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 US Men's National Soccer Team (what a moutful) breezed past El Salvador in the Gold Cup yesterday, with goals from DaMarcus Beasley (2), Landon Donovan and the hilariously/brilliantly/absurdly monikered Taylor Twellman. They were already through to the quarters after winning their first two games, and they went into this tie quite relaxed.

There really wasn't much chance of El Salvador taking anything from this match; in the history of this tournament they've conceded 12 goals and scored non against the States, although both teams worked very hard for the first 30-odd minutes, until Beasley gave the States the lead. 1-0 in the 34th minute. Donovan's corner somehow arrived at his feet after a scramble in the box, and he finished easily.

Next came a somewhat "controversial" goal in first-half injury time. The El Salvadorians will feel doubly hard done by, when having already been penalised for a penalty after an unintentional hand ball, the referee ordered the penalty to be retaken after their keeper had saved it. As far as the penalty goes, well El Salvador had a strong case, but at the same time these things keep happening. As far as penalising the keeper for moving off his line, I suppose by the written rules it was illegal, although how often do we see it? No one complained much though, because Donovan tucked the rebound in immediately.

Anyhow, Donovan put his retaken attempt straight down the middle, 2-0 to the US. Th El Salvador coach was then sent off at the end of it all, protesting far too much to the Mexican referee at half-time.

Twellman added the gloss in a US-dominated second-half, scoring in the 73rd minute to make it 3-0, and then Beasley capped the result in the 89th minute, producing an easy finish to make it 4-0.

Game, set, match.

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.