Gold Cup Final Review

And would ya look at that, a come from behind win against Mexico.

Here’s a nice little factoid that should make you smile:

Sunday’s win was the Yank’s first ever come from behind win over Mexico.

Dominance over CONCACAF - check.

With all that said, what a nerve racking final. All I can remember thinking after Guardado nearly pulled a Beasley, but still managed to sneak it under the bar, was “Crap, we put all of our eggs in the Gold Cup basket and now we go to Copa America with Drew Moor and Herculez Gomez…sick summer.”

But none the less Commander Bob rallied the troops at the half and our guys showed the determination needed to defeat a flying team like Mexico. They minimized their mistakes at the back and did better to maintain posession in the midfield with the help of a Benny Feilhaber that finally found his soul in one of the urinals at halftime.

Big Ching decided to start throwing his body around (which he should have been doing all tourney), and sealed with a kiss from Scumbag Sanchez, Landy tied the match with what is becoming his now daily pk. With the score ‘Cakes became tied for the all time scoring lead in US Men’s National Team history with free kick specialist Eric Wynalda. But there was a match to be won.

Ten short minutes later, it happenned. The end to end play was blinding and after a nice set of attacks by the states, a corner was won. One deflection later, Benny Feilhaber stepped up to the bouncer and unleashed a rip of a curling volley that not even the dominant Sanchez could get to. The rest is history.

With that strike, and overall a great summer so far, Benny Feilhaber is slowly but surley cementing his spot in South Africa. With his ability to play a defensive midfield role or just flat out step up and win a game like yesterday, he is becoming one of the centerpieces of Bob’s midfield as the Yanks continue the journey towards South Africa in 2010.

The rest of the match featured some more nervous moments and a few botched chances by the US to close it out (that means you DMB and Tight Shirt Twellman), but in the end the whistle was blown and the trophy stayed in its rightful home.

Next up: Copa Argentina.