Gongatore - Who or what team was the biggest surprise for you in La Liga this season?
Who do you think will win in the Gold Cup semis? Can Capello survive to coach another season at Real? Will FR be shown the door at Barca?

Bobby – I predicted Racing Santander would be relegated and they finished mid-table so they have to be in contention my biggest surprise. Recreativo Huelva and Getafe would also be worthy of consideration. If you need me to pick one then I will opt for Recreativo given that they had just been promoted.

I will go for a USA - Mexico final but I would not underestimate this Canadian side. Hutchinson and De Guzman in midfield are excellent players. If I was Bob Bradley I would try to make sure that are not allowed to settle and in particular I would play a quick player - Landon Donovan? - a bit deeper against the Canadian holding midfielder Martin Nash.

Nash is a fine passer but he lacks pace and when he doesn't have time he normally struggles. In Canada's case I would be trying to get a skilful player up against Onyewu rather than trying to match him with brute strength. Canada tends to stick De Rosario out wide on the left and he can drift out of the game for long stretches. If he came inside he might cause enough problems to create a couple of clear cut chances or get a set piece opportunity.

Capello will leave and I believe Rijkaard will go also.

Henry14 - Q1 Do you know what Milan are up to, the other week Berlusconi claims he want Sheva, and has $140m for Ronaldinho , and then Ancelotti was Henry, then Galliano wants Eto'o , who do you see them signing. 
Q2 What do you think will happen to Capello as coach, because Marca claimed 56% of the fans wanted Capello back
Q3 Do you remain adamant Henry is staying, even after dubious statements he has made which are so far from the one he said last summer and I quote "this is my last contract, the fans in England appreciate me even if they are not Arsenal fans something l can never get anywhere, l will never play in Spain"
Q4 - Who do you think will own Arsenal summer next year?

Bobby – A1 – Circumstances have overtaken the answer seeing that Milan signed David Suazo from Cagliari. A2 – I would have thought that an approval rating of 56% after winning La Liga for the first time in four seasons is hardly  a ringing endorsement or vote of confidence. I still believe that Capello will saddle up and ride out of Dodge. A3 – It’s silly season in England and I am taking transfer speculation with a kilo of salt. I think Henry will start the new season with Arsenal. Q4 - The same people that own the club now.

Quest5227 - My question deals with Manchester United (as always). I think we both agree that they could use another striker for the upcoming season. Who do YOU believe would be the most useful striker that they can get- realistically?

Bobby – Probably a fully fit Louis Saha – unfortunately he doesn’t come with a 100% health guarantee. I would be surprised if United make a move for a striker before moving some players out. Given the three new signings United will need to shave a chunk of money off their wage bill as well. Once they have decided who they have shifted and how much they get for them then we will have a better idea. The money being quoted for the likes of Darren Bent is silly. When you consider Andy Johnson moved for around 7M pounds last summer, 17M is crazy. 

  
Wyofc – I was reading the some of the articles today and the one about demands of Club and National teams caught my eye. Do you think they will impose a game limit? If so what would be the number and who gets to decided if they are all for club, all for national team or what breakdown? If you look – say the number is 52 games is the max – that is one a week – and it looks like the standard number of league games are 38, that leaves 14 for FA Cup, Champions/UEFA, National team duty, other tournaments. To me putting a limit on number of games makes sense for the human body/mind is concerned, but posses many many more problems between clubs and nations. Just kind of wondered your thoughts.

Bobby – It is an interesting thought but one that would also raise considerable problems beyond the club and country debate. How would account for playing conditions, or travel ala David Beckham, or the age of a player? Another factor might be how spread out are the matches.

Digity - Care to comment on Lalas' statements regarding the 'inferior' EPL product?

Bobby – Lalas works for a very large and successful organization – I’m meaning the company that owns the LA Galaxy. I would find it amazing if he just said what he did on the spur of the moment as opposed to a well thought out strategy. However, I would agree that the average English pundit is generally pig-ignorant about anything that happens in the football world outside of England.  But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I have never understood the debate about what league is the best. Frankly, I don’t even see how you can compare leagues or why anyone would want to.

Maoze Reading - With Guadeloupe reaching the semifinals of the Gold Cup I was wondering what would happen with the CONCACAF spot at the Confederations Cup if they were to somehow win it all? Would the spot go to the second place team since Guadeloupe is not a recognized member of FIFA?

