Dos Santos seals Mexicos Gold Cup win with a splendid chip

The U.S. came up with two goals in the first 22 minutes of their third straight Gold Cup final against Mexico, but Mexico, who were the better team throughout, proved it by piling on four goals after that to win 4-2.

It wasn't quite as bad as the U.S.'s 5-0 loss to Mexico in the 2009 Gold Cup final, but that's not saying much. An early injury to Steve Cherundolo, giving Bob Bradley the chance to put the panic-inducing Jonathan Bornstein into a shaky U.S. defense didn't help at all. The terrible defending on display in the video above gives a sample size of what Tim Howard had to work with.

Scoring the game's final goal with a flourish, Mexico's Gio Dos Santos controlled the ball in the box as Howard flopped around behind him before finally chipping the ball over Eric Lichaj's head and into the far corner of the goal. Dos Santos made a number of threatening runs throughout the match, only to come up with nothing, so for him to finish one like this was a dagger.

This marks the second time in three years that the U.S. squandered a 2-0 lead to lose a cup final (the other being in the 2009 Confederations Cup against Brazil). If you're an optimist, you could just say it's great that they're reaching cup finals. If you're not, you might find that embarrassing. And if you're just interested in Freddy Adu, you'll be happy to know that he started this game and set up the first goal after not even dressing for the group stage and playing less than 30 minutes for the U.S. in the last two years.