Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=173300&cc%&cc=5901 Keller blanks Mexico to lead U.S. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Qualifying for the World Cup is sweet. Doing it against your archrival is nirvana. The United States is headed to next year's soccer championship in Germany after beating Mexico 2-0 Saturday night thanks to goals by Steve Ralston and DaMarcus Beasley five minutes apart in the second half. The quick strikes, after a sloppy and chippy first half, lifted the Americans into the 32-team tournament with three games to spare. It was the first time since 1934 that the Americans were the first team into the World Cup for North and Central America and the Caribbean. It's also the fifth straight World Cup appearance for the Americans, who are ranked sixth in the world, one spot behind Mexico - for now. The win avenged a 2-1 loss in Mexico City in March and gave American goalkeeper Kasey Keller his 50th career victory for the national team. The United States has not lost to Mexico on American soil since 1999, and has not yielded any goals in that span, either. On both U.S. scores, Mexico seemed confused who should be where on set plays. Eddie Lewis' floating free kick was headed by Oguchi Onyewu, whose 6-foot-4 height came in handy as he soared over the smallish, befuddled defense. His shot hit the goalpost and bounded into the air directly to the unguarded Ralston for his second career international goal. That woke up the flag-waving, red-white-and-blue clad American fans, who began pounding the bleachers with their feet. The noise seemed to further unnerve the visitors, and they were out of position on a short U.S. corner kick. The ball came to Claudio Reyna and the unmarked U.S. captain fed an equally wide-open Beasley. His twisting left-footed kick soared over goalie Oswaldo Sanchez, who had no chance. From there, it was a matter of getting another shutout for Keller, who now has blanked five straight opponents in qualifying and has a scoreless streak of 507 minutes in all. The Americans are 6-1 in the final qualifying round and play at Guatemala on Wednesday, when most of the regulars will be excused. Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to make Germany 2006. At the final whistle, most of the 24,685 fans chanted ``U-S-A! U-S-A!'' as several players ran off the bench wrapped in U.S. flags. All of the Americans were handed flags, which they then draped on their shoulders or waved to the crowd as fireworks lit the sky. I'm still wating for Mexico to qualify. Edited September 4, 2005 by Ozzie Montana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Sox Fan Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Great news! All right! You know Mexico will be there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmteam Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 This should go in the Sports Bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Author Share Posted September 4, 2005 OK. Mods please move this to Sports Pub. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(Ozzie Montana @ Sep 3, 2005 -> 08:56 PM) I'm still wating for Mexico to qualify. No surprise here. And the Mexico team leaves a lot to be desired... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 3, 2005 -> 09:54 PM) No surprise here. And the Mexico team leaves a lot to be desired... Beasley is a mad man. The overall quality of the US has gotten better over the last few years. They still need better quality in the midfield as Reyna is getting older and OBrien is always hurt. I am looking forward to seeing the backline keep getting stronger. Spector is on loan to Charlton this year and he is from Arlington Heights. Donovan still is overrated. Beasley is the best threat on the team. Nice win for the US. The next big match is on Wednesday as the Lads take on France. Ireland vs Frenchies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Author Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) We only had one decent shot to put up a goal on the free kick by Morales but Keller made the save. Borgetti was covered tight today unlike at Estadio Azteca. And my man, Kikín, was taken out for not wanting to play today. :banghead But we still got three games to get a win so i'm confident. Edited September 4, 2005 by Ozzie Montana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) QUOTE(Ozzie Montana @ Sep 3, 2005 -> 10:18 PM) We only had one decent shot to put up a goal on the free kick by Morales but Keller made the save. Borgetti was covered tight today unlike at Estadio Azteca. And my man, Kikín, was taken out for not wanting to play today. :banghead But we still got three games to get a win so i'm confident. In Azteca its hard to play due to the altitude and the crowd. Not many teams get a win going there. But when it comes to neutral turf the US just has Mexicos number. Borgetti is a tough guy and has a good ariel game. But the US defenders are getting bigger by the year and we are starting to stack the deck on the backline like the english. If you ever want to see an impressive backline check out the english in person. Everyone of them is like 6'2 and above. Its hard to outjump them. Beasley creates a unique challenge for Mexico as he runs at a good pace and can explode. Donovan is worthless and disappears in big games. He will score 4 goals agains poor teams but disappears in games against good talent. Mexico would create nightmares for some of the European teams and should have a good chance at getting through to the knockout round if they dont get either England, Netherlands or Brazil or Argentina(or their arch nemisis the US). Those are a few teams that they just dont matchup well with. Edited September 4, 2005 by southsideirish71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 The Mexican team on the field tonight didn't look very good around the goal like they usually do. They were pretty solid in set ups, but when they got close yuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 3, 2005 -> 11:29 PM) In Azteca its hard to play due to the altitude and the crowd. Not many teams get a win going there. But when it comes to neutral turf the US just has Mexicos number. Borgetti is a tough guy and has a good ariel game. But the US defenders are getting bigger by the year and we are starting to stack the deck on the backline like the english. If you ever want to see an impressive backline check out the english in person. Everyone of them is like 6'2 and above. Its hard to outjump them. Beasley creates a unique challenge for Mexico as he runs at a good pace and can explode. Donovan is worthless and disappears in big games. He will score 4 goals agains poor teams but disappears in games against good talent. Mexico would create nightmares for some of the European teams and should have a good chance at getting through to the knockout round if they dont get either England, Netherlands or Brazil or Argentina(or their arch nemisis the US). Those are a few teams that they just dont matchup well with. It's great to see great insights like this, and I'm glad there are fellow soccer fans on here. And at your Donovan assessment. And oh yeah, OM, Fonseca wasn't doing too hot. I was disappointed 'cause I like his game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) A big