USA vs. Guatemala, Beer of the Day: Looking for a 'Victory at Sea'

By Dan Wiersema / Founder, Free Beer Movement

The Gold Cup is back! Well... not quite. The run-up to the Gold Cup is back!

There. That's more like it.

Tonight's match from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is, hopefully, a prologue to a victorious Gold Cup campaign. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said, despite not being in the upcoming tournament, he expects a "tricky" test from Guatemala.

What sort of things can one take away from a one-off warm up international friendly? Certainly Guatemala's side is going to be similar to what the USMNT will see from the other Central American and Caribbean sides, Belize, Cuba, and Costa Rica, the face in the group play.

More important is the return of Landon Donovan to the national team fold. Will he play his way into Klinsmann's heart and starting XI when World Cup qualifiers return in September?

As always the Gold Cup provides an exciting opportunity to see some of the future stars of the Nats. Josh Gatt is, again, questionable with an untimely injury, but other youngsters like Mix Diskerud and the return of Stu Holden should create plenty of excitement for U.S. fan.

This Gold Cup squad is about the future, but it is also about resurrection. Alongside Donovan and Holden is Oguchi Onyewu (gone so long I had to think hard about how to spell it name) in the "welcome back" column. None more surprising is the comeback of DaMarcus Beasley, named captain of this tournament team.

Our beer pick for tonight's game is going to be very straight forward. We're nothing if not consistent here at the Free Beer Movement (actually that's one word I would never use to describe us) and so we're doubling down (no, not the KFC sandwich) on the pick we made earlier this week in our interview with MLSSoccer.com.

Meet Ballast Point Brewing Company's "Victory at Sea" Imperial Porter. The San Diego brewery is probably best known for its "Sulpin" Double IPA (also highly recommended and now available in cans!), but don't overlook the incredible work on this porter. San Diego is one of the epic epicenters (epic-centers!?!?) of West Coast brewing (Portland and Seattle and Northern California included) and sports loads of great breweries including Karl Strauss, Green Flash, Mission, Pizza Port, AleSmith, and The Lost Abbey.

BP's "Victory" is just what you're going to want to get your hands on when setting down for this match in front of the TV. Especially since it's such a late match it's a heavy, yet smooth "night cap" to settling into a comfy spot on the couch.

And a "victory" is exactly what fans will want from this team playing "by the sea" in San Diego in order to get set for an important 2013 Gold Cup tournament.

What are you drinking tonight?

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