The USA brushed Mexico aside to win the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2-1. For once the Mexicans were out of excuses, as the US deservedly won the match, even coming back from a goal down.

Previous USA-Mexico games had been accompanied by rigorous bouts of "we were the better team" from the Mexicans (only when they lost of course), and... truth be told... they were justified in many of these claims. But last night the USA for once took the initative and were rewarded, although this was by no means an easy victory.

Although Andres Guardado and Nery Castillo were both incredibly dangerous on the day as individuals, Mexico never really looked cohesive enough as a team. The US were quite fluid and passed better, and as I said earlier, took the initative more. The Mexicans seemed to be playing as the US had for many of their previous encounters, closing down, trying to win the ball back and launch counter-attacks at every opportunity. The US for all their efforts, had gotten nothing, and they went into-half time even more under pressure after having gone a goal down in the 44th minute.

The lethargic, error-prone Onyewu was once again culpable. Having received the help of the officials in saving his face after gifting a wrongly disallowed equaliser to the Canadians, he failed to pick up the lurking Guardado, who poked the ball into the net to give the Mexicans the lead.

But the US came out strong and focussed in the second-half. Ricardo Clark replaced the dull Mastroeni, and did a great job hustling and bustling, and imposing himself on the midfield. To his credit, the misfiring Benny Feilhaber pulled himself together, and starting pinging passes around and running the show. Many US fans regard him as someone with the potential to be a genuinely top-class playmaker, something the team needs to complement the roaming wizardy of Landon Donovan. He is inconsistent though, but today he really shone, and capped his performance of with something really special (but more on that later).

The US got their reward in the 60th minute though. Brian Ching was tripped in the box, in what was a technically legitimate, but also very "soft" penalty. Ching had done nothing all game, and this was his decisive contributon. Landon Donovan stepped up, and as he so often does, put the ball in the back of the net. 1-1 to the US.

And then came Feilhaber's coupe de grace. With just over 15 minutes left to go, a clearance looped up in the air and just out of the Mexican penalty area. Feilhaber was lurking outside, and as the ball fell, he adjusted himself to deliver one of the most sweetly-struck, unstoppable volleys that you will ever see. It was an absolutely top class goal, and the kind that you dream you will score as the winning goal in a cup-final.

And that was it really. It knocked the stuffing out of the Mexicans, and the US could have gone ahead further, but DaMarcus Beasley and Ching both hit the woodwork.

And that was that. 2-1, congratulations to the States. I suspect the Mexicans were saving themselves for the Copa America a little bit, but who knows, maybe there will be a re-match in a month's time (however unlikely that is). Cuauhtemoc Blanco gave a fair assessment of the game... that the US had deserved their victory, but the Mexicans had wasted whatever chances they had.

And here's Feilhaber's goal:

The USA beat Canada 2-1 last night in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final to reach yet another final. However the game ended very controversially, when an equaliser in the last seconds of injury time from Canada was ruled out for no good reason.

The "scorer", Denmark-based Atiba Hutchinson was shown to be about level with the defense when the ball came to him, but that was irrelevant anyways, as the ball had arrived at his feet via a wayward header from USA defender Oguchi Onyewu. By the laws of the game, with Onyweu getting the final touch, Hutchinson was not offside. To add to that, it was not as if it was a pass that had deflected off Hutchinson (which would have somewhat made the decision more palatable), but just a desperate, badly executed header from the big defender that put the ball into the Canadian midfielder's path. It was tough on the reds.

Earlier in the game, the USA had gone ahead through veteran right-back Frankie Hejduk, who had charged upfield to combine well with Donovan and then tuck the ball past Pat Onstad, the stand-in Canadian 'keeper.

Donovan then doubled their lead from the penalty spot after Onstad had clumsily brought down DaMarcus Beasley, who had been played in brilliantly by Clint Dempsey.

However, Canada fought their way back into the game through the tigerish Iain Hume, and then proceeded to charge forward at every available opportunity. The Canadians possess technical midfielders of a very, very high quality in De Guzman, De Rosario and Hutchinson, and along with the experience, attitude and ability of Paul Stalteri and Ante Jazic behind them, they should never have allowed themselves to slip behind in the way they did, but having dug their own hole they almost managed to climb out of it.

Hutchinson scored, Team Canada went wild, the linesman and referee made their opinions known, and the gloss was taken of an amazingly exciting finish. Paul Stalteri was livid at the shame-faced officials, and rightly so, but really Canada had only themselves to blame in letting this game slip away.

The USA, on balance of play, deserved to go through, but had much to thank Lady Luck for. Yet again they will face Mexico in the final in what can only turn out to be a fiery encounter.

The Mexicans had beaten Guadeloupe 1-0 with a wondergoal from Pavel Pardo.

Despite their strong showing at the World Cup (well... relatively speaking), the Tobagans have failed to provide much impact at the Gold Cup, and seem to rely too much on a few of their European based players, all of whom are missing at this event. Once again, they were beaten, this time by a US team that had several changes made to it, with more youngsters and new faces, and key man Landon Donovan on the bench.

