Postgame: US vs Honduras

24-year-old Santino Quaranta (center) celebrates his matchwinner in the US's 2-0 Gold Cup win over Honduras. According to wikpedia, the "Quaranta family is an ancient and noble Italian family, with its origin in Scandinavia." Random, but interesting. [NYTimes pic]

Talk about impact subs: Feilhaber and, to a lesser extent, Davies, showed why they are part of the US first team with classy cameos. They were already good players--that's why they are over in Europe-- but you can't help but feel like the Confederations Cup has injected them with the confidence and experience to shine on the international stage. Both are keen to retain their position in the squad, so we should continue to see inspired performances from the pair.

Underrated and overmaligned: Brian Ching. Works hard, links play well, and always dangerous in the air. Went close on a left-footed scissor kick. Nice to have for World Cup qualifying. But will he make an impact at the finals? I think he just might be a good impact sub, particularly if the fullbacks can provide the sort of service that Steve Cherundolo did last night. Tired defenders are likely to underestimate his aerial threat.

The defense: did okay. Pearce and Churundolo mixing defensive errors with occasional offensive sparks. The central defense looked too slow, and Honduras almost had some early luck with the long ball in behind. However, Parkhust and Marshall adjusted their positioning by about the 20th min, and subsequently the Route 1 long balls looked far less threatening. Still, Parkhurst in partcular did not look quite up to snuff. Chad Marshall did a bit better, consistently shutting down the dangerous Carlos Costly.

Much Adu about potential: Freddy Adu had a poor game punctuated by intermittent flashes of skill. Stripped of the ball more than once. Didn't make decisions fast enough, as seen in his one-on-one with the defender at the corner of the box. Perhaps trying too hard to impress with the killer play? On the upside, these two games should help get US fans off Bradley's back about not playing Adu. Also, remember that Adu just turned 20.

Rogers Raw-yers (Spanish pronunciation): looked very threatening early on, causing the Univision announcers to fawn, but fatigue robbed him of his most dangerous weapon. With some additional experience bolstering his decision-making, could become a very useful player in the national side (really, its only true winger). A likely long-term replacement for Beasley.

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• The good: Santino Quaranta's emotional matchwinner at his home stadium
• The bad: Quaranta's past struggles: Washington Post
• The ugly: Hondurans falling down everywhere for the first half hour. Thankfully the ref was having none of it.
• Good, bad, and ugly: Quaranta's brave flick-on header, which looked a sure concussion.