U.S. battle Panama for 2-1 victory; Advance to Gold Cup final four

Almost one year ago to the date, Gillette Stadium welcomed U.S. supporters to view the U.S.-Italy World Cup match live on the large screens within the stadium. On Saturday afternoon, the stadium played host once again to US supporters, this time with their team in significantly closer proximity, as the Americans battled Panama to a 2-1 victory in the Gold Cup Quarterfinal round.

Almost immediately the Americans set the offensive tone when, in the 2nd minute, the U.S. penetrated the Panamanian box as Landon Donovan split a vulnerable Panama defender before he mailed a dangerous shot on Panama keeper Jaime Penedo.

An early scare occurred in the form of Man on Fire DaMarcus Beasley injured himself in the 6th minute. Although grounded for a few anxious minutes, the gritty midfielder returned to his feet soon after, surely allowing Sam’s Army to breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon after said scare, Taylor Twellman raced into the box in the 9th minute and launched a left-footed shot that just missed the goal by inches.

After a Panamanian corner kick in the 18th minute, the Bradley’s boys quickly counterattacked when Donovan raced down the heart of the pitch leaving one defender in his wake and took an acute-angled shot on goal that was batted away by Penedo.

Things got ugly in the wake of the ensuing corner kick, when Peneda appeared to have a launched a back-of-the-neck pulldown of a defenseless Twellman. What should have warranted at very least, a yellow, went uncarded, and the match was gradually turned into a rather fisticuff-filled match halfway through the first half.

Minutes later, in the 26th, Donovan airmailed a corner that Twellman headed toward goal for what would have been the first goal of the match had the crossbar not gotten in the way, of course. Four minutes later, Dempsey decided to try and get in on the offensive display when he slid into a shot that skipped into the clutches of a diving Peneda in the 30th minute.

Undeterred, Panama found its first scoring opportunity a minute later when Blas Perez snuck into the box before three U.S. defenders and directed a tantalizing shot that went mere feet wide of the U.S. goal in the 31st minute.

In a bout of incredibly comical luck, Twellman escaped his mark, turned, and launched a brilliant shot that was inadvertently blocked by his former Rev teammate Dempsey in the 38th minute.

As the second half commenced, the U.S. kicked off hoping to spark an offensive series that would produce a goal. The halftime stat sheet showed that while the Panamanians had the advantage on total possession (52%), the Americans acquired more quality chances (three shots on goal to one for Panama).

In the 48th, Perez raced down the pitch on a jailhouse break that gave Howard his first true test of the match when marched right up to his doorstep like a menacing girl scout before firing a hard shot on Howard. The Everton keeper passed the test with flying colors, and denied Perez the back of the net.

A critical moment occurred in the 57th minute; Donovan was haphazardly tackled after he crashed the box, leading to a penalty kick. Donovan accordingly stepped up and skipped in career Gold Cup goal number ten (most in US Men’s National Team history), which cued the flying streamers from the Sam’s Army contingent behind the Panama net.

Less than five minutes later in the 62nd, Carlos Bocanegra headed a spectacular right flank free kick engineered by DaMarcus Beasley for pay dirt, giving the Americans the 2-0 lead midway through the second half. An ominous sign hanging from the Fort (yes, it’s still the Fort even during non-Revolution events) implored “Release the Hounds,” and said hounds had been effectively uncaged during this sweet five-minute sequence.

More trouble ensued in the 76th minute when Manuel Torres hard tackled Clint Dempsey in what was a sure-fire card eliciting offense. Torres attempted to plead his case, with teammates offering expert witness testimony. But it was all in vain as referee Neil Brizan issued Torres his second yellow card of the match, and the subsequent red card ejection, which left his teammates in the unfortunate predicament of having to make up a two-goal difference a man down with fifteen minutes left in the match.

Despite the one-man disadvantage, Panama attacked like bats out of hell in the 84th minute, when Perez escaped three hapless American defenders and rolled into the middle of the box before firing a hard shot into bottom corner of the U.S. goal, cutting the U.S. margin in half, 2-1.

With four minutes of stoppage time added, Panama had its work cut out if it were to acquire the equalizer one man down. They hurried to reassemble the attack, but failed to find the back of the net, giving the U.S. the all-important quarter final victory in front of the Foxboro faithful.

Patriot Place no place for Revs

All you need to know about the potential for a soccer specific stadium being built on Robert Kraft-owned land in Foxboro is contained within Jenn Abelson’s May 20th Boston Globe article on Kraft’s Patriot Place complex, which is currently under construction. The feature on Kraft’s bold plans for retail store glory along Route 1 contains 1,482 words, and not one of them is “soccer.”

In a nutshell, the article states that Kraft is doling out $350 million of his own money to invest in the ambitious Patriot Place complex, which will include numerous retail stores, hotels, a cineplex, and the much-talked about Patriots Museum. With construction well underway along Route 1 in Foxboro, the first part of the project is scheduled to be completed in late 2007, with another phase set to be finished by late 2008.

Not mentioned or included in any proposed layout of the project is the SSS that so many Revolution fans have clamored for in recent years, after watching other clubs build such sparkling new structures themselves. While seven of MLS’s thirteen clubs currently utilize such SSS’s, the Revolution is well behind the curve, without a single sketch or rendering of what a Revolution SSS would entail.

Of course, why would the Revs build a new home when they already play in a state of the art stadium? Essentially, this is the line that Kraft Sports is feeding to their fans by promoting the Patriot Place project without plans of a SSS included in the complex.