Bobby – My understanding is that in such a case the runner-up would get the CONCACAF place at the Confederations Cup.

CIAO - Do you think Capello will be fired? If so, with the instability, would any respectable/skilled player still consider moving to Real Madrid? I could see if they keep Capello last season would be considered a transitional and a successful period. So players may want to join Capello’s team. I could even see Kaka making the move to Madrid. Suazo was snatched from under Moratti's nose by rival AC Milan. Inter is perplexed. Regardless, I think it may be good for Inter as they should try to bring in players that will challenge for a starting position... Who do you think Inter should bring in to replace Recoba? And Adriano if he leaves? I personally would like to see Miccoli replace Recoba. And Cassano, Klose, Guti, F Torres or David Villa replaces Adriano. Cassano might be interesting. He will probably step it up a bit this season to regain his spot on the national team - at least I hope... Regardless, I think Inter should definitely keep Ibra and Cruz, they cannot replace them.

Bobby – I think Capello will leave. Some great players will still sign for Real Madrid because Real Madrid has been a mad-house for a while and it didn’t stop players moving there. The problem with your theory about players wanting to join Capello’s team is that it has never been for a longtime or unlikely to be in the foreseeable future Capello or any other coaches’ team. Real Madrid is always only two or three games away from a crisis and that means that whoever coaches Real Madrid will find themselves in a tenuous position. After all, if Capello’s termination clause had not been so costly he would have been gone earlier this year.

Do you think Inter is looking to replace Recoba? He has hardly been used under Mancini so I don’t see it as a great loss to Inter. Miccoli is a great little player and I never understood why Juventus never kept him around. Adriano needs to sort his head out and until that happens Inter is not likely to get market value for him. I’m not sure that there are too many clubs who would gamble on taking Adriano at this time. As for the possible replacements you mentioned – Cassano (it would a trouble for trouble swap at least), Klose (cannot see that move happening now), Guti (not the same type of player and Inter has signed too many floaters like him before), Fernando Torres (I don’t think he would fit with Ibrahimovic) and David Villa (more likely to say in Spain). 

Canada destroyed Guatemala 3-0 in a Gold Cup quarter-final match in which Guatemala was fortunate to get the nothing. Canada dominated from the start and Guatemala had no answer to a team that controlled the game in all areas of the field.

There might have been a few eyebrows raised when Coach Stephen Hart recalled midfielders Patrice Bernier and Martin Nash in place of Issy Nakijima-Ferran and Chris Pozniak. As it turned out the Guatemalans hardly got close to Nash all afternoon and Atiba Hutchinson and Julian De Guzman were given free rein to control the midfield. De Guzman must have covered every blade of grass at least twice while Hutchinson exhibited a fantastic change of pace when breaking from the midfield.

As expected, Guatemala started the game defending deep and allowing Canada possession. However, after a lapse in concentration led to Canada’s first goal Guatemala found it impossible to adjust from their one-dimensional game. The second goal scored by Ali Gerba was probably as nice a goal as Canada as ever scored. A series of one touch passes eventually found Gerba unmarked in the centre of the penalty box and he powered a side-footed shot high into the Guatemalan net.

The third goal that came before half-time was an own-goal courtesy of Henry Medina. Even at 3-0 down Guatemala was unable to mount any kind of threatening attack and Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad’s only action came when he was put under pressure and had to hack away a ball that had been played back to him.

Altogether an exceptional performance from Canada and now a Gold Cup semi-final game waits on Wednesday at Soldier Field in Chicago against the host country. 

Officiating - Referee Courtney Campbell of Jamaica had an outstanding game with one exception. The elbow thrown by Carlos Ruiz that cut Richard Hastings should have been a straight red card. Instead Ruiz got away with a yellow.

Having spent the first two decades or so in my life in a country that has, over the years, turned embarrassing and shameful results (not always defeats) on football fields around the globe into an art form, I’ve suffered more than a few humiliating experiences.

Embarrassing losses to England (9-3, 5-0, 5-1) can come rolling back as if they were yesterday. A devastating loss to Peru at the 1978 World Cup was followed by a draw with Iran. If it is possible to scrape a 5-2 win then Scotland achieved it four years later against New Zealand and then there was a scoreless draw in 1986 against a Uruguayan side that played 89 minutes with ten men.

An opening round loss to Costa Rica in 1990 was perhaps the lowest of the low and since then there has been two draws with the Faroe Islands, a loss to Belarus and assorted beatings in the European Championships. Plus the managerial reign of Berti Vogts had to be endured.

