By Neil W. Blackmon It finally ended today. Not a five year era—no—that was Thursday's news. No—it ended. The summer that wouldn't end. The summer that reminded us how great we can be; how fleeting success is; how far we have to go. The summer of everything ended this afternoon at what can only fairly [.

By Neil W. Blackmon It finally ended today. Not a five year era—no—that was Thursday's news. No—it ended. The summer that wouldn't end. The summer that reminded us how great we can be; how fleeting success is; how far we have to go. The summer of everything ended this afternoon at what can only fairly [.

By Neil W. Blackmon "It's disappointing to hear because I think he's done a fine job. Always a diligent, hard worker." Sir Alex Ferguson "There is no other sport like football. It is beautiful and it imitates life because it is a game of failure. Americans have baseball, and it is beautiful and there [.

Union

From a first half that deserved the boos to a second half that we all hope is a harbinger of the future—what was the difference? Said Carlos Ruiz, "The difference between the first half and the second half was we were more compact in the second half. That was the key to win the game."

Or was it something else?

Over 93,000 soccer fans filled the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to watch Mexico and the United States face off in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final. After 90 minutes and 6 goals, it was Mexico that emerged victorious on a 4-2 scoreline.
Despite the end result, it was the United States that scored first in the match, thanks to Michael Bradley:
In the 23rd minute, it was Landon Donovan who picked up the US's second goal:
With an early 2-0 lead, things were looking good for the United States, but then, in the 29th minute, Pablo Barrera put Mexico on the scoreboard:
The United States was unable to maintain its lead going into halftime, with Andrés Guardado getting a goal in the 35th minute:
While the United States started the first half with an early goal, it was Mexico who picked up an early goal in the second half, thanks to Barrera:
The United States was unable to score again, but that didn't stop Giovani Dos Santos from picking up an insurance goal for Mexico:
With this victory, Mexico has earned a spot in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

By Puck Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back into the Happy Hour—Special Gold Cup Final edition. It has certainly been a rollercoaster month for USMNT fans. After dispatching Canada, I personally witnessed (along with the rest of the AO Tampa crew) the worst loss in the Bradley era against Panama in Tampa.

By Jon Levy USA – Mexico: TYAC Previews The Gold Cup Final – Part 1 of 2 The North American neighbors took drastically different paths to Pasadena, but CONCACAF doesn't count style points. The US struggled in group play before finding form in the quarterfinal and gutting out a quality win in the semi over [.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Union

Marc Narducci writes on the fact that teams seem content to come to PPL to play for a draw given the effectiveness of the Union's backline. "It's a tactic and the way they chose to play, and you have to respect that," Faryd Mondragon told Narducci. "Our job is to try to get the solution and find a way to break all these defensive tactics.

By Dr. Raf Crowley and Neil W. Blackmon Round 2....fight! I'm starting off strong today ladies and gentlemen! The good news first: the USMNT will play in its 4th consecutive GC final. As expected when the tournament began, we will play Mexico, who again looked vulnerable after squeaking out a 2-0 victory against Honduras shortly [.

Union

Peter Nowak said before Wednesday night's supremely disappointing draw with Kansas City, "We want to give other guys a little time...We can mix things up, create a different look, make other teams guess who's gonna be playing and what kind of quality. All of [the strikers] have different qualities.

Photo by Katy Umaña
Wednesday night a sold out crowd of over 70,000 soccer fans was on hand at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas for the semifinals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, featuring the United States playing Panama and Mexico playing Honduras.
Just last week, the US had lost its first ever Gold Cup group stage match to Panama, so Wednesday featured a rematch between the two sides.

The United States Men's National Team beat Panama 1-0 in the semifinals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup at Reliant Stadium on Wednesday night thanks to a goal from Clint Dempsey. As of the posting time, it appears that Mexico will beat Honduras by 2-0 to also advance to the final. Here is raw, and I mean raw, audio from the US side following their victory.

KYW's Greg Orlandini and the PSP's Dan Walsh are talking Union, the Gold Cup and about the controversial expulsion of New England supporters in this week's edition of the Philly Soccer Show.

In part one, Greg and Dan look at the loss in Vancouver and preview the games against Kansas City and Chivas USA.

Mexico, Panama, Honduras, and the United States are all in Houston for the semifinals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Got some audio today from Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Sacha Kljestan after the USMNT's practice at Reliant Stadium, as well as the audio from the entire Bob Bradley and Landon Donovan press conference.

By Jon Levy One match changes everything. That's a mantra gleaned from marketing exec's and an idea prevalent in pretty much every Hollywood sports movie. It's not usually true in real life. What's more likely, and what actually happens more often, is that one match changes a season or tournament. Fans of the United States [.

Sunday afternoon at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the United States hosted Jamaica and Panama played El Salvador to determine which teams would advance to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Wednesday night.
It was US hoping to get past Jamaica in the matinee match, and get by Jamaica they did thank to goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey.

By Neil W. Blackmon Three thoughts on a great win for the USMNT today at RFK Stadium and more broadly on a weekend that changed (for now) the complexion of this Gold Cup tournament. Mexico looked vulnerable Saturday night, despite a comeback victory. They were disorganized in the back against a Guatemalan team that only [.

It might have been unsaid by Soccer House, but Bob Bradley's job as coach of the US Men's National Team was on the line heading into today's CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals match against Jamaica. Thanks to the following two goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey, Bradley has received a stay of execution as USMNT advances to the semifinals in Houston on Wednesday.

