USA 1-1 Jamaica: The United States drew 1-1 against Jamaica in the first group match at the Gold Cup last night. For a long time it even looked like Team USA would lose its opening game, but in the end it turned in the other direction.
Defending champion America starts cautiously at the Gold Cup
The USMNT was already in the first fifteen minutes. Damion Lowe headed in from a free kick. It could have been worse, but Leon Bailey missed a penalty on behalf of the Reggae Boyz after half an hour. Even the rebound for an almost open goal was not spent on the Aston Villa man.
They had to pay for that miss when AZ player Djordje Mihailovic was introduced. A badly processed cross landed right in front of the right foot of Brandon Vázquez. Who gave his team an all in all well deserved point. USA and Jamaica remain the clear favourites in Group A. Two teams will qualify from the group and the other opponents are Trinidad & Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Philadelphia Union 4-1 Inter Miami
There will come a day when Lionel Messi will make his Inter Miami debut. Unfortunately it failed to happen on Saturday. An enthusiastic Inter Miami supporter thought it was smart to travel to his club’s game against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
He travelled 2000 kilometres for nothing. By American standards, that is not even a very far away game, but the journey from Miami at the tip of Florida to the city on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey is still about two thousand kilometres. Armed with a placard on which the zealous supporter wrote how far he had travelled to see Messi shine for his club, he took his seat for the big moment.
Of course that never came. Messi is officially a player of Paris Saint-Germain until June 30. And the Argentinian celebrated his birthday on Saturday in Rosario at a football party hosted by his friend Maxi Rodríguez. The supporter checked one last time to see if his idol wasn’t secretly making his appearance. And then threw his sign over the fence in frustration.
It is not yet known whether the boy is a supporter of Inter Miami. It is hoped not for him: that team lost 4-1 in Philadelphia. And remains at the bottom of the MLS rankings. The patience of the Miami supporters will be tested for another four weeks, Messi’s debut is scheduled for July 21.
