Gold Cup Quarterfinals: Day Two

I was glad I was off work on Sunday so I could take in both Gold Cup matches from RFK. Still, I really wish FSC would have covered the rest of the matches throughout the tourney in English, not just the USA matches. I'd really rather watch those live games than EPL/Serie A reruns or WPS matches, but that's just me. I watched them on Univision and brushed up on my Spanish.

I was really wondering if the USA could pull it off against Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz had a ton of confidence and a ton of weapons coming in. Then the US announced that Landycakes was starting on the bench. Now, I don't begrudge Clint and Landon going to those weddings at all. Family is most important. However, it worried me that Landon wasn't gonna be on the pitch.

Luckily it worked out though. Gutsy call by Bob Bradley. Gotta give him credit. Had it not panned out he would have been a major goat. It had it's moments though. Howard made a great save on the Reggae Boyz early, that made the US nervous. Despite the fact that the USA played pretty well in the first half, it was goalless at the break.

They really fired it up in the second half though. In the 49th minute Jermaine Jones hammered a shot that took a deflection and went in to give the USA a 1-0 lead. For my money, it was an own goal, but a great strike nonetheless for Jones. Then in the 66th minute, Jermaine Taylor took a swipe at Jones on a counter. Jones got through it, but went to ground after a couple of steps and earned the Jamaican a red card. To me, it was a total flop. That was pretty much all she wrote for the Reggae Boyz. Dempsey scored a nice goal in the 80th to seal it up.

Bad news was that Jozy Altidore left the game with a hamstring injury. His status for the semis is still up in the air.

Now, who would the USA face in Houston? El Salvador or Panama? This one was another hard fought match that went to penalties. It shouldn't have though, as Zelaya missed a PK in the first half that would have given La Selecta the lead. He did score later, but Tejada just managed to get the ball over the El Salvador line in the 90th minute to equalize. There were no goals in extra time, and Panama went on to win 5-3 on PKs.

So it will be a rematch in the Gold Cup Semifinal in Houston: The USA vs. Panama. Who will get the last laugh?