There were just enough missed chances to put the U.S. soccer team in jeopardy Saturday.
But two bits of brilliance in a three-minute span of the second half put the U.S. into the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals.
Landon Donovan scored his 10th career Gold Cup goal on a penalty kick in the 60th minute, and Carlos Bocanegra headed home another as the U.S. defeated Panama 2-1 in a quarterfinal game at Gillette Stadium.
The U.S. will play Canada, which beat Guatemala 3-0, in the semifinals Thursday at Soldier Field. Honduras faces Guadeloupe and Mexico plays Costa Rica in quarterfinals Sunday in Houston.
“It’s not as easy as ‘Mexico against the U.S. in the final,’
” Donovan said. “These games are difficult, especially at this stage. Anything can happen. It’s not a shoo-in that we’ll be in the final. But we think we’re going the right way.”
Forward Clint Dempsey zipped a pass down the right that hit Donovan in stride. Carlos Rivera took him down from behind for the penalty kick.
“It was a great ball from Clint,” Donovan said. “There was a lot of space, and I knew when I got inside [Rivera] he would either have to let me go or foul me.”
Before Panama could settle down, it was down 2-0. Bocanegra headed in DaMarcus Beasley’s low, driven free kick from the right in the 63rd minute.
“Bease hit a great ball in,” Bocanegra said. Blas Perez beat three defenders and scored from 15 yards in the 84th minute.
“We let ourselves down by not finishing the game,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “That made the final minutes a little crazy.”
But Panama ran out of magic.
– – –
U.S. vs. Canada
TV: 6 p.m. Thursday at Soldier Field; Fox Soccer Channel, WXFT-Ch. 60 (Spanish).
Key players:
U.S.: Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley.
Canada: Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario.
Story line: The U.S. faces its toughest competition yet when it takes on a Canadian team that finished first in Group A and continued to impress with a 3-0 victory over Guatemala on Saturday. The U.S. looked vulnerable at times in its 2-1 win over Panama and was unable to capitalize on several scoring opportunities. Still, Donovan should be able to have his way with Canada’s defense and lead the U.S. to its second straight Gold Cup final.
Prediction: U.S. 2-1.
