Sunday, June 19, 2011

U.S. lose first ever Gold Cup group stage match

Clarence Goodson attempts to fly away from the embarrassment.

A week after losing 4-0 to Spain at home, the U.S. lost a Gold Cup group-stage match for the first time ever. It was nowhere near as bad as that match against Spain and if the referee was different or the U.S. converted one of their great scoring chances late in the match, the result against Panama (currently ranked 67th by FIFA) could've been different than the 2-1 loss that is was. But it was a loss. And that's becoming a familiar result for the U.S.

Going back to the loss to Ghana that knocked them out of last summer's World Cup, the U.S. have won just two of their last 11 matches (over South Africa and Canada). When Bob Bradley had his contract renewed for another four years after that loss to Ghana and the loss to Brazil that followed, USSF president Sunil Gulati attempted to justify the decision by saying, "In the end I came to the conclusion that the experience and the record, the work over the last four years, overcame any issue about staleness. We can overcome that."

Apparently not.

Immediately after the U.S. were eliminated from the 2010 World Cup, I wrote that being coached by Bob Bradley finally caught up to this team. If he makes it to 2014, it will be an amazing feat. It might also make a few people cry.

Photo: AP

Moon Bloodgood Kristin Kreuk Molly Sims Monika Kramlik Lacey Chabert

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