USA Advances, But Woe Canada

The U.S. men's soccer team reached the final of the Gold Cup tonight with a 2-1 victory over Canada at Soldier Field in Chicago, but despite the fact that I'm a staunch supporter of the red, white and blue, I really feel the Maple Leafs wuz robbed. Canada scored what appeared to be the game-tying goal in the dying moments of second-half extra time, but the celebration was quashed when referee Benito Archundia waved off Atiba Hutchinson's goal past U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Archundia -- who is from Mexico, and who doesn't want to see a U.S.-Mexico final? Just sayin' -- ruled that Hutchinson was offside. On the replay however, it was clear that U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu headed the ball -- inadvertently or not -- back toward his goal. Therefore, it shouldn't have mattered whether Hutchinson was in an offside position or not since a player can't be offside on a back pass. The Canadians were livid and pleaded their case to Archundia, who waved them away and moments later whistled the game over. Wonder what the conspiracy theorists are cooking up right now.