Commissioner Don Garber, beware: Kraft Sports has no real interest in building a SSS in Foxboro, Framingham or Falmouth anytime soon. Kraft himself has only mentioned building such a structure in passing, without any real figures, location, or timetable for the construction of one. This could change, though; Kraft may soon re-release an updated rendering of Patriot Place with a shiny new SSS included, thus earning the praise of regional soccer fans and flying pigs alike.

The bitter reality is that there will be no SSS for the Revs unless something drastic, like an ownership change or flux in philosophy occurs. The bottom line, as far as Kraft Sports is concerned, is that Revs have a home – even if it is an NFL stadium that has all of the charm of an abandoned parking garage.

Rest assured, Commissioner Garber cannot be pleased at a Kraft land development without a single word being uttered about soccer. Last summer, Gerber became an outspoken proponent of securing an SSS in the Boston area for the Revs, as he emphasized the need for such SSS’s around the league as a tangible sign of long-term growth for professional soccer. However, since then, there has been little discussion regarding any proposal to build such a stadium, and the only real talk of an SSS seems to be limited to fans and media.

Call me naïve, but I do believe that Kraft would indeed like to build a SSS for his “other” football team, as he has stated in the past. In fact, it was reported that he traveled to Germany prior to last year’s World Cup in an effort to research the idea of building an SSS for the Revs. But it’s quite clear that his ambitions presently lie elsewhere, in a land filled with acres of Victoria’s Secret, Bass Pro Shops, and Christmas Tree Shops.

Time is clearly not on the side of the Revs. It is only a matter of time before the league acts on Kraft’s indifference toward building a SSS for the Revs. MLS may pressure him to sell his club to a prospective buyer – a buyer more than willing to move the club and build an SSS outside of New England. Should this come to pass, Revs fans may have to travel to Philadelphia, St. Louis, or Cleveland – all venues where SSS’s are rumored to be built in the coming years – to watch their displaced soccer heroes. Sadly, the Revs may just become this generation’s New England Tea Men, the former NASL squad that relocated many miles away to Jacksonville, FL in the early-1980’s, leaving regional soccer fans without a top-tier club to root for once again.

In any event, the lack of firm plans to build a SSS by Kraft Sport at such an opportune time, as a large-scale construction project takes place on Kraft-owned land should be troubling to any Revolution fan. For if Kraft is unwilling to build a new home for his soccer team now, when will he?

Kraft stated in Abelson’s article, that in the construction of Patriot Place, he is essentially “betting on the future of New England.”

Evidently, that very future does not include the long-term stability of top-tier professional soccer in New England that the construction of an SSS would surely bring.

Forget NAFTA: US Women Thrash Mexico Cinco-Cero

The last time the US Women’s National Team stepped onto the Gillette Stadium pitch, Julie Foudy was captain and Mia Hamm played up front.

Oh, and the grass was real back then, too.

Now, some three and half years since their last Foxboro appearance – October 1, 2003 – many things have changed; Foudy and Hamm have since retired and the Gillette pitch has since become synthetic. Nevertheless, the one constant between that match and Saturday’s has been that little, unlucky-numbered train that could: Kristine Lilly.

For it was Lilly, in her New England homecoming, who would appropriately take center stage Saturday and score a pair of goals in the United States’ victory over Mexico, 5-0.

Hoping to open up the attack early, US manager Greg Ryan dispatched the unconventional 3-4-3 formation for the match, with a potent group of Lilly, Abby Wambach and Lindsay Tarpley up front.

The tactic paid dividends almost immediately, as Wambach exploded through the Mexican box and blasted a shot past keeper Sophia Perez for the game’s opening salvo in the 10th minute.

Exhibiting every aspect of a squad ranked number one in the world, the Americans relentlessly pressured and attacked the Mexican side of the field in the first half, thus giving fans in the Fort an eyeful of Wambach and her goal-crashing cohorts. With one assault after another, Number 20 & Company slalomed their way through the Mexicans like Alberto Tomba during the 1992 Winter Olympics.

It became apparent that the score would not remain 1-0 for very long. After acquiring de facto ownership of the Mexican side of the field, the Americans hammered goal number two in the 33rd minute, courtesy of Tarpley, giving the red, white & blue a two-goal advantage

As if the squad still had something to prove, the Americans stepped onto the pitch technically sounder in the second half, as the passing became crisper and runs became swifter.

Although the soccer gods may have quietly balked at the fake turf to which the match took place, they were clearly pleased with Lilly on this occasion. In the 50th minute, number 13 scored on a “right-place, right-time” shot, notching career goal number 120 on her native New England soil, er, synthetic turf.

The Mexican side, to its credit, did not just sit back and allow their American counterparts to pummel them completely. The green and red conjured their way through the American box on a handful of occasions – just enough to keep the match intermittently interesting – as goalkeeper Hope Solo was sparsely peppered with some obligatory shots. However, she would effectively keep the vault door sealed throughout the proceedings.

Although the clouds began to cast their gloomy shadows as the game progressed, there must have been just enough of a breach through the dark wispy willows to allow the gods to smile once more. Lilly, seemingly uncontent to sit on career goal number 120 for long, would strike for a second time on a brilliant, 36-yard volley that gracefully floated over the Mexican keeper.

During the 82nd minute, Ryan recalled his diminutive warrior to the respite of the sidelines, giving Lilly the standing ovation she so nobly deserved. As the Gillette faithful applauded their local hero, the hero would return the cheers with one of her own as she exited the stage.

It was only appropriate that less than seven minutes later, Lauren Cheney – Lilly’s replacement – would rack up her very first National Team goal in the 88th minute, giving the Americans the firmly-stamped 5-0 result. Surely, the soccer gods must have grinned in approval.