foot injury i believe??

Honduras is also a pretty good team, probably 3rd best (maybe costa rica some yrs) in concacaf most years

Sorry, I didn't mean ball possession. I meant ball control by the players. The Hondurus players have very good ball control. Some of the best I've seen in this tournament.

Gambo-> Yes, in concacaf.

(Gambocho, tala o tona, Spanish, Argentina?)

Mexico plays remotely well in the Final and this game wont be close.

Mexico has shown it can overpower and dominate teams, albeit vs weak competition. The USA hasn't done that with anyone. The USA needed a hell of a goal to get by Guadaloupe. Panama is not a good as Honduras and if people say Honduras had Mexico on the brink then Panama definitely did the same with USA. I would argue the Panama/USA game was closer. Mexico eventually completely took over the game in OT, the USA never did.

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Mexico plays remotely well in the Final and this game wont be close.

Mexico has shown it can overpower and dominate teams, albeit vs weak competition. The USA hasn't done that with anyone. The USA needed a hell of a goal to get by Guadaloupe. Panama is not a good as Honduras and if people say Honduras had Mexico on the brink then Panama definitely did the same with USA. I would argue the Panama/USA game was closer. Mexico eventually completely took over the game in OT, the USA never did.

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loldelusion

Arguing that the USA never took over the Semi while Mexico did is retarded. Why? Mexico did it in extra time. The USA had already won the game at that point. It's ****ing hard to take over the game when it's already won, no? Yes, Mexico has proven it can beat up on lesser competition. Yes, Chicharito has proven himself an excellent goal poacher. Those are two things we knew going in to the tournament. The USA has not played up to its full potential this entire tournament. Something has never clicked. In some games it was the finishing. In others, the midfield was suspect. If the USA shows up and plays their best game, they win in a blowout. See what i did there? It's just as illogical as your argument. This game will be a tough fought, knock down drag out battle to the finish. No more than one goal separates these teams. I just hope for two things: 1, the ref doesn't make himself the center of attention, and 2, that the US wins (hah).

Either way, I know it's going to be 90 minutes of hell and back for both teams. The USA has improved throughout the course of the tourney, Mexico has regressed (or they were just playing really ****ty teams, Cuba? come on :P). There are plenty of question marks on both sides. Reliant Arena wasn't sitting in silence most of the second half because of silent confidence that Mexico was going to take the game over. Mexico isn't heads and shoulders better than all but a select few in concacef, and it definitely isn't that much better than the US.

[This message has been edited by Kampfers (edited 6/23/2011 2:19p).]

It's gonna take either teams best to win this game, you're fooling yourself if you believe otherwise.

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(Gambocho, tala o tona, Spanish, Argentina?)

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not quite sure what this means

i do speak spanish but i am not from argentina...US born to venezuelan parents...spent years 1 through 16 of my life in caracas and moved to texas in 2000...

eso es otra vaina..

Agreed that it's gonna take a good game from both teams to win this game, but to be fair Mexico has shown more dominance throughout the whole of this tournament than USA.

Both teams have struggled in the knockout phase, but USA has yet to completely dominate an opponent.

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i do speak spanish but i am not from argentina

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whatever that says, it's not spanish. no idea what the hell that means.

when the hell has the US ever truly shown to "dominate" anyone?

It's just not their style, which is why I expect them to fully compete with Mexico Saturday, because it's just what they do (when they have their A squad performing...2009 GC protected )

Gambo, just wondering if Gambocho was alluding to the Spanish game. Argentina being the S. America country that brought most of the old country.

Keys to winning:

Mexico -> do what you have been doing
US-> play a good game + plus get lucky

But really, if US can keep Mexico to under two scores (they have scored at least two in all their games) it will be close. I don't see the US in my wildest dreams scoring more than 2.

Didn't Mexico kill El Salvador which Panama had to beat by penalty shots? So much about only beating crappy teams theory.

I think we have to be honest about the ability of the US to score. They probably will score on Mexico, but will it be enough?

At the end of the day Mexico 2 Honduras 0. Spin it how you want.

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If the US had the game Mexico had, you guys would be all over yourselves by now. I think the US played pretty bad, they could not generate almost any scoring opportunities. So I wouldn't get to far ahead of myself just yet. The key to beating Mexico is not let them score early, and that will be luck.

Only Mexico can beat Mexico.

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More than a little ironic to say "I wouldn't get too far ahead of myself just yet." and then to follow that up with "Only Mexico can beat Mexico". And stopping a team from scoring early isn't just luck.

I fully admit that this US team is subpar. We have no forwards...even by US standards. You have Chicharito...we have a young, inexperienced striker, a reserve teamer who had a career last season, and a bunch of midfielders playing out of position. But if we manage to win, it won't be "luck". Though according to Mexico fans, every win the US has had over Mexico the past 15 years has been luck so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me to hear it again.

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Didn't Mexico kill El Salvador which Panama had to beat by penalty shots? So much about only beating crappy teams theory.

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Oooh! Oooh! I can play this game too! The USA beat up Jamaica 2-0, who beat Honduras 1-0 to win the group! And then Honduras took Mexico to the brink in extra time! We're practically assured a win!

