until his linesman bailed him out and awarded it. It was his first international game and it showed.
fair enough
It was a grind, but I am happy with the overall performance. Even Wondo is starting to look like a better option than Antigoal.
-1 and shut up…. ; )
That’s what she said, you know who.
nice….trolling penis these days as well
Zardes = GOOD
+1
Tale of two halves for Chandler. First was poor while second half much better.
please make it stop
Due to my ongoing terrible technical support issues with TWC, I am watching on Unimas. Honestly, it’s quite soothing, even though I only understand 30%
LOL.
My experience exactly. We really should be friends.
I was sitting there watching it on Spanish-language broadcast, understanding maybe one word of three that was being spoken, and feeling inferior.
Why was everyone so pumped before kick-off about this XI? I heard it from TheDeuce, Alexi Lalas and others.
Zusi “gives you chills?” Mix playing that far back? Altidore…? Timmy chandler…? The last two were predictable picks, but by no means should excite anybody. This is coming from a Jozy supporter.
I dunno but I’ll try to answer.
I guess because I haven’t seen Altidore and Deuce up top together in a long while, I think they are great players, and that excited me.
Having been a supporter during the Heath Pearce / Johnny Bornstein left back years, yes Timmy Chandler and Fabian Johnson also get me excited. I think they are solid defenders, at least compared to past US options, and are great going forward from the flanks. Very attacking options.
Mix and Bradley I mistakenly thought might take over with attacking minded possession in the middle, being able to link with Deuce and Altidore uptop and splay around to both the fullbacks and wide midfielders.
And I am a Yedlin fan.
I was glad Zusi was getting a shot, but he wasn’t the reason for my chills if I am honest.
…..
Now, really none of that came true. But the possibilities got me pumped pre-game.
Also we’ve been on a hell of a run, i thought this even better line up might continue.
Oh, Perhaps that is why I was excited about Chandler? : D
Fair enough, Deuce. Thanks for your comment.
Yes- I do like what Chandler offers on attack as well, but his defensive positioning is very errant and his goal (pretty as it was) does not take away from his defensive mishaps unfortunately.
I love Tim Ream. His awareness, decision-making and overall soccer IQ is top-notch. Not many defenders in our pool match it.
I have officially joined the anti-Altidore crowd. He’s got some years left, but he disappoints too often.
And yes he comes through in flashes occaisonally, and may do so in second half, but he is not consistent enough.
I’d join you if I believed in any of the guys behind him, Rubin looks good but he is probably still a couple years away. Zardes for the time being? I don’t know.
Well, he plays all the games all the minutes, so he is bound to have a moment here and there. And, he knows he is Klinsi’s boy.
Judging by your comment, it sounds like you’re looking for a striker to score every half. Nobody does that.
Scoring once every 3 games is a very good striker at the international level. Scoring once every 2 games is a top class player in a great run of form. Anything more than that is Messi/Ronaldo class
Listen to this guy.
You should because he’s right
Thank you for the winning goal against Panama to clinch Gold Cup.
Thanks for continuing to make this website’s comment section nearly unbearable with your trolling
rep +1
+1
This squad has no chemistry.
Well, it’s a proven fact, Antigoal can do no wrong in Klinsi’s eyes.
Well who should he play?
Well 2 years ago we moved Donovan forward and pretty much dominated after that, can we do that again?
I am just not seeing enough from Zusi. All the best attacks down the left side are coming from FJ. By contrast, Zusi looks slow (as he typically does) and his crosses are woeful.
I guess now we see why Davis was suppose to be in the team, just not many left sided players in the US roster.
Well, Guzan is having a good game. Which is something I never imagined saying prior to kick off.
We are not playing up to the line-up on paper, which gave me chills when I viewed it. Glad it’s a warm up, perhaps we are in fact warming up!?
my prediction: altidore will not be on the next WC squad.
My prediction: Klinsmann will take him.
Zusi should be replaced by bedoya, zusi has offered nothing, I think he’s only starting because Bedoya is barely coming off an injury.
Meh, talk about a like for like,
Zusi played in the ball that lead to the Jozy penalty if I recall. He’s also combined well with Johnson.
I was down on Zusi, but he had a good ’45.
Yeah dude, give Suzi a break.
please leave el com…i don’t like zusi so much…but dang you irritate me more…
El Comandante is really annoying. Kinda makes you wanna “smack a ****”.
No more altidore on penalties please, he almost missed one against Colombia and now this one. Bradley or Duece moving forward.
I kind of miss Donovan’s weird rituals and well taken PKs after watching that
Deuce has been no picnic either… and Bradley almost never takes penalties at club or country level.
This could be a serious issue. We have almost nobody who takes penalties regularly for their club. AJ is the only other guy who really comes to mind. After watching the U-20s take a few righteously terrible PK’s vs Serbia, this can’t be discounted. We are already a terribly inexperienced senior side in penalty shootouts.
I second this is a serious issue, because any knock-out game could go to pks in the GC.
USMNT is missing a penalty kick converter. Deuce is not good. I don’t blame a player if the blocks a well-taken PK, but I have seen Deuce take bad ones with Fulham, Tottenham, and USMNT (granted he was never the assgned PK-taker with those teams). I have never seen Bradley take them. I have seen Altidore take good penalty kicks, but I still don’t think he’s the best either. LD was our penalty taker for so long that we never looked elsewhere.
There should really be a list with a hierarchic of the nest penalty takers. Additionally, when I played on club teams, we practiced penalty kicks at the end of every practice whenever we were in a knock tournament. It’s good practice for the goalies and shooters. The list should be drawn from this practices.
Well, the Kit Guy has certainly outdone himself today with those star-spangled jersey numbers…. they are… uh…. can you come back to me?
Why doesn’t jozy put his hand to his chest????? He always does that!!!!
I think I saw him at a flag burning ceremony earlier. But that’s cool. He’s really good at soccer.
The guy makes me puke.
It’s really not a big deal, and people care too much about things in this world that really are insignificant. And no one should give us that “he should be proud to represent his country” because he didn’t put his hand over his heart. Who cares?
Believe me, a lot of us care. That is disrespect for your country, your team mates, your team.
On this, we agree.
Refusing to show homage to your country shows at least subconscious rejection of it.
I don’t like it either. Personally I think the whole gang should sing, too. If you’re going to represent your chosen country, sing for it. Especially since they did you the honor of picking you, and all.
The women don’t have a problem doing that.
Do I love and agree with everything about America? No. But when I show up to represent her, I represent. There is a duty and honor I owe to the country that gave me the freedom I have in my daily life to criticize her.
Personally I think Klinsmann and Herzog should have to sing too. We’re not asking them to march in lockstop. Just…for one minute, while you’re representing your country, act like you’re proud to be doing it, warts and all.
America is still worth at least that much.
While I agree with you that there should not be “patriotism quotas” to play soccer at the national level, or even public displays of affection for the flag (PDAF), prepare to get trolled (PGT).
“A flag is a symbol, and I leave symbols to the symbol-minded”
His heart is with Haiti. I get that…but I wish he could celebrate both.
well, his grandmother is Dominican and he speaks spanish.. he should’ve played for Haiti then… his heart is one thing, I get it… we’re talking about respect, place your hand on your chest.
“we’re talking about respect, place your hand on your chest.”
really?….bruh…. semantics. placing his hand on his chest IS placing it over his heart. do you police any sporting match you watch where people in the crowd don’t put their hand over their heart? relax, Joe McCarthy…