Gold Cup Semifinal . . . ARRRRRGGHHHHHH

Well, I was right. At least until the 88th minute. Once again our boys snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Yeesh.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS MATCH REPORT™ :

U.S Lineup:
Keller, Hejduk, Bocanegra, Gibbs, Convey, Stewart (Beasly 83), Mastroeni, Reyna (Mulrooney 71), Lewis, Donavan, McBride (Mathis 30)

Brazil Lineup:
A bunch of guys with only one name.

I liked our lineup, although I expected Ralston would have earned himself another start.

The U.S. had the better part of the play for the first 20 minutes. We looked dangerous, but never tested the keeper. Good ball movement, but not quite the crossing we needed to be a threat.

Then Brazil started realizing they weren't going to beat us by dancing with the ball. They started stringing passes together and had two very serious chances. First was a nicely slotted ball through the right side, brick walled by Keller. The second chance was a well taken shot from the top of the box, which was handily turned aside by the right post.

I was right in my assessment that the US would come out playing physical defense. Not dirty by any means, but good clean hard tackling. It was great to see. Even greater to see was the referee, Mr. Bartres of Guatemala, handing out an early yellow card to Brazil for diving. Despite my clearly partisan joy at seeing the card handed out, I'd like to say (with objectivity as pure as the driven snow) that such a call is good for the game no matter who gets busted for it.

The Brazilian momentum lasted about 20 minutes, with quite a few good chances(coughcough KELLER! coughcough) and about 65% of the possession. Generally the defense did a creditable job shutting down most of Brazil's attacks, if not preventing them in the first place.

McBride took an elbow in the 27th minute and Bruce Arena immediately pulled him in favor of Clint Mathis. Brian had quite the mouse under his left eye. Not the first time we've seen that, of course. I imagine Brian had no intention of coming out and would have willingly played through it if given the chance.

Pablo Mastroeni picked up a yellow for a blatant foul that reminded me of Pat Fischer of the 1970's Washington Redskins (that is to say, a desperate shoulder-grabbing takedown from behind).

The U.S. attack picked up a little steam in the last five minutes of the half, but still no shots on goal.

All in all, 0-0 was a fair score at the halftime whistle.

Kasey once again was put to the test early in the second half. Bocanegra was tight on his man but still gave up a scorching near-post shot that KK just managed to deflect wide. Brazil owned the first 15 minutes or so, and all we could do was defend for a while. The way we were packing it in defensively you'd have thought we had a one goal lead.

Mastroeni again fouled his man from behind after getting beaten in his own end, and was lucky not to see red.

The aggressive defense from the first half disappeared early in the second; we seemed happy to mark space for a while and just let Kasey pull our fat out of the fire (again and again). Keller is huge against Brazil for some reason. He is pure nemesis. When this man is 60 years old he'll probably still be getting caps whenever the U.S. and Brazil get together.

Bocanegra, I've noticed, is the best tackler in the penalty area we've had since Alexi Lalas was a regular.

Brazil put the ball in the net in the 60th minute after some extremely lax defending on a free kick, but the play was (fortunately and probably incorrectly) judged offside.

Finally and utterly against the run of play, Reyna played a free kick from the right side of the field, about 40 yards out. Of all people, Carlos Bocanegra found some ups and headed the ball down and in. 1-0 for the good guys in the 63rd!

I'll have to look it up, but I'm pretty sure that is Boca's first international goal. By the bye, have you checked out the columns he's been writing on ussoccer.com? He's been keeping a journal at both the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup. Very entertaining stuff. The kid can write, who knew?

More intense pressure from Brazil. Good clearing header by Convey to save a goal. A bit of the defensive tenacity started to return for the United States. Earnie Stewart in particular. I wish Earnie was about 10 years younger. I think the next world cup will be his last, and I hate that.

Mulrooney in for Reyna in the 71st. I don't understand this, unless Claudio took a knock or is still not quite fit after coming back from knee surgery. I don't think Mulrooney has seen a cap in quite some time. Must be a University of Virginia thing (oh wait, he went to Creighton . . . hmm).

Our two best defensive players (Keller and the right post) combined to rob Kaka in the 73rd.

Gibbs was unlucky to give up a free kick from 25 yards out in the 76th (Mr. Bartres can't see all the dives, after all) that was hit way high by Baptista.

Finally a little pressure by the U.S. in the 78th. Frankie did well on the right wing and was fouled rather hard by Carlos Alberto (no, not THAT Carlos Alberto), but the free kick was wasted.

DeMarcus Beasley in for Stewart with about 7 minutes remaining. I thought we'd see him tonight. Short of being hit by a bus, I don't see him missing many important games for his country in the foreseeable future. Earnie nearly went out in style, cracking a shot from 35 yards just before going off. It went wide, but not by too much.

Bocanegra got a cheap yellow on a really good tackle in the 85th minute. Why not, he's done everything else tonight! He's the man of the match without much argument.

Frankie with a great defensive play with three minutes left to keep Brazil frustrated. Ewtherton had a sitter with Kasey out of position until Frankie saved the day.

No matter. For about the millionth time since I've been following this team, the inevitable last minute goal was given up. A beautiful through pass found Ewerthton, who beat Gibbs and got off a good shot. Keller, of course made a tremendous save, but couldn't prevent a rebound which Kaka slotted in easily from six yards out.

I wish I had a buck for every time this has happened since I've been following my National team (since 1989, in case you're wondering). The heartbreak of watching the United States play soccer comes often but not early. They always wait until the 90th minute to break your heart.

Extra time was just a blur to me. I can't really describe it because I was busy biting my nails down to an obscenely short length. I saw the handball by Gibbs. I don't blame him in the least. Who among us wouldn't have done the same thing? I held out brief hope that Kasey would attain an even more godlike status by once again breaking the heart of an entire nation. But I kinda knew we'd blown it.

It's like being a Cubs fan. You know what's going to happen, but you still love them, and you know every once in while they'll produce some magic that will keep you coming back again and again and again and again (e.g., Caliguri against Trinidad & Tobago in 1989, The 1998 Gold Cup semifinals win against Brazil, WC 2002 against Portugal and Korea).

But it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when they let one like this slip away.

This one hurt.