USA Soccer Advances to Gold Cup Semis with Epic Win

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00:00Uh, the coach, uh, Punxsutawney Phil of the USA soccer program, uh, has got the boys in

00:09red, white, and blue in the semis, right?

00:12Of the gold cup.

00:13Very exciting.

00:14What's happening there.

00:15What did you think of their penalty kick win over Costa Rica, Mike?

00:20I will tell you, Scott, that I don't think I've ever seen a better shootout performance

00:25by a goalkeeper than Matt Fries delivered in that game.

00:29Uh, it, now look, I mean, he wasn't going against Lionel Messi and that group.

00:34Uh, it was Costa Rica, which is, uh, not the best iteration of Costa Rica that we've ever seen,

00:40but to, to get his hand on five of the six attempts and to stop three of them, uh, amazing.

00:48He, he guessed correctly on five of the six attempts and at least got a fingertip to five

00:54of them.

00:54You just don't see that, Scott, it doesn't happen.

00:56And he said after the game that shootouts, penalty shootouts are his thing.

01:02He's good at it.

01:03And, and he was really good at it on Sunday night.

01:06Uh, not again, not the greatest opposition, but no matter who you're going against, if

01:11it was me and you going up there to kick penalty, uh, they still have to guess right, or we've

01:16got a wide open goal.

01:17And he was able to do that consistently, uh, does a great job.

01:21Yeah.

01:22I, I, I, I will, I fell into that myself.

01:24Guess it's not guess they're reading it.

01:26They're trying to anticipate based on body language and angle, which way the player is

01:32going to go with their attempt.

01:34So it's not really a guess.

01:36It's a, it's a read.

01:37They don't always read correctly, but this time he did it almost every time.

01:41So they're playing Guatemala, uh, tomorrow, right tomorrow night at seven Eastern on, on

01:47FS one in the one semi.

01:49And then Mexico and Honduras is the nightcap, same channel right after the USA game.

01:56Uh, they look pretty good.

01:58All things being equal, uh, going into this game.

02:02And I guess for the first time, some excitement about them for next year in the, uh, real world

02:08cup.

02:09No.

02:09Um, yeah, I mean, I think that what this, this gold cup is doing, uh, and a loss to Guatemala

02:15would maybe undo some of it because Guatemala is not a powerhouse.

02:18Uh, they, they got a fortunate draw in that sense.

02:21Mexico got a slightly less fortunate, but still fortunate to not have to play Panama, uh, which

02:27had come in as one of the favorites in this tournament, both Canada and Panama lost semi

02:32final, uh, quarterfinal games that led to these semis.

02:36So I think if, if it's not Mexico us, it's going to be a little bit of a disappointment

02:40for the United States, but, uh, they have developed some elements of their 2026 world cup team

02:47through the use of this tournament.

02:49Uh, Max Arvston left back for Columbus crew.

02:52Uh, he, he, he was involved in all four goals on Sunday night to, he helped surrender.

02:59Uh, he committed a penalty that led to a, a, a goal for Costa Rica.

03:03Then he got beaten at the top of the box and that led to another.

03:06So he's got to do better defensively, but now the U S knows they go next year.

03:11Uh, they maybe need some help in the back offensively and they can bring him in.

03:15Uh, or if, uh, Jedi Robinson were to get injured, they know what they can get from Max, uh, Malik

03:21Tillman, their midfielder is, is the starter now on the, on the full national team.

03:25When they get everybody in camp, uh, hopefully in September for the friendly, they'll play

03:30in Columbus.

03:30He belongs on the field.

03:32There's no doubt right now.

03:34Gio Reyna, terrific talent, uh, hasn't gotten on the field much for Dortmund.

03:38Then here's Malik Tillman just got transferred to Leverkusen in the same, in, in the Bundesliga,

03:43the same league, and he's gotten transferred for $40 million or so and playing brilliantly.

03:48So they've learned that.

03:49And now they know, uh, that they've got another keeper and freeze that they can use in certain

03:53situations.

03:54Maybe they get into a world cup, uh, and they're late in the game and they've got a sub left,

03:59uh, and they are, they're playing, let's say they're playing Matt Turner at keeper, but

04:02would you not want to put Matt freeze into the game for a shootout?

04:06If you needed it to move on to the next round?

04:08I sure would.

04:09So they've learned a lot about this team.

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