Before I start, yes I used soccer and not football, but I felt it relevant since one of the two topics I wrote about involved the US national team. And in the USA and Canada, football is called soccer.
There, got that off my chest.
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2011 Gold Cup Final:
Mexico came back from 2-0 down to beat USA 4-2 and win their second Gold Cup on the trot. By retaining their CONCACAF championship, they have gone a step further in asserting their regional dominance, progressed further in erasing memories of bad previous defeats to their Northern neighbours as well as get some excellent warm-up action before their Copa America campaign against the big boys from South America.
USA player well and threatened to upset applecart by stopping the Mexican juggernaut but eventually did not have the composure or technical ability that their rivals did.
Opening goals from Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan were well worked but hardly emphatic and one sensed that Mexico were just slowly getting into gear while they recovered from a slow start.
Although Javier Hernandez had a quiet game, for once, despite coming close, others stepped up and into the breach. Pablo Berrera scored a brace, Andres Guardado scored the equalizer and finally Giovanni Dos Santos, who was a thorn in the American's side throughout, sealed the trophy with a fourth goal that completed the rout in the 76th minute.
It says much about the performance from El-Tricolore that second highest goalscorer Jesus De Nigris remained on the bench all game.
A flurry of defensive substitutions were a key feature of this game. First at 1-0, American defender Steve Cherundulo had to be hauled off as he picked up an injury, only to be followed by Mexican pair Rafael Marquez and Carlos Salcido, both of whom had been replaced by the 42nd minute.
Mexico repeated their 2009 win while Team USA had a good tournament but will have wanted to put an exclamation mark on their tournament with a win.
All the goals (replete with enthusiastic Spanish commentary):
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2011 Euro U-21 Final:
Spain, pre-tournament favourites, beat Switzerland 2-0in the final.
A efficient, creative and composed performance saw the Spanish junior team, if you will, beat their tricky opponents in a final that was played with the typical passing and moving style perfected by current Spanish footballing teams. Although Switzerland briefly threatened and leading scorer Adrian Lopez had an off day for the Spanish, once again, a complete team performance saw them through.
Goals from Ander Herrera and a sumptuous Thiago Alcantara free-kick sealed the win.
Herrera's header for 1-0
Alcantara's free kick for 2-0
Juan Mata and Javi Martinez both won their second international crown in two years with a Euro U-21 title to go with their World Cup win.
Spain keep rolling and now have a backup squad to their all conquering senior side.
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