round of applause for Sams Army who made this a home game after all. Cheers to the US for getting into the big dance. Next Summer is going to be a blast. And this year at least its only a 6 hour difference. Getting up at 3am to watch a match was a pain the last time. USA!!!! USA!!!!!! USA!!!!!!!! USA!!!!!!! Best non national team soccer moment. Watching my Celtic team beat the Rangers live and hearing 60k people sing the Fields of Athenry. Edited September 4, 2005 by southsideirish71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credepopsup Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 05:10 AM) Spector is on loan to Charlton this year and he is from Arlington Heights. That's the team I'm a big fan of. My Dad used to work for them, and we lived at the training facility when I was a kid. Jon Spector was our best player in the pre-season games, but picked up a slight hamstring injury and missed the 1st two Premiership games. He is now healthy again, and was on the substitute bench last week. He'll be in the starting XI soon enough, and he has the ability of being a very, very good player. (As do a lot of US players) In fact, Charlton have just opened an academy for youngsters in Arizona, and I expect more American players to make the journey over here to play in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Author Share Posted September 4, 2005 I gotta give props to US's game. They definately deserved the W and will do good. Beasley impressed. I'm only upset Mexico didn't have Cuauhtémoc Blanco. This guy is on hell of a player for Mexico. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mplssoxfan Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Apparently, not everyone in Columbus was impressed with the US... Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to make Germany 2006. Its coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, was not impressed by the winners. "The U.S. is a small team," he said. "They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother." LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Author Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) Ricardo Lavolpe is full of crap. I've been saying it's time to give Hugo Sánchez a shot at the managerial job. I've gotten tired of Lavolpe and that comment was stupid. :banghead Edited September 4, 2005 by Ozzie Montana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 03:31 PM) Best non national team soccer moment. Watching my Celtic team beat the Rangers live and hearing 60k people sing the Fields of Athenry. You should talk to Soxy, she's a big Celtic fan as well. Personally, I'm a West Ham fan, who are rivals with Charlton the team Spector is playing for this season. And oh for mismatch of the year, Australia beat the Soloman Islands 7-0, in the 1st leg of the Oceania Final for Qualfying. The winner will play the 5th places South American Team in a 2 leg playoff. No wonder Australia wants to move to Asia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 (edited) QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 08:08 AM) Apparently, not everyone in Columbus was impressed with the US... Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to make Germany 2006. Its coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, was not impressed by the winners. "The U.S. is a small team," he said. "They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother." LOL! Well losing to the US is a terrible blow for Mexico. He had to say something. The funny thing is that it wreaks of the crap the sox have heard this year about how yeah they just swept us, but we are a much better team(ala Injuns/Tiggers/etc). The midfield and strikers are filled with midgets I will agree, but that back line is getting seriously big. Gooch is like 6'5, Boca is 6'1, Spector is 6'2 I believe. If we could ever get a striker that was a bit taller than 5'9 we would be good to compete with Europe on a match by match basis. Hopefully Eddie Johnson will be that striker. I would like to see him up front. Have Donovan drop back to attacking mid. Edited September 4, 2005 by southsideirish71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 08:39 AM) You should talk to Soxy, she's a big Celtic fan as well. Personally, I'm a West Ham fan, who are rivals with Charlton the team Spector is playing for this season. And oh for mismatch of the year, Australia beat the Soloman Islands 7-0, in the 1st leg of the Oceania Final for Qualfying. The winner will play the 5th places South American Team in a 2 leg playoff. No wonder Australia wants to move to Asia. Well Soxy has taste. LOL In the premiership, I watched a lot of Fulham last year watching Bocanegra. I watched a ton of PSV last year seeing how Beasley would do against some good competition. Donovan was an embarrassment to US soccer with his crybaby routine and his poor matches against quality. He did the US team a disservice by not staying in Europe. While he tears it up against the MLS, that wont prepare him for the World Cup. I was at Solider Field watching him disappear against the English and their great defense. He would dump the ball off before the english defender would take him on, because he was afraid of the contact. Australia has some talent on their team, If they get Gus Hiddink to manage it like is being suggested in rumors it would be interesting. Gus plays a very aggressive 3-5-2 system that the Dutch have been using. The 5th place team in SA should be beatable this time through. The quality for some of the SA teams have been waning in the last few years. Australia hopefully will get in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(Ozzie Montana @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 08:36 AM) I gotta give props to US's game. They definately deserved the W and will do good. Beasley impressed. I'm only upset Mexico didn't have Cuauhtémoc Blanco. This guy is on hell of a player for Mexico. Too old...too slow...too much of a problem... I used to be a big fan of Cuauhtemoc (hell, I used to even get his shoes), but he slowly started to lose favor with me because of the antics. Some were calling for him on the team, but I was not surprised to not see him on it. It seems like there's too much politics in who's on the team and who isn't anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 QUOTE(Ozzie Montana @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 09:12 AM) Ricardo Lavolpe is full of crap. I've been saying it's time to give Hugo Sánchez a shot at the managerial job. I've gotten tired of Lavolpe and that comment was stupid. :banghead Oswaldo had some dumb comments too. I like that it's a rivalry, but Mexico really needs to step it's game up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Montana Posted September 4, 2005 Author Share Posted September 4, 2005 Cuauhtémoc does have some bad antics but his play is still good. He's one of the top foward's for Mexico. I'd actually like to see 3-4-3 setup with Cuauhtémoc at left, Borgetti at center, and Fonseca at right. QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 4, 2005 -> 03:38 PM) I like that it's a rivalry, but Mexico really needs to step it's game up now. can't argue with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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