CONCACAF Gold Cup Final Live Blog

United States vs. Mexico 9:00 (FSC - JP Dellacamera and Kyle Martino, SR: Brian Dunseth)

CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinals Live Blog

For the first time ever, I will attempt to live blog a game not broadcast in English. Join for the trainwreck!

Panama vs. United States 7:00 (FSC - JP Dellacamera and Kyle Martino)

Mexico vs. Honduras 10:00 (Univision - Two Spanish speaking dudes who scream "GOL!" quite loudly)

Today Is Going To Be Quite The Day (Big Enough At Least That It Warrants This Open Thread)

Despite the fact that it appears that I am here online, I really am not. Even though you are seeing it now, at 1:00 PM ET, it is actually 12:54 AM ET and I am currently stuck in the hell hole known as the place that I work and chances are I am currently filing legal papers and am nowhere near a computer. Regardless, today is a big day for the sports world and should be one entertaining day. Therefore, even though I may only be here in the evening, I am setting up this open thread for not only do we have the United States looking to win it's first game ever at Estadio Azteca, but Pedro Martinez is making his pitching debut for the Phillies on ESPN. Yep, that's right, it's Pedro Martinez of the Philadelphia Phillies starting against former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago Cubs. Now there's a statement that 3 years ago I never thought I would say.

Your Mexico-U.S. soccer game will be on mun2 at 4:00 PM ET with Phil Schoen and Marcelo Balboa doing commentary.

Your Phils-Cubs baseball game will be on ESPN at 8:00 PM ET with (ironically, considering the above event and analyst) Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe on commentary.

Use this thread to document the action, leave Marcelo Balboa quotes, discuss the games, or just to scream "HOLY SHIT!" when something unbelieveable happens. Have a great time and maybe once I finish watching the United States and Mexico from my DVR without reading spoilers here, I'll join in for some convos about Martinez and Samardzija. This will (almost) be like the 2006 World Cup all over again; good times! Enjoy the games and leave comments!

Update: It may be poor quality and in Spanish, but for those that are not being fed mun2 and/or are watching baseball at this moment, here are your 1st half goals.



Update 2: For those who missed it, here is the game-winning goal for Mexico. And apparently it's brought to you by Piss Water, er, I mean Corona Beer. Yeah, that's it.

Marcelo Balboa May Now Be Available In Your Household On August 12 After All

We are just 1 week away from perhaps the biggest game the U.S. soccer team has played this whole crazy summer and now, we may have the biggest news of all about the game. Remember over a week ago when I posted the story of how the U.S. qualifying game next Wednesday at Estadio Azteca was only going to be available on mun2 and Telemundo with Marcelo Balboa making his return to broadcasting and analyzing (and I use those terms in the broadest sense possible), well, as it turns out, those that have DirecTV (that's me!), Dish Network, and (in some cases) Time Warner, will get their dose of awful announcing after all! How is that possible, you ask? Well, it has been decided that a "Free Preview" of mun2 is needed, and what better day for a free preview then on August 12, 2009, the same day that the United States is scheduled to take on Mexico in the World Cup qualifying game on mun2! Via Big Soccer.com

Various sources (not to be confused with Various Styles) are reporting this morning that on August 12, the day of the United States - Mexico game, Telemundo Soccer News Topics affiliate mun2 (mun dos) will be offering a "Free Preview" of their channel.

According to NBC Soccer News Topics Universal, mun2 has already received commitments from programming distributors that almost double their current 31 million household subscriber base.

DirecTV and Dish Network will both provide mun2 to their entire subscriber base that day free of charge.

Time Warner Soccer News Topics distributors will apparently make the decision on a case-by-case basis, so you might consider calling your local office and acting like a raving lunatic.

Furthermore, while mun2 is a Spanish language channel, for this game an English language "overlay" will be available through the SAP option on your TV. You now have one week to figure out how that works.

While I am excited that I won't have to scratch and claw for an online stream to see this game in any language, I am now somewhat disappointed that I will voluntarily subject myself to Marcelo Balboa's analysis (Phil Shoen will be working PbP). As much as I criticized NBC Universal et. al. for putting this game on mun2, a channel which most people in this country don't receive, I applaud them for giving some a free preview on the day of the game. Now if only they can somehow put it on Comcast as well, aside from the fact that they are actually paying Marcelo Balboa, there may not be too many complaints about this move. I know I'm excited.

USA! USA! USA!

(Big Time Hat Tip To James Craven!)

U.S. Embarrassed

Oy ve. I can't.....I can't even....oy ve. On the plus side, it was 0-0 at halftime! I'll just let Pablo Ramirez and Jesus Bracamontes of Univision take you through the 2nd half highlights of today's CONCACAF Gold Cup Championship and you'll get the point.



And to think that I thought about live blogging this game. I just hope that things turn out differently on August 12 when the U.S. travels to Estadio Azteca to take on Mexico in a World Cup qualifying game and they have their regulars playing once again. That game will by far be much more important than this one was.

And just as a couple asides, isn't it embarrassing that in a sold-out Giants Stadium, over 75% of the fans there were Mexican fans? And isn't it also embarrassing that I enjoyed watching Univision broadcasts of the game in Spanish, a language of which I only know a few words and phrases at best, then I did watching the American broadcasts on Fox Soccer Channel with Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan? Sullivan fidgits way too much with his headset when he is on camera and Max Bretos, Gus Johnson you are not.