Total Futbol

Vancouver at Miami FC

When, where: Sunday at 6 p.m., FIU Stadium

Records: Vancouver (5-5-3); Miami FC (5-6-2

Internet broadcast: www.USLLive.com/usl/console.jsp

Tickets: $12 adults, $7 students/youth. Available at
the box office or by phone, 1-866-57-MIAMI (6-4264)

Notable: The Blues earned a 0-0 home draw against Puerto Rico on July 4 and are 3-1-1 in their past five matches.

U.S. needs late goal to tie Haiti

Whoa, from AP:

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The United States had just two minutes left to avoid its first loss ever in CONCACAF Gold Cup group play.

Haiti was heading for its first win over an American team by since May 1969, when it won 1-0 in San Diego.

Then Stuart Holden stepped up.

The Houston Dynamo midfielder sent a 25-foot shot past goalkeeper Jean Dominique Zephirin into the upper right corner in the first minute of second-half injury time, giving the United States a 2-2 tie Saturday night in its final first-round game.

I particularly like this quote from Haiti coach Jairo Rios.

"What an irony. The poorest country in the world against what could be considered the superpower of the world and they (the Haitians) could be able to hold themselves on the field, demonstrating the real passion for the game from the players."

One final Gold Cup note

Pressed against deadline Friday night, it seems somehow one important fact was left out of my Gold Cup game story: Costa Rica advanced to the quarterfinal stage with its draw against Canada and El Salvador's loss to Jamaica.

The team will face the second-place team from Group C next Sunday in Dallas.

Goodnight from Gold Cup 2009

Great night at FIU Stadium. With more than 17,000 strong chanting, stomping and screaming, it was the kind of atmosphere the city needs to show to A. World Cup organizers and B. Major League Soccer if it has any hopes of luring either outfit to town.

Much more on that next week, but I'll leave you with my game story. I'll be back Sunday when the mighty Blues tangle with Vancouver at The Cage.

Photo gallery from Gold Cup at FIU

Jamaica 1, El Salvador 0

In the night's second match, Jamaica surprised El Salvador 1-0 thanks to a goal by Omar Cummings in the 70th minute, likely ending the Salvadorans' Gold Cup.

Both El Salvador and Jamaica finished group play at 1-2-0 and need significant help to stay alive.

Canada 2, Costa Rica 2

Humid, sticky air. An overwhelming pro-Costa Rican crowd.

 

And artificial turf similar to the surface used at Saprissa Stadium.

 

The conditions couldn’t have been any more adverse for Team Canada.

 

And no better way to prove, emphatically, that this isn’t the same old Les Rouges.

 Canada looked Costa Rica – one of the best teams in the hemisphere – in the eye Friday night and barely shrugged, playing the No. 30 team in the world to a 2-2 draw in the teams’ final CONCACAF Gold Cup group match at FIU Stadium.

Full story to come.

Starting lineups for Canada-Costa Rica

With Panana and Mexico tying Thursday night, Canada has already advanced to the quarters. So Julian De Guzman, maybe the best player in Canadian history, gets the night off.

The lineups:

CANADA

Goalkeeper: Greg Sutton

Defenders: Andrew Hainault, Kevin McKenna, Marcel De Jong, Richard Hastings

Midfielders: Atiba Hutchinson, Josh Simpson, Jaime Peters, Patrice Bernier

Forwards: William Johnson, Simeon Jackson

COSTA RICA

Goalkeeper: Ricardo Gonzalez

Defenders: Freddy Fernandez, Gonzalo Segares, Harold Wallace, Esteban Sirias, Dennis Marshall

Midfielders: Celso Borges, Walter Centeno, Armando Alonso

Forwards: Alvaro Saborio, Andy Herron

Hello from FIU Stadium

Smells like soccer, my friends. Here at FIU Stadium, noisemakers and flags are everywhere for tonight's Gold Cup doubleheader.

Early impression: El Salvador and Costa Rica have the most support. Some Canada fans. Jamaica partisans must be late-arriving.

I hear CONCACAF distributed 9,000 tickets, and expect a few thousand more walk-ups.

Starting lineups to come.

You can follow along live here.

Thursday is fight night in Houston

Still searching for my morning jolt of caffeine, but while I do, feast your eyes on what happened in Houston Thursday night.

From AP:

Mexico and Panama played to a 1-1 tie in a Gold Cup match on Thursday night that ended in chaos after a confrontation between Mexican coach Javier Aguirre and a Panamanian player triggered fights between fans in the stands.

Tempers flared throughout the match and boiled over in the 80th minute.

Panama's Ricardo Phillips dribbled out of bounds in front of the Mexico bench and when the linesman stopped play, Phillips shoved Aguirre.

Players converged in the area and several got into shoving matches. Referee Joel Aguilar ejected Aguirre and whipped out a red card to give to Phillips as fans littered the field with cups of beer and other objects.

Phillips was escorted off the field by a swarm of police - and pelted with beer as he ran into a tunnel - and after about 15 wild minutes, play resumed.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the draw allowed Guadeloupe to become the first team to automatically advance to the quarters.

Canada can be the second with a tie or a win against Costa Rica at FIU Stadium, Friday night at 7 p.m.

Much more on that to come.