This may be the first of a regular column on this blog letting you know of all the things going on in the world of football (or for us ignorant Americans: Soccer). I say may because I tend to forget that I should update the blog and days go by without posts. Basically, this will be a regular thing if I remember to do it!

But I digress....

With Summer now officially here, not much is going on. MLS and the League of Ireland are going on (as is the Russian Premier League, I think), but most club leagues in the world are in the off season. This leaves the ridiculousness that is the Transfer Market. Twitter rumors included. But, instead of wasting time talking about players that may or may not be going to this or that club, I want to focus on the beautiful game itself. Lots of International tourneys are going on and here is a Region by Region breakdown, starting with the Americas:

CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football)

The Gold Cup is into the Semifinals with (obviously) only 4 countries remaining. USA, Panama, Mexico, and Honduras. The games are tonight at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Final will be on June 25 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. 

USA vs. Panama   June 22, 2011 -  7:00pm EST

The United States finally remembered how to play the game and beat Jamaica in the Quarters 2-0. After a horrendous group stage that saw the Americans barely make it through, the dominating performance against the Reggae Boyz was very welcome.  Jermaine Jones had a wonderful strike 4 minutes after that break that broke the goalless deadlock and Clint Dempsey killed the game off with a good effort in the 80'.  


Their opponent will be Panama, who beat the US 2-1 in group play. The Canal Men edged El Salvador in the quarterfinals, winning in a penalty shootout after the teams played to a 1-1 draw. Striker Luis Tejada has been very good for Panama in the tourney, scoring 3 goals overall, including one in the 89' to push the game into penalties. 


It should be a very good game tonight. These teams only played 11 days ago and all the story lines are there. The US wants revenge. Panama are trying to get back to the finals for the first time since they were runners-up in 2005. Which one will make it to the Final at the Rose Bowl? 


Mexico vs. Honduras   June 22, 2011 - 10:00pm EST

Mexico has been blazing through the tournament winning all three of their group matches by at least 3 goals. In fact, their goal deferential in Group A was +13. Javier Hernández is on fire, leading all scorers with 6 goals in the competition. He had a hat trick in the first group match and the winning goal in the quarterfinals. He is the Mexican team. 

They will face Honduras, the runners-up in Group B. Like Panama, they qualified for the Semifinals through a penalty shoot out. It was a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica. Carlo Costly and Jerry Bengtson have been the offense, each scoring 3 goals in the Tournament so far. 


Not so sure this one will be as entertaining as the earlier game. Mexico has been demolishing team and look to have this one won even before the whistle blows. But Honduras could put up a fight and they have to score first to even make this a game. 










CONMEBOL  (South American Football Confederation (Spanish: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol))

Not a lot going in the Southern part of the Hemisphere at the moment. Most countries are gearing up for Copa América (in English: America Cup), which is the South America Championship. Argentina is the host country and the Group Stages start on July 1. Argentina and Uruguay have won the most titles followed by Brazil. All will be able to win and will be the favorites.
An  interesting fact about this tournament is that there are only 10 countries in the Confederation and the tournament has 12 spots. Because of this, the Confederation invites 2 teams from another Confederation to play. In years past the USA has played, most recently in 2007. This year the 2 teams are Mexico, fresh off playing in the Gold Cup and Costa Rica, who has already been eliminated from the Gold Cup. 
It should be a fun tournament all around.  

That's it for now, more to come in the next few days. We still have to cover Europe, Africa, and Asia. Should be fun.

And as always:

Let's go USA! 

                                                                                                                                                                    

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stages

The final matches in the group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup are tonight with Panama taking on Canada at 7pm EST and The US battling Guadeloupe at 9pm EST. 5 of the 8 spots have already been claimed in the Quarterfinals and the US and Canada are looking to grab one of the remaining 3. Both can advance with a win.

On a side note --- The games are both going to be played at the new Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. It's a beautiful stadium and part of me wants to watch the games just to see it. I posted about the Park a few days ago and included some sweet pictures. Feel free to check it out here.

Anyway, it's crunch time for the teams in Group C (except for Panama).

Here are the standings in the groups (via Wikipedia):

Key to colors in group tables
	Teams that advanced to the quarterfinals
	Eliminated from tournament

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	3	0	0	14	1	+13	9
Costa Rica	3	1	1	1	7	5	+2	4
El Salvador	3	1	1	1	7	7	0	4
Cuba	3	0	0	3	1	16	−15	0

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Jamaica	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
Honduras	3	1	1	1	7	2	+5	4
Guatemala	3	1	1	1	4	2	+2	4
Grenada	3	0	0	3	1	15	−14	0

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Panama	2	2	0	0	5	3	+2	6
United States	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
Canada	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3
Guadeloupe	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	0

First and Second place teams advance automatically and the two best third place teams move on as well. Guatemala, from Group B, has already claimed one of the Third place spots and the other will go to either El Salvador, from Group A, or the Third place finisher in Group C (The US, Canada, or Guadeloupe).


As you can see there are a lot of possible outcomes and it can become very confusing, especially because of the third place thing. I, for one, am just going to watch the matches tonight and enjoy the beauty of the game and the new stadium. I hope that the US wins and moves onto the next round and I will probably be rooting for our Canadian neighbors as well. Like I said before, both the US and Canada move on with Wins. Lets go USA! 

Enjoy the games!