Wednesday’s soccer news starts with the USMNT learning its opponent in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinals. Jamaica finished 2nd in group C and will play the United States on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium (9:30pm – FS1). Costa Rica won the group with a 1-0 shutout of Jamaica at Exploria Stadium and will play Canada in the quarterfinals. Bryan Ruiz scored the game’s only goal in the 53rd with Costa Rica’s goalkeeper Leonel Moreira seeing red in the 72nd minute. Estaban Alvarado subbed on to complete the clean sheet.
USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter began the process of adjusting his roster with the announcement that Walker Zimmerman is unavailable due to a hamstring injury. Berhalter called in two MLS players with New England Revolution defender Henry Kessler and San Jose Earthquakes forward Cade Cowell now in camp. The next step is to notify Concacaf of roster changes under the confederation’s recently announced injury/sickness substitution policy.
In the other group C finale, Suriname beat Guadeloupe 2-1 to finish 3rd. Gleofilo Vlijter scored for Suriname in the 14th with Matthias Phaeton equalizing in the 20th. Guadeloupe went a man down with a red card to Kelly Irep in the 20th. Nigel Hasselbaink scored for Suriname in the 79th with the referee red carding Guadeloupe’s Quentin Annette in stoppage time.
Qatar won group D with a 2-0 shutout of Honduras at BBVA Stadium. Homam Ahmed scored in the 25th with Abdulaziz Hatem finishing off the goals four minutes into stoppage time. Honduras didn’t have a shot on goal. Qatar plays El Salvador in the quarterfinals with Honduras finishing 2nd and facing Mexico. Panama beat Grenada 3-1 in the other group D game to finish in 3rd-place. Alberto Quintero opened the scoring for Panama in the 7th minute with Jose Rodriguez adding goals in the 27th and 64th. Romar Frank scored for Grenada in the 76th minute.
Moving to MLS, Vancouver and Houston drew 0-0 at Rio Tonto Stadium. The Dynamo put one shot on goal to none for the Whitecaps.
In UEFA Champions League qualifying, Mix Diskerud subbed out in the 62nd minute of Omonia’s 2-0 loss at Dinamo Zagreb. The goals came in the 65th and 81st minutes. Omonia hosts Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday to finish the second round series.
MLSsoccer’s Charles Boehm profiles USMNT and NYCFC player James Sands. ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle has the conclusion of the Relevant Sports lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation. DW on Schalke’s upcoming season in the 2.Bundesliga. The Athletic’s Peter Rutzler explains the situation with Barcelona and new salary rules in Spanish soccer.
USMNT vs Canada Gold Cup game Sunday on Fox drew almost 1.4 million viewers, up 15% over previous Fox GC USA match (2017)
Top 3 markets:
1. Kansas City
2. Portland
3. Salt Lake CityMEX v ES on FS1 on Saturday night drew 323,000 (combined with Univision, that’s about 4mil)
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 20, 2021
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Graphic courtesy of Concacaf
