The US looked pretty good last night in the 6-0 route of Panama although they still are wasting way too many chances. It should have been a done deal a lot sooner–Berhalter, McBride, Wolff, and Bocanegra all missed great chances. The only ones to routinely make the most of their opportunities were Donovan and Eddie Johnson who accounted for 5/6ths of the scoring. True, Johnson benefitted from the game opening up with Panama being down 2-0 already, but he had four good chances and scored on three of them.

Sadly, I think Chris Armas’ time as midfield enforcer may have ended. Arena’s hot on Kerry Zavagnin and his assist on Donovan’s second was sublime and he cracked a shot just wide in the first half. I hope Mastroeni gets some more time because, like Johnson, he made the most of his minutes.

Bocanegra is awesome–it doesn’t matter where he plays. He devours attackers and when he does go forward he’s dangerous in the air and with his crosses. In stark contrast, Frankie Hejduk sucks to high heaven and is only a danger to himself unless he’s attempting one of his “patented” two-footed, studs-up tackles that usually ends up with him either getting burned or being guilty of a horrible foul. Berhalter continues to play…average, I guess. Pope did well but both of these guys tend to get lazy with distribution out of the back and are prone to giving the ball away cheaply in the penalty area.

Beasley had a quiet night, probably because he was afraid he’d be booked after getting fouled again. (sigh) What’s something nice I can say about the referee crew from Trinidad & Tobago…they kept me watching, I guess. Totally unpredictable. Beasley’s card was ridiculous but at least the Panamanians didn’t resort to bloodletting the way Guatemala usually does.

Speaking of those devils, it’ll be the US, Mexico, Guatemala, and T&T in the final six. The next games are 11/17. Costa Rica needs a draw at Honduras, Jamaica needs Panama to lose or draw or they need to win against the US second string. A Jamaica loss would mean the winner of Panama vs. El Salvador would move on and that’d be sweet. The most realistic scenario is a Jamaica loss and a Panama win at home, but I think two draws are more likely. Keep the fingers crossed! Not sure which poison is worse, Costa Rica or Honduras–probably Costa Rica only because the US always manages to have a rough go of it in San Jose and managed to get three points at Honduras last time ’round. Although they did lose at RFK to Honduras…