The USA continued their fine play of late with a 2-0 win over Honduras in their Gold Cup Group B game in front of 26,000 at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on July 8th. The Americans cemented the win with two goals in the last 15 minutes.

Santino Quaranta scored his first international goal in his first game in over three years for America and then Brian Ching doubled the score on a header just four minutes later. Quaranta took in a short pass from Charlie Davies at the top of the penalty box and slammed in the goal.

“It’s hard to explain how special it is,” Quaranta said. “I was trying to tell myself all day just to enjoy it, but it was difficult.”

Quaranta hasn’t played for his country for a few years, because of admitted drug and alcohol addictions. He currently plays with D.C. United of the MLS and has cleaned himself up all the way to the national team.

“To listen to the anthem was very emotional for me,” Quaranta stated. “It’s been a fun, long road back.”

The USA extended its remarkable streak in Gold Cup group stage games to an overall record of 23-0-1 as they attempt to hold onto their title. They’re well on their way as they sit on top of Group B with six points and play Haiti on July 11th in Foxborough, Mass. A draw there would guarantee them as group champions and a spot in the quarterfinals.

Honduras (1-1) will play against Grenada the same day. Haiti is also 1-1 as they beat Grenada 2-0 in the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader.

The Americans might have thought they were the away team as the majority of the crowd seemed to be Honduran supporters. It was a bit of a physical game with each team receiving two yellow cards and committing 24 fouls between them.

In the other Group B game, Haiti beat Grenada in a wide-open, entertaining affair. Fabrice Noel put Haiti in front early with a goal in the 14th minute. It came off of a free kick by Brunel Fucien and Noel who was in the penalty area deflected it into the back of the net.

James Marcelin then put the final nail in the coffin as he buried a goal in the 78th minute. Marcelin took a pass from Raymond Ednerson, beat a defender at the inside the penalty area, and then neatly beat keeper Desmond Noel. It was a goal that was preventable though as the Grenada defender completely missed the ball as it looked like he was leaving it for the goalie to collect.

Both teams created numerous chances to score and if they could have hit the target, the score could have been quite a bit higher. Each team received two yellows and there were 23 fouls between them. It wasn’t a dirty game, but FIFA really has to sooner or later get the guts to crack down on all of the holding and tugging going on in football. It’s getting ridiculous as players are getting away with more than they do in a rugby match.

It was Haiti’s first Gold Cup win since 2002.

Honduras beat Haiti 1-0 in Seattle, Washington, on July 4th in the opening Group B games for both teams. Carlos Costly scored the winner as he headed in a Walter Martinez free kick in the 76th minute.

Martinez drove in his cross on the free kick from the left side of the penalty area and Costly jumped for it and directed the ball into right corner of the net. Haitian goalkeeper Jean Dominique Zephrin didn’t really have a chance to save it.

Costly has been on a bit of a streak lately as he has four goals in the current World Cup qualifying for Honduras. He nearly doubled the score just a few minutes later, but his 35-yard drive at the wide-open net was kicked off the line at the last second by Haiti’s Pierre Richard Bruny.

Haiti started the game well and had a couple of chances to take the lead, however Honduran keeper Donis Escober was up to the task. He dove to grab the ball from the foot of Fabrice Noel right in front of the net in the 19th minute. Noel then came close a bit later on as his 25-yard shot just went wide of the left post in the 32nd minute.

Honduras then created some chances of their own towards the end of the first half as Martinez tried his luck from 10 yards out, but his shot was saved at the post by keeper Jean Dominique Zephrin. Then just before the whistle, Nery Medina hammered a drive from 30 yards away from the right wing and it looked like it might sneak in the upper left corner, but Zephrin made a great save and knocked it out of harm’s way at the last second.

It was another pretty tame game, like all of the Gold Cup matches so far, with each team picking up two yellow cards each. There were just 16 fouls committed in the match. Even though there hasn’t really been a lot of intensity in the tournament so far, the majority of matches have been pretty entertaining with some goal scoring chances created by each team.

Perhaps the work rate will pick up once the knockout round starts. And it’s going to take a poor performance not to make the next stage as eight of the 12 teams in the Cup will move on to the playoffs. The top two teams in each group as well as the two best third-place teams.

The United States and Honduras share top spot in Group B with three points each after the first round of matches, but the Americans have a better goal difference after their 4-0 thumping over Grenada in the opening game of the double header in Seattle. Haiti and Grenada are both tied at the bottom of the group with no points.

Honduras will take on the United States on July 8th in Washington, D.C., in the second of its three Group B games. Haiti will play Grenada on the same day in Washington.

African champions Egypt have put themselves in a good position to advance in the Confederations Cup with a 1-0 win over world champions Italy on June 18th. The result just goes to show that football matches are won, lost and drawn on the pitch and nowhere else.

Egypt deserved to win and perhaps other teams and managers (such as Iraq) should be forced to watch a tape of the game to realize that if you put a little effort into and actually attempt to win a game, anything can happen. Italy won’t soon forget it as it was their first ever loss to an African nation in 15 games. It also shows that the gap between African and European teams is quickly narrowing.

All four teams in Group B, Italy, Egypt, Brazil, and the USA still have a chance to make it into the semi finals. Brazil has won both games and sits on top of the group with six points, followed by Italy, and Egypt with three each and America with none. However, America plays Egypt next on Sunday (June 21st) and Italy takes on Brazil. There can be no match fixing here. Brazil can go through with a point, but a draw might not do Italy any good if Egypt wins. It should make for quite a gripping pair of games.

The USA was beaten 3-0 June 18th by Brazil and are a minus five in goal differential, it would take a miracle for them to go through, but miracles have been known to happen every so often.

It shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that Egypt was able to take all three points against Italy as they lost in the last minute to Brazil in their opening match. An unmarked Mohamed Homos sealed the win for the underdogs as he powerfully headed home the winning goal off of a corner in the 39th minute.

Of course Egypt’s veteran goalie Essam Al Hadari had to make several saves to earn the win, especially in the second half, but that’s his job and he did it well. It also took a little luck and some help from the wood work as Vincenzo Iaquinta rattled the crossbar with a long-ranger for Italy with a few minutes to go in the game.

Italy’s manager Marcello Lippi took the loss in stride though and said, “All the teams today are very good. You always have to be at your best. We tried some different things. It didn’t go very well. Their keeper made three or four very difficult saves.”

Lippi might regret making five changes from the side that beat America 3-1 in the first game though. Captain Fabio Cannavaro came back and played in his 124th game for his country, which is just two shy of Paolo Maldini’s Italian record of 126.

Whoever goes through on Sunday will have to face Spain and either host nation South Africa, or Iraq as the two semi finalist from Group A. That group will be decided on June 20th. Spain has already clinched a top-two spot with six out of six points.