Border battle

U.S. takes on Canada in Gold Cup semifinals

Cobi Jones will record his 149th cap if he plays against Canada. AP

PASADENA, California (Ticker) -- The United States will take on historic rival Canada on Wednesday night at the Rose Bowl in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

With the match, the U.S. will have progressed to more Gold Cup semis than any other nation -- five out of six. The Americans are 3-1 in Gold Cup semifinals, including a memorable 1-0 victory over Brazil in 1998.

The U.S. has won eight straight against its neighbors to the north, the last meetings coming in World Cup qualifying in 1998 -- a pair of 3-0 victories.

More impressive is that the U.S. has shut out the Canadians six times in those eight meetings, outscoring them 13-3.

"Obviously, they are very difficult to play against and they have been very successful here," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said of the defending tournament champions. "No one's been able to eliminate them in this tournament now in two tries, so that's going to be quite a task on our hands.

From Soccer America The U.S. has to make at least one change from the starting 11 that tore apart El Salvador behind a Brian McBride hat trick. Ante Razov, who scored the fourth goal, suffered a groin pull shortly after scoring and is out. Josh Wolff, who didn't play in the quarterfinal, will likely start up front alongside McBride unless coach Bruce Arena pulls a surprise and turns to DaMarcus Beasley The Canadians consider themselves the underdogs. But Canada was certainly an underdog in 2000 and came out on top. But that team had more of its top dogs than it does this time around. FULL STORY

"They play everyone tough. Even the game they lost in this tournament, I think it went 88 minutes before Ecuador got on the board. They have a real physical presence. They are outstanding on attacking restarts, and that's an area where they probably get all their goals."

One key in defending against those restarts will be Sunday's man of the match, Brian McBride. Sunday, McBride notched three goals in 12 minutes en route to the Americans' 4-0 victory over El Salvador.

"There's no question he's made it back from his injuries, which is good news," Arena said. "He's not where he wants to be, or where I want him to be, and that's just going to take some time."

Wednesday's doubleheader begins at 9 p.m. EST with South Korea facing Costa Rica. The U.S. and Canada will kick off some two hours later.

Cobi Jones is two appearances away from passing Lothar Matthaeus on the all-time list. Should he play Wednesday and Saturday, he will record is 150th cap, good enough for third best in the world.

Arena is two wins shy of breaking former coach Steve Sampson's record of 26 with the men's national team. Bora Milutinovic holds the all-time record for wins with the United States, recording 30.

 

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