United States Soccer

Originally Posted by mexitucky

You're missing a midfielder. I think that he is really trying to get the US to play out of the back. He's going to sacrifice a ton of defense for a little offense. Of course, our Center Backs have looked slow, so maybe he's trying to get more athletic.

Ha. So I am. There's this guy named Landon Donovan I'd like play up one side in the four-man midfield, sprinting forward at times almost like an offset striker to join Gomez up top.

Originally Posted by mexitucky

I think that he is really trying to get the US to play out of the back. He's going to sacrifice a ton of defense for a little offense. Of course, our Center Backs have looked slow, so maybe he's trying to get more athletic.

That's probably about right. I thought Cameron handled himself well in his last call-up and has earned the right to get a bag of urine thrown at him as a starter at Azteca. I also thought Fabian Johnson definitely earned his spot in the last round of call-ups and as far as I'm concerned, the left back spot is his to lose.

I will have my crow medium well. Love staying in the Mexicans heads. Walls of Jericho have been breached!

I simply can't believe what I just watched. Unbelievable win for American soccer.

So far, Klinsman has defeated Italy and won at Mexico. Bob who?

Okay so a Mexican guy scored the 1 goal for the USA to beat Mexico?

A "Mexican guy" didn't score the goal. Michael Orozco Fiscal was born in Orange, California.

Originally Posted by Wireman

A "Mexican guy" didn't score the goal. Michael Orozco Fiscal was born in Orange, California.

Works for me.

I really thought that this would be Torres' coming out party. It wasn't. You can see in little bits and pieces that he has that chance to the distributor that the US really needs, but it's way too far and few in between. He was completely taken out of the game again.

Incredible match last night, especially defending. Howard was awesome as always, US will be hurting once he hangs it up. Mexico seemed to dominate the ball the entire match but the US kept them out of goal. Very nice play inside the box on the goal, good run, good find, good back heel, good finish. Really proud of the way they looked last night. Now I would just like to see them hold the ball a little more on offense but that will come. If not, then eventually your not going to let the other side control the ball that much and leave the pitch with too many wins. None the less, great all around performance on defense last night in one of the most hostile environments imaginable.

Originally Posted by mexitucky

I will have my crow medium well. Love staying in the Mexicans heads. Walls of Jericho have been breached!

And that was a Mexico side with 8 of its 11 from the last World Cup. I'm with you, but I've rarely had crow I've been so happy to eat.

Originally Posted by dolamite

Incredible match last night, especially defending. Howard was awesome as always, US will be hurting once he hangs it up.

Don't underestimate the talent we have at keeper. We've had a nice string from Friedel to Keller to Howard. There's some serious goalkeeping being done by guys like Bill Hamid, Sean Johnson, Nick Rimando and Brad Guzan.

You're absolutely right about the defense. I thought Geoff Cameron had a HUGE night at center back and I think we've really found the future there. Same with Fabian Johnson, who did as well as could be expected playing out of position and trying to stay with Guardado. As a unit, they couldn't have done much better. Through much of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. couldn't hold anyone scoreless and last night they blanked El Tri in the Azteca. Astounding.

Interesting TV news today:

The TV rights to all remaining U.S. away matches in the 2014 World Cup qualifying cycle have been purchased by BeIN Sport. It's currently available only on Dish and DirecTV. In the last year they've bought up the U.S. broadcast rights to Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A and all the South American World Cup qualifiers. They're why those of you that actually watch haven't seen any Italian league games on Fox Soccer and why you won't see any Spanish league games on ESPN3.com this season. They're making a big play to push Fox Soccer for those dedicated viewers. It won't happen since FOX has secured the rights to World Cups in 2018 and 2022 and several more years of UEFA Champions Leagues, but they've definitely made a move.

Home qualifiers will still be shown on ESPN and they failed to secure the rights to any potential game at Mexico, presumably because ESPN is still willing to shell out the cash for what will be the Yanks' biggest international fixture in 2013.

This isn't great, but it's WAY better than the pay-per-view wall these games were originally supposed to be behind. In theory, I can now at least go to a sports bar somewhere and catch the games at Jamaica in September and at Antigua and Barbuda in October.

Originally Posted by Getslow

Interesting TV news today:

The TV rights to all remaining U.S. away matches in the 2014 World Cup qualifying cycle have been purchased by BeIN Sport. It's currently available only on Dish and DirecTV. In the last year they've bought up the U.S. broadcast rights to Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A and all the South American World Cup qualifiers. They're why those of you that actually watch haven't seen any Italian league games on Fox Soccer and why you won't see any Spanish league games on ESPN3.com this season. They're making a big play to push Fox Soccer for those dedicated viewers. It won't happen since FOX has secured the rights to World Cups in 2018 and 2022 and several more years of UEFA Champions Leagues, but they've definitely made a move.

Home qualifiers will still be shown on ESPN and they failed to secure the rights to any potential game at Mexico, presumably because ESPN is still willing to shell out the cash for what will be the Yanks' biggest international fixture in 2013.

This isn't great, but it's WAY better than the pay-per-view wall these games were originally supposed to be behind. In theory, I can now at least go to a sports bar somewhere and catch the games at Jamaica in September and at Antigua and Barbuda in October.

What happens to Gol TV? Is that their parent company?

Originally Posted by mexitucky

What happens to Gol TV? Is that their parent company?

Gol TV is an independent broadcaster. I assume they'll continue with their broadcasts of the South American professional leagues and the Bundesliga.

BeIN Sport is owned by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.

Michael Bradley starts and plays all 90 for Roma. That's a good sign for him. I didn't get to see any player ratings though.

^ He was great at Chievo Verona all last year. I think he's found a good place for himself in Serie A.

He had a heck of a pass to set up Roma's tying score in added time.

Originally Posted by mexitucky

He had a heck of a pass to set up Roma's tying score in added time.

You can just see him set it up at 1:20. Roma's first goal was pretty incredible as well if you rewind back to about the 45 second mark.

Roster announced for the qualifiers against Jamaica on Friday and next Tuesday:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur), Herculez Gomez (Santos)

Not a lot of surprise in this. No Donovan, but he's been nursing an injury so no real surprise there. Also, it's very weird not to see "(Fulham)" next to Dempsey's name.

These two games are huge and if the USA can walk out of Kingston with a win in Kingston on Friday night then turn around and beat them again on Tuesday in Columbus, we'll have a huge leg up on the rest of the group as we head for the last two match days of the third qualifying round in October.

Just read in a tweet that the USA has never won a World Cup qualifier in Jamaica; four draws in four attempts. But, the USA did just get a win in Mexico City for the first time and I hope that's a harbinger of more great firsts to come...