2013 Gold Cup: USA defeat Panama 1-0

As the European club season starts to round back into shape, we had to say goodbye to the latest version of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. This year's final gave us a bit of a surprise, because many of us expected a USA vs Mexico showdown.

Instead, we got a clash between Panama and the United States. Panama shocked Mexico in the group stage and in the semifinals to arrive at the final game with a boatload of confidence. And while riding the greatest winning streak in it's history, the USA we're also high on their confidence.

Even though Panama is considered a "weak" team in CONCACAF, they put up a great fight, making the USA struggle to finish chances in the first half. They even had a few counter-attack chances that made me sweat (I'm a big USA fan).

The second half was a bit more like normalcy for the USA during this tournament. They started linking up well with another, and it culminated in a goal by Brek Shea that proved to be the game winner in the 69th minute. Although Shea hasn't had the most consistent tournament, he's been very clutch. He's scored twice, and they've both proved to be game winners against some of the best teams in the tournament (Costa Rica in the group stage, Panama today). After the whistle blew, the fans at Soldier Field went wild and the players went crazy. U.S. Soccer made their claim to be the best in CONCACAF.

The only downside to this game was the injury towards midfielder Stuart Holden. Many big USA fans know the talent & bad luck that Stu has. Injuries towards his knee have cost him a couple of years, and it's been a huge uphill battle just for him to get back to the national team. To see him going down today was horrifying. Luckily, it was only diagnosed as a sprained knee. Hopefully it's only a minor sprain and he can get back to playing well for Bolton. Our good vibes and prayers are with you, Stu! #NoHoldenBack

Open Championship POTW: Rickie Fowler vs. Nicolas Colsaerts

Welcome to our Picks of the Week game! Rules are simple: Each week Bernardo and I will select one golfer entered in the current tournament. Whichever golfer finishes highest earns one of us a point. Exceptions: 3 points if our golfer wins the whole thing, Major Championships are doubled (so that's a possibility of 6 points), and tied finishes result in 0 points. Oh, and once we use a golfer, we can't use him for the rest of year. We're doing this until the TOUR Championship. Bernardo has won this 2 times in a row, so let's see if he can go for the three peat! 

 VS

JJ: Ahhh. Here we are, the Open Championship, aka the British Open. Golf's version of Wimbledon for us Americans. The waking up early/staying up late is always a treat, and with no clear favorite to win the tournament, this tournament should be very memorable. So far, we've had major winners finally fulfill their potential. And because of that, I'm going to go with an American that has a lot of potential: Rickie Fowler. Rickie hasn't had the greatest of seasons, but he has had good memories here and definitely has the creativity to win here. Do work, Rickie!

Bernardo: Golf’s third major championship is upon us. The British Open tends to bring out the best and worst of most golfers. The most exciting part is seeing the distribution on the scoreboard. Rounds varying from a few under par (if lucky) to rounds reaching ninety.  With that said I’m going with someone whom I know very little of. I’m picking the Belgian star, Nicolas Colsaerts. Word on the course is he’s a pretty darn good player and I’ll take them up on that. Hopefully he can find some success at Muirfield since he seems to play well in majors. Good luck mate!

JJ's used: Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel, Retief Goosen, Jason Day, Charles Howell III, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, David Toms, Keegan Bradley, Tiger Woods

Bernardo's used: Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Aaron Baddeley, Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Steve Stricker, Brian Davis, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Matt Kuchar

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Video: "This Is Sportscenter" featuring Rickie Fowler

It looks like ESPN and John Anderson have figured out why Rickie Fowler wears such colorful outfits. At first, I just thought he was a fashion trend setter, but now after realizing that he mixes up orange juice with milk, those outfits might not really be planned after all...

Check out the latest and greatest "This Is Sportscenter" video below to see what I'm talking about.

Video: Making A Driver For A Pro

Ever wondered how those guys in the equipment vans make clubs for their professionals? Say no more, as pgatour.com gave us a good insight on what goes down in these tour vans.

Pgatour.com showed us the ins and outs of the Taylormade golf van. In this video, Wade Liles shows us how to make a driver for Sergio Garcia. Everything from shaft customization to double checking the loft/lie angles is covered in this short video. For all of you that are fascinated with how clubs are created, especially for some of the best golfers in the world, check this video out.


Credit to pgatour.com

2013 Gold Cup: USMNT crush Belize

On Tuesday, the United States opened up their Gold Cup against Belize. The USMNT were clearly the better team, crushing their opponents by a score of 6-1. San Jose Earthquakes striker Chris Wondolowski scored a first half hat trick as the Americans controlled a majority of the game. The only worrisome moment for the USA was when Belize scored off of a set piece. Other than that, the US looked very sharp and should be set for a deep run in the tournament.

The USMNT play on Saturday vs. Cuba on 3:30 EST on FOX. They lead the group with Costa Rica (both have 3 points), while Belize and Cuba will play each other to get their first points of the tournament. Check out the highlights below:

Soccer/Football Transfers: Gomez to Fiorentina; Villa to Atletico Madrid

In the world of club soccer/football, 2 pretty big moves happened today. Two huge teams offloaded out of form strikers to some surprising teams.

In Germany, recent UCL winners transfered striker Mario Gomez to Italian club Fiorentina. Gomez, who has been riding the bench thanks to Mario Mandzukic, wanted more playing time elsewhere and has gotten it.  Overall, this move seems like a win-win, with Gomez probably getting good playing time at a decent team in Italy, while this move gives new coach Pep Guardiola more money to spend on other big name players.

Meanwhile, in Spain, Guardiola's old club FC Barcelona moved one of his former star forwards in David Villa. The scorer never regained his starting place in the squad after a horrific leg injury, and Barca looked to move him for some money. And since Radamel Falcao left to AS Monaco, Atleti needed a new striker. Villa should be a good fit for them, and now FCB have a clear pathway for Neymar to get a lot of playing time. One could say this move was a bit of a surprise, as many expected Arsenal to be able to snatch up his services.

What are your thoughts on these latest transfer events? Let us know in the comments.

Wimbledon 2013: King Murray... Pt. 2

Sorry for the hiatus, everyone! We were busy with work and school, and didn't have much time to be able to write about all of the crazy sports going on lately. But fear not, we are back, and should hopefully be able to pump out at least 1 post per day. Starting... now!

By now, everyone has known about Andy Murray and him being the best chance for a British man to win Wimbledon for the first time in a million years. He was considered the next great hope after Fred Perry won the last one for the Brits.

Well now, we can finally confirm that he your new Wimbledon champion, and has lifted the Wimbledon monkey off of the United Kingdom's back. He has ended their drought by defeating world No.1 Novak Djokovic by a score of 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. And although the score shows a straight sets victory for Andy, it wasn't that at all. This match could have easily gone 5 sets, and in my opinion, should have gone 5 sets. Andy just happened to raise his game at the right time a little better than Novak did.

It was nothing short of a battle, however. It took Murray 4 championship points just to close out Djokovic. And as hard as Novak fought, he just wasn't good enough today.

So after Andy's most coveted win, he now has his 2nd major title. In 2013, Djokovic has 1 (Australian Open), Rafa Nadal has 1 (French Open), and now Andy has 1 (Wimbledon). Only the U.S. Open is left. Does this mean it's Federer's time? The big 4 all won a major last year. I could see it happening again this year.

Congratulations, Andy! Enjoy the title.

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