Bob Bradley
U.S. 2-1 Panama: Cooper the hero in OT
With just one regular in the starting lineup, the United States rallied past Panama into the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Kenny Cooper converted a penalty kick in the 105th minute, giving the two-time defending champions a 2-1 victory and a semifinal berth against Honduras, which beat Canada 1-0 in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“It was ideal to finish it off in regulation, but it took 30 extra minutes and that still says something about this group,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said.
It also says something about your coaching too Bob Bradley when you have to take Panama to extra time in order to advance. It doesn’t matter if it’s the B team there should be no way Panama makes it that close on your home soil. Generally when a team makes a coaching change the new coach is usually a complete 180 from the old coach. Why hire someone with the same mindset as the previous coach would be the line of thinking? Bob Bradley’s American teams are pretty much the same as Bruce Arena’s American teams. Way too cautious, little creativity and against the top teams they will not score from open play unless the other team makes a mistake. All of this American fans have seen before. What bugged me most about yesterday’s game was the U.S come out for the second half with the right idea and it quickly lead to a goal five minutes in. After Kyle Beckerman’s goal the U.S reverted back to the same old cautious style which did them no good in the first half. The States were given the blue print to succeed and failed to pick up on it. I can understand playing cautious the last 5-10 minutes of a half leading into extra time but not the final 40 minutes.