The U.S. threw away a two goal lead and lost to Mexico 4-2 in the final of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup in front of more than 93,000 at the Rose Bowl. Mexico will now represent CONCACAF at the Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013.
The USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead after only 24 minutes with goals from Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan. But Mexico followed with four unanswered goals to earn its second straight Gold Cup title.
Mexico deserved to win. They were the best team in the tournament and they were the best side last night. The U.S. had no answer to Mexican stars Giovanni Dos Santos and Javier Hernández. On a night that Mexico’s stars shinned, the U.S. stars of Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan were average at best.
When the U.S. went 2-0 up, it did not feel like they would be strong enough to hold Mexico at bay for the remaining 66 minutes. Up until the U.S. goals, Mexico had dominated possession and Hernández had uncharacteristically missed two golden chances to score.
Giovanni Dos Santos was absolutely brilliant lat night and the U.S. had no idea how to stop him, or even slow him down. His goal in the 76th minute was a touch of class. It was a goal that even Lionel Messi would have been proud to score.
A lot of the blame for the U.S. defeat will be put on the U.S. backline which is bad, especially after Cherundolo had to leave the game after just 11 minutes with an ankle injury. But to me, the U.S. problems were in midfield where Jones and Bradley were overrun and they could not stop Mexico attacking. It is telling that the U.S. began play this month against Spain and ended it against Mexico. In both games, the U.S. midfield was completely overrun. It is one thing to dominate possession against Canada or Guadeloupe. It is another thing to do that against really good player. And the U.S. midfield isn’t fast enough or athletic enough to compete with the really good teams.v Jones and Bradley are not the answer in the U.S. midfield.
So what’s next for the U.S.? The World Cup draw is in a month’s time and the U.S. will get through the initial group stages easily. That means they have 12-18 months to sort out the team before the level of opponents in CONCACAF improve. Hopefully by then, the U.S. will have found someone to partner Stuart Holden in the middle of the U.S. midfield.
In case you missed the game last here, here are the highlights.