Transitive team theory has to be one of the most retarded arguments in sports. You guys are normally pretty good posters, but in this thread you've been reduced to making baseless assumptions and throwing **** against the wall hoping it sticks. Didn't realize the US team was that scary.

What USA games have you been watching, you tard. Most of our games could have easily been 3 or 4-0, just a ludicrous amount of chances squandered. That's even with not really playing that well, for our standards.

I expect this final to be extremely tightly contested. Hopefully skillfully played, but rival games tend to make it more of a slugfest.

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If the US had the game Mexico had, you guys would be all over yourselves by now. I think the US played pretty bad, they could not generate almost any scoring opportunities. So I wouldn't get to far ahead of myself just yet. The key to beating Mexico is not let them score early, and that will be luck.

Only Mexico can beat Mexico.
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More than a little ironic to say "I wouldn't get too far ahead of myself just yet." and then to follow that up with "Only Mexico can beat Mexico". And stopping a team from scoring early isn't just luck.

I fully admit that this US team is subpar. We have no forwards...even by US standards. You have Chicharito...we have a young, inexperienced striker, a reserve teamer who had a career last season, and a bunch of midfielders playing out of position. But if we manage to win, it won't be "luck". Though according to Mexico fans, every win the US has had over Mexico the past 15 years has been luck so I suppose it shouldn't surprise me to hear it again

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Oooh! Oooh! I can play this game too! The USA beat up Jamaica 2-0, who beat Honduras 1-0 to win the group! And then Honduras took Mexico to the brink in extra time! We're practically assured a win!

Transitive team theory has to be one of the most retarded arguments in sports. You guys are normally pretty good posters, but in this thread you've been reduced to making baseless assumptions and throwing **** against the wall hoping it sticks. Didn't realize the US team was that scary

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Two wonderful posts! A+

Bonus points for this:

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Transitive team theory has to be one of the most retarded arguments in sports

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So much **** talking in here but it's all gonna mean jack as soon as the ball starts rolling.

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So much **** talking in here but it's all gonna mean jack as soon as the ball starts rolling.

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yeeeep.

I'll get back to the smack talk tomorrow, been busy and haven't read the reports but wanted to share this with y'all esp for the non tweeter folks:

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Sharing the plane = no big deal. #USMNT sat at the back. Mexico toward the front. Teams keep to themselves, same as any flight.

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Mexico flying first class, USA in coach.

And by reports I meant responses

M comes before U in the alphabet...only explanation

So you are saying they rode typical mexican style...cramming more people in an area than there are seats available? The only way to travel right?

Sorry...you laid that one up

Falk mexico.

That's all i gotta say.

Mea culpa on that.

Just trying to show that I don't buy that Mexico hasn't played anybody BS.

Guardado may be out for the game. Damn.

http://www.fmfstateofmind.com/2011/6/23/2239163/andres-guardado-injury-mexico-vs-usa-2011-copa-oro-final-gold-cup

ah hell

Well now you guys have an excuse if you lose.

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quote:Sharing the plane = no big deal. #USMNT sat at the back. Mexico toward the front. Teams keep to themselves, same as any flight.



Mexico flying first class, USA in coach.

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Hey dumbass, it says NEAR the front, not IN the front.

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Hey dumbass, it says NEAR the front, not IN the front.

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her internet tough guy, have you heard of a joke, did you miss the winking face?

And technically wouldn't in the front be the cockpit?

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Arguing that the USA never took over the Semi while Mexico did is retarded. Why? Mexico did it in extra time. The USA had already won the game at that point. It's ****ing hard to take over the game when it's already won, no? Yes, Mexico has proven it can beat up on lesser competition

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So the USA hasn't proven it can beat up on lesser competition. Or did they just let off the throttle?

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So the USA hasn't proven it can beat up on lesser competition. Or did they just let off the throttle?

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Let off the throttle accounts for it a bit, also we tend to play down to the level of our opponent (a worrisome trend). We usually counter that by playing up to the level of our opponent when playing a Spain type (our result pre-Gold Cup not being indicative there of how the US normally plays against high quality teams).

The talent difference on these squads isn't noticeably different overall, and really outside of striker there isn't much of a gap at any position on the team. On top of that, this is a major rivalry game, so talent can always just go out the window (it's no different than a ****ty A&M team beating Texas, although in this scenario the teams are roughly equally matched). Plus, you're playing the best keeper you've faced in the tournament, and Timmy alone is enough to keep the US close in most games. I really don't see more than 3 goals being scored, with the final scoreline 2-1. As far as who wins, it's a coinflip imo.

Agree with pretty much everything you said.

One thing that worries me a bit about Mexico is it's inexperience at goalie. Huge advantage to the USA here. Not only does he not have much experience on the national level but he hasn't really been tested much this whole gold cup.

I'm worried about Castro & Torrado, Torrado is slow! and Marquez doesn't help make up for that lack of speed behind him.

I think the US midfield can take advantage of the Torrado and Castro duo. Torrado tends to make up for speed with aggression and is used to playing with three "contenciones" at Cruz Azul. Leaving him less room to cover. Also Castro seem to hesitate a lot. I think Lichaj can give him trouble cutting inside.