Oh, What a Beautiful Monday!

Not a bad few days as CONCACAF goes, eh?

On Friday, the US Gold Cup squad played a friendly in San Diego against Guatemala. Guatemala is definitely in a bit of a rebuilding phase, having not made it to the Hex nor qualified for the Gold Cup. This means that this was perhaps not a fair judge of how the US might do in the Gold Cup, but it was good to see how the "B team" would fare against the sort of team they'll see in the tournament.

The game also marked the return of Landon Donovan to the national team. I, for one, am glad to see it. The man deserved his time away; he'd been playing non-stop for a few years, and had suffered injuries for the first time in his career in 2012. I'm hoping that a good showing in the Gold Cup will see him energized for a return to qualifying in September.

As for the game itself, Guatemala put up a good fight in the first half, but the US eventually broke them down and ran away with it in the second half, winning 6-0. Cool to see Donovan score his 50th and 51st international goals; also nice to see Stuart Holden continue to look good in his comeback bid.

On Sunday, the Gold Cup started in bizarre fashion. At the Rose Bowl, Martinique beat Canada 1-0 on a stoppage-time blast. I didn't watch the whole game, but what I saw wasn't good for Canada. Martinique controlled a decent amount of play, and their miracle goal was deserved.

As if that weren't strange enough, Panama then went on to beat Mexico 2-1. Mexico has also sent a B team, while I think Panama had most of their top players; still, it's not a good sign for LOL Tri. Who knew that Mexico vs Canada in the second group game would potentially see one of those teams eliminated from contention?