E-Mail This Article to a Friend A golden opportunity? BY MITCH KRPATA

As I watched the United States men’s national team celebrate their ultimate victory in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament yesterday, I was hit with a profound revelation: that trophy is huge. The Gold Cup is so big I think Landon Donovan could hide inside of it. If it’s actually made of solid gold, it’s got to be worth more than the combined payroll of Major League Soccer. It’s so big it makes the NHL’s trophy look like the Stanley Sippy Cup.

And so on. It’s hard not to let the mind wander when a tournament as — well, let’s just say it — as meaningless as the Gold Cup wraps up. CONCACAF is a weak confederation, with only the USA and Mexico transcending mediocrity, and this year a somnolent Mexican side was bounced in the quarterfinals by Colombia. In the meantime, the US fought to a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, whom they’d beaten 3-0 in World Cup qualifying not two months prior, and eventually triumphed on penalty kicks over a Panamanian team they’d beaten, yep, 3-0 in recent World Cup qualifying. To call this tournament ugly would be to sully that term.

Often, the Gold Cup could be subtitled "The road to getting steamrolled in the Confederations Cup," but even that carrot’s been eliminated since the that tournament won’t be held again until 2009 (the 2007 Gold Cup winner will be CONCACAF’s representative). So what was the US playing for?

Not for their health, that’s for sure. The United States was savaged in this tournament, and the referees seemed content to let it happen. Jamaica’s Damion Stewart hit US defender Steve Cherundolo with a spikes-out jumpkick that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Mortal Kombat. Cherundolo will be out until September at the earliest. Further depleting the team’s Steve resources, usual starting midfielder Steve Ralston missed the final with a concussion. Eddie Pope, Pablo Mastroeni, and Pat Noonan didn’t dress. DaMarcus Beasley left with a hamstring injury in the 114th minute (of course, with a healthy roster, the game never would have gone that long). Coach Bruce Arena watched the game from a press box, the result of a red card in the semifinal against Honduras. Collectively, the US bench looked like post-siege Atlanta in Gone with the Wind.

And yet they won. That’s a testament to the talent the US soccer program has been able to cultivate, particularly considering the number of young players who made an impact. 23-year-old Brad Davis scored the clinching goal. Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley have become prime-time players no matter who the opponent, and neither has reached the quarter-century mark yet. And although many young players impressed, like the Revolution’s Noonan and Clint Dempsey, the Gold Cup served two purposes above all else: as a coming-out party for Oguchi Onyewu, the US’s man-mountain of a defender, and as a return to form for midfielder John O’Brien.

First, Onyewu: on a team whose best player, Donovan, stands 5’8", and whose quickest, Beasley, weighs 145 lbs (and must have been weighed with his cleats on), the 6’2" Onyewu stands like a colossus. Yet he is quick and, more important, powerful in all aspects of his game. In addition to his iron-clad defense, it was Onyewu who elevated above the crowd to head in John O’Brien’s free kick in extra time for a victory over Honduras. He should start in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

I’ve made a lot of jokes at John O’Brien’s expense, but only because I’m intellectually lazy and he’s an easy target. After playing every minute of every game in World Cup 2002, O’Brien has been wracked by injuries and only started wading back into the national-team player pool last spring. Bruce Arena at first used O’Brien sparingly, either inserting him into games late or subbing for him early, but over the course of the Gold Cup O’Brien was let off the leash. The results were everything the team could have hoped for. So for every time I’ve made a joke about John O’Brien spraining a knee during the national anthem, let me apologize now. The guy’s a soccer player through and through.

Still, what with all the injuries, perhaps the best thing one can say about the state of the US national team right now is that it would take a miracle for them not to qualify for the World Cup. Of the remaining qualifiers, only the game against Mexico strikes me as crucial, but that’s also the game with the most potential for year-ending injuries. I’d hate to see anyone on the team play tentatively, but if motivated teams in a relatively minor tournament are willing to practically assassinate US players — and getting away with it — who knows what Mexico would do? Every time these guys meet it’s a bloodbath, and the US isn’t in a position to lose any more players.

On the other hand, for the next two years if anyone needs to soak some sore muscles, they could probably fill the Gold Cup with hot water and climb in.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Mitch Krpata can be reached at mkrpata[a]phx.com