(07-23-2017 10:09 AM)Volkmar Wrote:  Tough audience here. The USA is 8-0-5 since Arena took over, but it seems like most of you have very few positives to say. The USA will never be a Brazil, Argentina, Italy, or Germany on the world stage. Never. Football, basketball, and baseball have a vice grip on athletes here. Granted, our nation is third in the world in population, but culturally, I don't think we'll ever see the fervor for the sport here that is evident elsewhere.

So in the bigger picture, aren't wins and losses what really matters? Whether or not we play with style and flair is trivial as long as we put the ball in the back of the net. Mexico are well known for their style and flair, but have never even reached a World Cup semifinal in their entire history. And as chiefsfan said, winning ugly is prototypical American soccer anyway. Lighten up a bit and let's see how long we can maybe keep this unbeaten streak going.

I think we'll face Mexico in the Final, and it should be real interesting to see how we fare since we drew them 1-1 in Mexico City recently. FIFA World Rankings are to be taken with a grain of salt, but Mexico is currently #16 and we're #35. Costa Rica is #26 btw. It wasn't the prettiest game yesterday, especially in the first half, but we had more possession (57% vs. 43%) and outshot them, so it was a solid outcome. We started this tournament in shaky fashion with our 1-1 draw against Panama, but have since won 3-0, 2-0, and 2-0, and I'm looking forward to the next game.

About that...

Jamaica scores a late Free Kick Goal in typical Jamaican style to stun Mexico 1-0 and advance to the Gold Cup Final against the US in Santa Clara Wednesday. 2nd straight Final for Jamaica. 3rd straight Gold Cup overall in which a team outside of Mexico or the US made the final.

On to your other point. This is Mexico's B side. This is not the 16th best team in the World, not even close. Had we faced them, we'd have been favored to win.