But although Scottish supporters and the media now have a much better grasp of where their team sits in the larger scheme of things they will not stay silent if their team turns in a #### performance.

I think we saw the same thing last summer at the World Cup when US fans vented their anger and disappointment at what they considered to be an unacceptable performance.

At the time I had suggested that if there was a silver lining to the USA’s early exit it was that  the supporters had shown that they were no longer willing to accept just making it to the World Cup Finals. Expectations had risen and the USA team now knew that more was now required of them. The fans and media expected the USA to not only reach the Finals every four years but also to produce decent performances at the Finals.

A year on and I can’t help but contrast the reaction in the USA with that found north of the border after what was arguably the worst result ever suffered in international competition by Canada.

On Saturday evening Canada produced a display that exhibited the worst kind of tactical cowardice in a performance that was pathetic and humiliating. Canada lost 2-1 to Guadeloupe, a country that isn’t even a country.

The mainstream media’s reaction to what is possibly Canada’s worst result in the last 30 years of international competition? The sum of it is two press bureau articles from the Associated Press and Reuters.

The Associated Press describes Canada as “sluggish and disorganized” while quoting interim coach Stephen Hart as saying that “both goals were definitely preventable”. That’s telling them!!

As for Reuters they dedicated a whole two paragraphs to the loss and stated that Canada “became the victim itself of a huge upset.”

What we were treated to on television during the game was even worse. Apparently the fact that a 41-year-old Jocelyn Angloma had been capped 37 times for France was proof that this Guadeloupe side should not be taken for granted and were a good team. God knows how terrified we would be if we ever came up against a team that fielded a 70-year-old Bobby Charlton who has 106 international caps and a World Cup winners medal.

And there was more – the Guadeloupe side had a Sheffield United player in the starting eleven (David Sommeil a reject Manchester City centre back who started four Premiership games for relegated Sheffield United this past season) as well as seven players who played in France and none at a top flight side. That was presented as evidence of quality opponents. You can see how Guadeloupe could be mistaken for Italy or Brazil with a line-up like that can’t you?

Oh yes and this is from commentators that will tell you that Canada is one of the top four countries in CONCACAF. The summation of this humiliation was “an unfortunate result” – hardly a scathing assessment of a reprehensible performance. Instead of holding the Canadian team’s feet to fire as the players day-dreamed their way through ninety minutes what we heard was pathetic.

There were repeated tirades about these horrible Guadeloupe players feigning injury. Certainly something good Canadian boys wouldn’t do. Has Don Cherry been cloned? And of course the Canadians love playing for their country – if that is the case they certainly didn’t show it last night and in the process they didn’t receive one piece of criticism from the men in the booth.

For excessive stretches of the game Canada played as if it was an Artistic Gymnastics contest that could be won on marks for artistic impression if they maintained possession long enough without actually achieving anything of substance.

Balls were played square across the back four continually while the defenders rarely had to deal with anything other than a lone striker. The five-man Canadian midfield in what was supposedly a 4-3-3 formation and the full backs rarely turned the Guadeloupe defense.

When things turned bad there was little or change in the tactics by the coach. Did I mention that coach Stephen Hart suppossedly approached the mighty Guadeloupe with the primary intention of keeping a clean sheet? Thank goodness that someone is there to keep prospective and to not allow the expectations for this Canadian side to get to grandiose.

The midfield pairing of Nash and De Guzman that had performed so admirably against Costa Rica was virtually non-existent while keeper Greg Sutton, who had missed the win over Costa Rica because of concussion, showed that the condition had obviously not cleared as he conceded two long range efforts.

This is not an inexperienced Canadian side. Take a look at the average age and the cumulative number of caps. Atiba Hutchinson and Paul Stalteri have played in the Champions League, Julian De Guzman has held down a regular spot for Deportivo La Coruna during the second half of La Liga season and Dwayne De Rosario is recognized as one of MLS’s great talents.

With a couple of minor exceptions the team was made up of players with experience of playing overseas and generally at good levels. So why do the Canadian media and many fans continue to treat them as a bunch of inexperienced grinders who are beyond criticism? 

Someone once said that inconsistency is the real mediocrity and with the results against Costa Rica and Guadeloupe Canada showed that never truer words were said. And perhaps based on the reaction from Saturday’s game, mediocrity is all that we deserve.