Did Ya See Us On TV, It Was News-worthy

-Gold Cup: As I watched the USA easily beat Jamaica 3-1 on Saturday I made the mistake of calling the Jamaicans a clean team that never plays vicious. Wrong 'em boyo! Two nasty ass tackles should have resulted in two red cards. Instead the first one sent Steve Cherundolo to the hospital to have his knee checked out after Damion Stewart put the flat of his boot straight into the side of Dolo's knee on a slide tackle. It was ugly. Stewart saw a yellow. The second awful tackle came late in the match when Jermaine Taylor tried to destroy DaMarcus Beasley with a slide tackle from the side, taking out both of DMB's legs and flipping him upside down landing on his back. The USA bench exploded with that one, as it happened right in front of them. The ref did not hesitate this time with the red card. After the match Bruce Arena said he thinks Cherundolo will not play again in this Gold Cup. But stranger things have happened. Ben Olsen had subbed on for Cherundolo, and also claimed red for his own grab from behind as the last defender in front of Keller. The game was fairly dull, cuz Jamaica just looked really bad after they gave up an early goal and then failed to convert a PK minutes later. The penalty was awarded after Greg Vanney mildly fouled Ricardo Fuller in the box (a very doubtful penalty if you ask me). But Keller came up with a huge save on Andy Williams. Beasely scored 2 by the way. He looked pretty good. So did O'Brien & Onyewu. Josh Wolff scored the other goal, tipping Beasley's shot past the JA keeper Ricketts. I should also mention that Chris Armas looked pretty damn good when he came on as a sub.
Next USA match is Thursday July 21 against Honduras live at 5pm central time on Telefutura from Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey.
Other Gold Cup quarterfinal scores:
Mexico brought an inferior team and lost earlier to South Africa. It paid the price again yesterday when they lost 2-1 to Columbia and are now out of the tournament. Aaaaaaaaaaah, LaVolpe. When will you learn.
(note: Kenny Arena dropped by to let me know that I have been (like an idiot) spelling Colombia wrong. Yer right, and I thank you Kenny. Who you playing for now anyway?)
Honduras upset Costa Rica 3-2
Panama shocked South Africa 5-3 on penalties after regular and extra time ended 1-1.
The other Semifinal is set with Columbia v Panama also on Thur night right after USA v Hondu on the same field. That game will be shown live on Univision at 8pm central time.
The final is next Sunday at 2pm central on Univision.
-USA U17 national team is in the field for the 2005 World Championship. The tournament will be held in Peru. The draw was made late last week and here is who they will face in the group stages:
North Korea on Sept 17
Italy on Sept 20
Ivory Coast on Sept 23
-Despite earlier reports to the contrary Andriy Shevchenko will not be with AC Milan this week during their US matches due to a broken jaw. Pippo Inzhagi did not travel with the team, Jon Dahl Thomassen was transferred to Stutgart last week, and Hernan Crespo is back with Chelsea, so I have no idea who is gonna be lining up at forward alongside new signing Christain Veiri. The young unknowns will get their chance to shine I guess.
-Real Madrid plays Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center tonite. Its live at 930pm central on Fox Soccer Channel. Madrid beat the Original Chivas on Saturday 3-1 in Chicago.
-Posted on Friday at the Sports Illustrated website, Grant Wahl interviews AEG's Tim Leiweke
-I think this is sad news: Chelsea have bought Sean-Wright Phillips from Man City. When is the dude gonna play? He was better off playing for about 20 other teams. I am sure the money was ridiculous, and how do you turn that down, but what a wrong team to sign with, especially a young guy learning his game.
-Over the weekend Paul reminded me of this story about Damani Ralph in the Houston Chronicle. It's a pretty direct tale of football in Russia as a Jamaican.
-I found it quite interesting to read a quote from Real Salt Lake veteran Jason Kries that after losing to my beloved Minnesota Thunder in the US Open Cup that he felt that, "...this is the lowest point of my MLS career." Funny he said virtually the same thing two years ago (almost to the day) when his then team Dallas Burn was brutalized 4-1 by Willmington Hammerheads. The day after that debacle, Dallas coach Mike Jefferies was fired. I think that was worse than this one, because Willmington is a Second Division team, a level below the Thunder, and Minnesota has beaten or heavily challenged MLS teams in the past. Sorry Jason, but I gotta say that you have been lower. Besides that, you hit 3 against Minnesota. Maybe he just feels sorry for himself. I probably would too.
-MLS Scores:
DC United 3-0 San Jose
Chicago 1-1 Columbus
New England 3-2 FC Dallas
Metrostars 1-1 Colorado
Kansas City 3-2 Real Salt Lake
Los Angeles 2-0 Chivas USA