U.S. Advance To Gold Cup Final
(Soccer365.com) - The United States men’s national team defeated Canada 2-1 on Thursday night at Soldier Field in Chicago to advance to the Gold Cup final but were forced to wait to the very end to clinch the victory. Frankie Hejduk and Landon Donovan scored for the U.S.
After taking a 2-0 advantage to half the Red, White and Blue looked to be well on their way to the final. Hejduk opened the scoring connecting on an assist from Donovan in the 39th minute. It was Hejduk’s first goal in 7 years with the national team.
Donovan, who has not had trouble finding the net recently, continued his success from the penalty spot knocking home his attempt moments before the halftime whistle.
Canada was not however going to go quietly. In the second half they kept the scoreline at two with a little help from poor finishing from the U.S. and finally took advantage of their opportunity.
In the 76th minute, Iain Hume dribbled into the box and turned Carlos Bocenegra and fired a blast off the far post and past Kasey Keller.
The Maple Leafs then looked to tie the match in stoppage time when Atiba Hutchinson put the ball past Keller and in the back of the net only to see Mexican referee Benito Archundia calling him for offside, a call that replays seems to show was generous to the U.S. cause.
The U.S. will play the winner of the Mexico vs Guadeloupe match on Sunday in the Gold Cup final. The U.S. will be without goalscorer Hejduk, who picked up his second yellow in as many games, and Michael Bradley who saw red in the 89th minute.
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 2 0 2
Canada 0 1 1
USA – Frankie Hejduk (Landon Donovan) 39th minute
USA – Landon Donovan (pen) 45.
CAN – Iain Hume (Atiba Hutchinson) 76.
Lineups:
USA: 18-Kasey Keller (capt.); 2- Frankie Hejduk, 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 13-Jonathan Bornstein; 6-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (19-Ricardo Clark, 89), 10-Landon Donovan, 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 9-Eddie Johnson (5-Benny Feilhaber, 80), 8-Clint Dempsey (20-Taylor Twellman, 88)
Subs not used: 1-Tim Howard, 11-Brian Ching, 14-Steve Ralston, 16-Jonathan Spector,
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
CAN: 22-Pat Onstad, 3-Ante Jazic, 5-Andrew Hainault, 6-Julian DeGuzman, 7-Paul Stalteri (capt), 10- Ali Gerba (18-Issey Nakajima-Farran, 81), 11-Richard Hatsings, 13 -Atiba Hitchinson, 14- Dwayne De Rosario, 15 -Patrick Bernier, 16-Martin Nash (17-Iain Hume, 64)
Subs not used: 2-Adam Braz, 8-Kevin Harmse, 19-Antonio Ribeiro, 20-Chris Pozniak, 23- Robert Giacomi
Head Coach: Stephen Hart
For more soccer news from around the globe visit Soccer365