The first night of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals took place on Saturday at The New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey. Costa Rica and Honduras squared off in the night's first match, while Mexico faced Guatemala in the second match.
Honduras picked up the first goal of the night, early in the second half of the first match, thanks to Jerry Bengtson, but the lead didn't last long because Dennis Marshall scored for Costa Rica in the 55nd minute.

As the US prepares for its critical quarterfinal Gold Cup match tomorrow at RFK, Bob Bradley appeared calm and focused at the pre-game press conference when discussing his team's progress during the Gold Cup.

"The Gold Cup all along has been circled as the championship of our confederation, an opportunity to qualify for the Confederations Cup," said Bradley.

By Sean McElroy Fox Soccer Channel might not have aired the matches, but my friends at Telemundo and Galavision provided excellent (and high definition) coverage of the affairs of Group A. In my preview, I considered Group A to be the CONCACAF version of a group of death. I had originally planned to write a [.

By Jon Levy Rarely do I have something randomly in common with both Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey on the day before a big USMNT match, but on Saturday, all three of us will be doing roughly the same thing. Dressing up, enjoying catered fare and folding chairs, and making nice with people we haven't [.

The Houston Dynamo finally picked up their first win last Saturday, after going 7 matches without a win, when they beat Chivas USA 2-1. On the other hand, the United States National Team has managed to win two of their group stage matches in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but they've looked unimpressive in the process and have to get past a dangerous Jamaica this Sunday.

The 2011 Concacaf Gold Cup group stage has come to and end. The matchups for the quarterfinals are set and we are poised for an interesting knockout round, which may be more up in the air than usual. Two teams in particular have really risen their play and are looking to tip the scales on the traditional powers.

The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup came to end Tuesday night at the new Livestrong Stadium in Kansas City with Canada playing Panama and the United States taking on Guadeloupe.
In the night's first match, Canada took an early lead over Panama in the 61st minute when Dwayne De Rosario converted a penalty kick after being fouled by Eybir Bonaga.

Group B action wrapped up in Harrison, New Jersey on Monday night as Guatemala played Grenada and Honduras faced Jamaica.
Grenada has been giving Cuba a run for its money as the whipping boy for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and Monday was no different as they gave up 4 goals to Guatemala while being unable to score a goal of their own.

Round three of the group stage, the last round of the group stage, in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup began at Soldier Field in Chicago last night with Mexico facing Costa Rica and El Salvador playing Cuba.
Cuba has proven to be the whipping boy of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but the little team from the baseball island did manage to score a goal last night thanks to Yenier Márquez who put the ball past the keeper in the 82nd minute.

Group C wrapped up the second round of Gold Cup group stage matches on Saturday night in Tampa. In the night's opening match, Canada and Guadeloupe were both looking for their first group stage win while the United States and Panama met in the second match with both teams looking for that win that would secure a quarterfinals berth.

Friday night's gold cup action featured Group B action with Jamaica facing Guatemala and Grenada playing Honduras in Miami.
In the night's first match, Jamaica picked up a 2-0 victory against Guatemala thanks to a Demar Phillips brace in the second half. With two wins in its first two matches of the tournament, Jamaica has qualified for the quarterfinals and is proving to be the best Caribbean side in the 2011 Gold Cup.

Round two of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup began on Thursday night as Group A played in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring El Salvador versus Costa Rica and Mexico taking on Cuba.
On Sunday night, Costa Rica picked up a 4-0 win against Cuba while El Salvador lost 4-0 to Mexico. Coming off of its loss, El Salvador seemed to be the team with the most to prove on Thursday, and they were the first to score thanks to Rodolfo Zelaya picking up a goal off of a free kick in the 44th minute.

Group C finally saw action in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup on Tuesday night in Detroit where Panama faced Guadeloupe and Canada took on its neighbor to the south, the United States.
In the night's first match, Panama dominated early with Blas Pérez picking up a goal in the 28th minute and Luis Tejada picking up a goal in the 31st minute.

Tuesday night in the 2011 Gold Cup saw two Caribbean teams, Jamaica and Grenada, and two Central American teams, Honduras and Guatemala, play each other in Group B action at the Home Depot Center in Southern California.
The night's opening match between Jamaica and Grenada continued the one sided, multi goal scoring match that started the tournament in Arlington, Texas on Sunday night.

By Andrew Villegas MLS clubs are well represented on the rosters of the nations participating in this summer's Gold Cup (37 players total), and with good reason. National team managers are recognizing and tapping a growing pool of player talent in the United States' domestic league to fill their Gold Cup teams despite the league's reputation [.

The draw for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was announced today. Here are the three groups: Group A: Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba Group B: Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Grenada Group C: USA, Canada, Panama, Guadeloupe The top two in each group advance to the knockout stage, followed by the best two of the third-placed teams.

Honduras clinched their spot in this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup by defeating Guatemala 3-1. Motagua's Jorge Claros scored the winner in the closing stages of the first half, and the insurance goal in the final minute of the match. Guatemala will face Nicaragua, who drew 1-1 with Belize to clinch third place in Group A on goal difference.

El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rica have confirmed their places at this summer's Gold Cup. El Salvador and Panama won comfortable victories against the minnows of Central America -- the Salvadorans beat Belize 5-2 in the opening match, and Panama defeated Nicaragua 2-0. The local papers criticized Panama for not converting their superiority into more goals, which was the same problem that they had against Belize.

The 2011 Copa Centroamericana starts tomorrow in Panama, as the seven teams of UNCAF battle for the five Central American berths to the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer. Two groups -- one four teams (Panama, El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua) and the other three (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica) -- staging three tripleheaders over four days in one stadium.