On Tuesday night at Ford Field, 28,209 fans watched the United States Men's National Team defeat Canada, 2-0, in the start of group play in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Earlier in the night, Panama held off Guadeloupe for a 3-2 victory. Panama led 3-0 at one point, but Guadeloupe made the score close with a couple of late goals.
The United States' win was powered by a first-half goal by Jozy Altidore and a sliding score in the second half by Clint Dempsey. Goaltender Tim Howard played very well in net, shutting out Canada and drawing quite a few "Timmy Howard" chants that sounded similar to chants of "Jimmy Howard" you would hear at Joe Louis Arena during a Red Wings game.
Here is a look at highlights of the United States victory:
While the crowd wasn't exactly all that full, it was the largest crowd to watch a Gold Cup group match for the United States since July 2003. That's pretty impressive considering the game was played on a Tuesday night, and the crowd was pretty festive. All in all it was a great experience and hopefully more soccer will be played in the Detroit area in the future.