Although T&T weren't swept aside, they didn't offer much of a threat. They lacked any kind of spark, and although they offered some brief, arbitrary resistance after Brian Ching scored the first goal for the US, but never looked like seriously causing any trouble.

Team USA produced a solid, professional performance on this occassion. They had endured much criticism for their struggling performance against minnows Guatemala, and this time around they did the job more convincingly. The England-based centre-back pairing of Jay DeMerit and Frankie Simek both produced solid, effective performances at the back, undoubtedly helped by the presence of Kasey Keller behind them between the goalposts.

In midfield, Ricardo Clark and Benny Feilhaber produced industrious performances to ensure that the ball was won and possession kept, and that was a major improvement on the last game where the USA couldn't take control in the middle of the park.

Ching's goal came from some excellent play by Justin Mapp from the left, although Mapp's contribution was otherwise limited. Ching as always was tidy and dangerous. He may not always look like scoring, but always contributes.

However, on this occassion, although the USA managed to impose itself on the game, the attacking play was very disjointed and lacked any sort of finesse. Landon Donovan's introduction in the second-half completely changed that, and he contributed immediately, showing all his wizardry to conjure up a perfect ball for Eddie Johnson after exchanging passes with Ching. Johnson duly produced the finish, and the more or less wrapped it up for the States.

It's a big relief for Bob Bradley, but in some ways worrying as well, because sans Donovan, the US looked very, very impotent. It's not a situation that will matter in bigger games, because Donovan will be an automatic choice for those, but if injuries take their toll, then I can imagine that Bob Bradley would be quite perturbed, because his side didn't seem to know what they were doing with their talisman.

Anyways, there are a lot of positives to take out of this game for the US - I would stick with the same pairing in the centre of the defence. Ogyuchi Onyewu seems to have a very inflated reputation with US "soccer" fans, and indeed on paper with his presence and physical abilities, he has all the attributes needed to succeed in that position. But he seems to lack the know-how that Simek and DeMerit have from playing against difficult opposition in England. Onyewu's time at Newcastle was underwhelming, and he's probably not high on confidence at the moment either.

As for Donovan, it's probably worth leaving him on the bench again once or twice, just to see if the team can manage to pull themselves together without him... it will be beneficial for the future.

Well, the first set of group matches at the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup are complete. Admittedly it's not the most prestigious or exciting tournament in the world, but it is important to the development of the game in an area where football is growing at a very rapid rate.

Opening day opened with a bit of an upset, Canada toppling Costa Rica 2-1 with goals from Deportivo midfielder Julian de Guzman. Costa Rica are clearly not the same without their talisman Paulo Wanchope, and it will be interesting to see how they fare in this tournament. They have always been exciting, difficult opposition with Wanchope leading the line, now nobody knows.

Two Francophone teams also faced off that day - Guadeloupe and Haiti playing to a 1-1 draw.

Then, the next day, the USA produced a lacklustre performance in a 1-0 win over Guatemala. It was interesting to see since the US are somewhat favourites for the tournament. They have a host of European-based players, and of course the MLS is one of the best 3 leagues in the region. On the day however, they were very ineffective. The Guatemalans were extremely physical, and managed to bully the Americans a bit, but it's all part of the game.

Several voices in the media have criticised the physical play from the Guatemalans, but there is a huge element of hypocrisy to that. The USA have long been a very physical team, full of athletes and big strong lads at the back and in the middle. That they now start getting bullied by the Guatemalans (who hardly have a reputation for being physical, or at least effectively so) now seems a bit silly. Still, a win is a win. The only goal was scored by Clint Dempsey, who although he was patchy, seems to be in a bit of form having ended the season well with Fulham. Ogyuchi "Gooch" Onyewu failed to keep his cool in the face of provocation from the infuriating Ruiz, but really the USA will have to play miles better if they think they can win. This is of course a big test for coach Bob Bradley, having replaced the "legendary" (he qualifies doesn't he?) Bruce Arena. History has often shown that successors to legends seldom last long, but play their part in paving the way for the future.

Trinidad & Tobago, who gave a decent showing at the World Cup lost pathetically to El Salvador, 2-1, although almost ALL their big name players were missing.

Neighbours Panama and Honduras played out a thrilling 3-2 game. Losers Honduras had the odds against them from the start when they had a man sent off after 26 minutes, and then found themselves a goal down after 33. They rallied well through MLS star Amado Guevara, but then conceded another two goals. They scored a Costly consolation in the 90th minute.

Finally, heavyweights Mexico were given a scare by minnows Cuba (no offence Fidel), when they allowed the Cubans to score the first goal. But they soon sorted matters out through their long-necked talisman striker Jared Borgetti (who is also quite long-in-the-teeth by now as well) to make it 1-1, and then up-and-comer Nery Castillo scored the winner. The Mexicans had a full-strength side out and really made hard work of their more baseball-inclined opposition.