World Cup Qualifiers... the bombing of Cuba

United States 6 - 1 Cuba

Just finished watching this game on tape, as I was over at a friend's last night watching the first two Saw movies. First thing I have to say is that the score tells us nothing about this US team, and having watched it tells little more. Cuba are a team of players with no professional league to hone their skills in, so beating them by 5 goals isn't something to get excited about, it's merely to be expected.

That said, the margin of victory could well have been greater. I saw far too many giveaways for the US team to be happy with their performance. I was, however, greatly pleased to see Altidore score the final goal of the match after coming on in the second half.

Beasley was also pleasing, as he seems to be regaining his form, but against a team like Cuba I'm not going to let his two goals go to my head. Let's see how he, and the rest of the team faces some real competition... say like when they finally have to face Mexico later on in the final stages of these Qualifiers. Until then, the wins should just be expected.



Argentina 2 - 1 Uruguay

I tried to watch this game over the internet, I really did. I just couldn't. The small screen, the constant delays in the feed... just wasn't worth it. From what I understand it was an ugly game with lots of fouls and yellow cards flying. Tevez and Riquelme will miss Wednesday's game against Chile due to yellow card accumulation.

Still, a win for Argentina, which puts them in second place in the Qualifying table, 4 points off the pace being set by Paraquay of all teams. With 9 more games to play, there's still a long way to go before things are decided.