Tag: men’s national team
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U.S Soccer’s super streak comes to end

by Soccer America

Until its 4-1 loss Thursday night against Argentina in the Copa America, the U.S. men’s national team was undefeated — 10-0-1 – since Bob Bradley took over as head coach in December. The USA’s last loss was more than a year ago, the 2-1 defeat to Ghana at the 2006 World Cup. The U.S. women are undefeated for more than a year. Coach Greg Ryan‘s team is on a 43-game unbeaten streak — 24 of those games came in the last 12 months, which means that before the men’s Copa loss, U.S. men’s and women’s national teams were 31-0-4 over 365 days.

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Argentina leads with Messi and the Monsters

by Paul Kennedy

Alfio Basile knows something about winning at the Copa America. He coached Argentina at the South American championship twice, and it won both times, in 1991 and 1993. He is downplaying, however, any comparisons between those teams and his current team that opens play in Group C against the USA on Thursday in Maracaibo, saying it will be difficult to play at the level of those teams. But with a team that includes Lionel Messi and Hernan Crespo in attack, Juan Roman Riquelme in midfield and Carlos Tevez probably on the bench, Argentina will be formidable.

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Underdog USA brings some bite to Copa

by Ridge Mahoney

The much-maligned roster taken by Coach Bob Bradley to the Copa America is designed for long-term benefit, not short-term results. With 15 of the 22 players chosen based in MLS, and many eligible to compete as U-23 players in the Olympic soccer tournament next year, getting out of the group is a realistic, if difficult, task. It is not the main objective. Yet failure to do so, with two of the three third-place teams advancing, would be a disappointment. They need a win and a tie, plain and simple. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney rates the U.S. squad, position by position …

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2007 Copa America TV Schedule

by Soccer America

The 2007 Copa America continues Wednesday with two games, including the showdown between defending champion Brazil and 2007 Gold Cup runner-up Mexico, which will be shown in prime time on Univision, reflecting the huge interest in the tournament in Latino communities across the country. For the complete Copa America TV schedule …

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USA-Mexico game is third most-viewed sports event in Univision history

by Paul Kennedy

The Univision broadcast of the USA-Mexico Gold Cup final was third most-viewed Spanish-language sports telecast of all time with 5,340,000 viewers, according to the “fast national” ratings of U.S. households from Nielsen. Only last summer’s Mexico-Argentina match at the World Cup and February’s Mexico-USA game in Arizona had a larger audience on Univision. Last Thursday’s Mexico-Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup semifinals was viewed by 4,024,000 persons age 2+ on TeleFutura, making the most-viewed program of any kind on that network.

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Building on the Gold Cup victory

by Ridge Mahoney

Capturing the Gold Cup may not mean much beyond the far-flung boundaries of CONCACAF. Of the regional titles first comes the European Championship, then the Copa America, with the Gold Cup, Asian Cup and African Cup of Nations trailing in their wake. But for a team and program in transition, and a head coach unbeaten yet still unproven in the minds of many, parading a golden garden planter around Soldier Field to a largely Mexican audience will more than suffice. More than three weeks of training and competitive play, of sharing rooms and meals and bus trips, lays a foundation for the future.

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USA sends young squad to Copa America

by Soccer America

[ROSTER] The USA, participating as a guest team in the Copa America, the South American championship, for the first time since finishing fourth in 1995, is sending a young, inexperienced squad to Venezuela, where it opens on Thursday against Argentina. Sixteen players on the 22-man squad have 10 caps or fewer and 14 are under age 25. Uncapped players on the roster are Herculez Gomez, Drew Moor and Marvell Wynne. For the roster …

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USA ousts Canada, welcomes Mexico

by Ridge Mahoney

This U.S. team insists on winning dangerously, but it does keep winning. Whether by external forces or by its own design the USA is finishing matches in the bunker, not in the driver’s seat. Not for the first time in this Gold Cup did the Americans score early, assume control, and then scramble frantically to preserve a victory that seemed be a formality. From Chicago, Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney reports on the 2-1 semifinal win over Canada, which sets up a U.S. Gold Cup final clash with archrival Mexico …

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Riquelme heads Argentina’s Copa America roster

by Paul Kennedy

[COPA AMERICA COUNTDOWN] Less than a year after leaving the Argentina national team, midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme is back. Riquelme, who led Boca Juniors to the 2007 Libertadores Cup title, has been included in Argentina’s squad for the Copa America, where it opens against the USA next Thursday. Midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, who had been recalled by Coach Alfio Basile following an absence of more than two years, was named to the Copa America roster. Also in the Copa squad is veteran Javier Zanetti, who also missed the 2006 World Cup. For more on Argentina and its roster …

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Tiny Guadeloupe shocks Honduras to set up date with Mexico in Gold Cup semifinals

by Paul Kennedy

Jocelyn Angloma, the 41-year-old former French international, did it again, scoring his second goal of the Gold Cup to help tiny French department Guadeloupe knock off Honduras, 2-1, and advance to the semifinals, where it faces Mexico on Thursday at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Once again, Mexico put on a subpar performance, but it escaped from Houston’s Reliant Stadium with a 1-0 win in overtime over Costa Rica, which finished the game with eight players. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium, Canada cruised past Guatemala, 3-0.

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Bradley, Adu and Altidore head U.S. U-20 World Cup team

by Soccer America

United States U-20 national team coach Thomas Rongen named the 21-player roster that will represent the U.S. at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada June 30-July 22. Rongen’s squad features 14 pro players, the most ever for a U.S. Under-20 World Cup team. It includes Michael Bradley, who is playing for the senior national team at the Gold Cup, Freddy Adu, who has already played in two U-20 world championships, and Josmer Altidore, the youngest player on the team at age 17. For the complete U-20 roster …

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Panama aims to end American hex

by Ridge Mahoney

Twice in the recent past Panama has stretched the United States nearly to the breaking point. Saturday at Gillette Stadium (4 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, Univision) Panama will get a chance to finally snap the American hex against it in the first big competitive test of the U.S. national team under Bob Bradley. The U.S. is 4-0-2 against Panama and has won the last four games by shutout. Yet there have been a few close calls.

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Efficient U.S. attack overruns El Salvador at the Gold Cup

by Ridge Mahoney

The Gold Cup is derided for its slipshod organization and paltry promotion in English-language outlets, but as a competitive event, in many respects it stands up. Case in point: For all the importance placed on a team winning its first game, just doing so is no guarantee of advancement, even with two of the three third-place teams qualifying for the quarterfinals along with the top two in each group. El Salvador opened with a 2-1 victory over Trinidad & Tobago the same day the USA scraped past Guatemala, 1-0, at Home Depot Center. By the time they met at Gillette Stadium Tuesday, the Americans were rolling and the Salvadorans reeling. Result: 4-0 to the USA, thanks to a DaMarcus Beasley blinder (scored two goals, set up another), single tallies by Taylor Twellman and Landon Donovan, and the Salvadorans’ bothersome habit of misfiring on the few chances they had to claw their way back into the competition.

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De Rosario leads Canada to Group A title at Gold Cup

by Soccer America

Houston Dynamo star Dwayne De Rosario scored twice within three minutes in the first half to give Canada a 2-0 victory over Haiti Monday at Miami’s Orange Bowl in the final day of Group A action at the Gold Cup. The victory gave Canada first place in Group A ahead of Costa Rica, which beat Guadeloupe, 1-0, on Walter Centeno‘s goal on a free kick in the 13th minute of Monday’s other Group A finale.

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