Caleb Folan has
earned his first MLS red card. That didn't take too long,
Jaffa.
USA 2-0 Jamaica
So we are through to the semifinals of the Gold Cup. It was a good result for the US against a surprisingly good Jamaica side. Bob Bradley opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation today with Donovan starting from the bench. We suffered a big blow in the match as Jose Altidore pulled a hamstring early on - he'll probably miss the rest of the tournament. This leaves us
very light on strikers.
The good: Altidore's replacement, Juan Agudelo, looked very good and provided a very solid assist for Dempsey's goal, besides forcing a good save from the Jamaica keeper earlier in the match. He is still raw but very promising. Dempsey was sharper in this match, and finally got his goal, deftly rounding the keeper. We need him at his best going forward. Aston Villa's Eric Lichaj looked solid at left back.
The bad: USA is still terribly wasteful in front of goal. We create enough chances to win matches, even against tough opposition, but our finishing is criminal. Donovan and Dempsey have been a little off-form, Altidore has been OK but not great and is now out.
The other major problem is a classic USA characteristic - we start matches slowly and always end up on the back foot. This, and our profligacy in front of goal, are glaring weaknesses that better teams like Mexico and Honduras may brutally expose.
We'll know our semifinal opponent in a few hours. Either El Salvador or a grudge rematch with Panama.
EDIT: Panama beat El Salvador on pelanties, so it's a rematch on Wednesday.
...and that's the England u21's out of the tournament
All 3 games were absolutely awful!
The reports I read did not have much positive to say about Jordan Henderson, though Phil Jones seems to have satisfied the masses.
