CHICAGO -- In the
unfamiliar spot of playing from behind, U.S. coach Bob Bradley told
his players at halftime they were going to have to win a little
differently.
Same game plan, different game plan. When it comes to playing
Mexico lately, it doesn't seem to matter.
Landon Donovan scored his 34th career goal, tying Eric
Wynalda atop the career list, and Benny Feilhaber connected with a
gorgeous volley to rally the United States to a 2-1 victory over
Mexico on Sunday in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the
championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.
It's the first time in 53 meetings dating to 1934 that the
Americans fell behind Mexico, then came back to win.
"Awesome. Awesome," said Donovan, who still wore his
champions medal when he left the locker room. "We haven't played
that way, haven't played down a goal. Bob said it's going to be a
different kind of win and I'm proud of us, because that's not easy."
The victory extended the Americans' dominance over their
neighbors to the south and gave the United States a berth in the
2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa, an important tuneup ahead
of the 2010 World Cup. The United States is 9-2-1 against Mexico
since 2000, including 8-0-1 on U.S. soil.
They've won in cities where they truly were the home team,
and places where they may as well have been the guests. Like Sunday,
when almost the entire crowd of 60,000 at Soldier Field was wearing
green.
Mexico at least managed a goal this time, snapping a streak
of eight straight shutouts in the United States. Jose Andres
Guardado's goal in the 44th minute was El Tri's first on U.S. soil
in 797 minutes.
"They deserve to the No. 1 team in CONCACAF," Mexican striker
Cuauhtemoc Blanco said. "They played well, but we had a number of
chances. We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities."
Like in the 89th minute, when Adolfo Bautista came up with a
loose ball in front of the U.S. goal. He took a shot from close
range, but goalkeeper Tim Howard reached up as he was falling and
punched the ball free to preserve the win.
After the final whistle, the Americans ran over to Sam's Army
-- really more of a platoon -- to salute the small contingent of
U.S. fans. Donovan tossed his shirt into the stands, then grabbed a
U.S. flag that a fan tossed and wrapped it around his shoulders.
This is the fourth Gold Cup title for the Americans, tying
them with Mexico. It also kept Bradley's undefeated record intact at
10-0-1. Bradley took over as interim coach after Bruce Arena was let
go after the World Cup, and was given the job permanently May 16.
"Each competition, we talk about what it takes to become a
really good team," Bradley said. "We're very excited about the fact
we can get stronger as a group and win this. It means a lot to all
of us."
His task gets tougher Thursday, when he leads a U.S. team
without most of its regular starters against Argentina at the Copa
America, South America's championship.
"Once again you saw today ... we did it the hard way,"' said
goalkeeper Kasey Keller, one of the few veterans going to Venezuela.
"If we want to beat the teams we're playing against away from home,
we need to do these little things. Because against Argentina, I
doubt we're going to have two chances to put the game away."
The Americans traditionally jump out to a lead, and then use
their aggressive, counterattacking style to brush back any offensive
charges. Not Sunday. This time it was the Mexicans who were the
aggressors early on, taking the lead and making the Americans look
lethargic.
But they got a break in the 60th minute, when Brian Ching was
tripped up in the box by Jose Jonny Magallon. Compared to some of
the other rough-and-tumble antics Sunday, this was pretty tame.
But it was all Donovan needed.
Donovan, the U.S. player Mexican fans most love to boo, took
a slow jog to the ball and gave it a light kick. Mexico goalie
Oswaldo Sanchez started to move to his right then hesitated, and
that split second was enough to cost him any chance of getting to
the ball, which hit the right corner of the net. It was Donovan's
fourth goal of the tournament, all on penalty kicks.
As his teammates mobbed him, Donovan wiped his brow as if to
say, "That was a relief."
"It's awesome. I'm proud of it, certainly,'' Donovan said of
matching Wynalda. "I'm more happy we won the game."
The goal seemed to loosen up all of the Americans.
Ten minutes later, Donovan took a corner kick that was
flicked clear by a Mexican defender. But the ball went right to
Feilhaber, who scored on a perfect right-footed volley from 22 yards
out for his second goal in eight international appearances.
"I knew it as soon as I hit it it was going in," Feilhaber
said. "It's a great goal, at such a stage, against Mexico, in the
Gold Cup. Unbelievable."
The score could have been even more lopsided. In the final 15
minutes, Ching banged a shot off the post and DaMarcus Beasley hit
the crossbar after a perfect cross from Donovan on a breakaway hit
him in the shin.
It was Mexico doing the counterattacking early, pushing and
shoving and playing the Americans' kind of game. It worked, too.
After struggling to finish several early chances, Nery Castillo beat
Oguchi Onyewu and crossed to Guardado in front of the box in the
44th minute.
Guardado had been left unmarked and was all alone by the left
post. As Howard slipped, Guardado poked the ball into the goal with
his left foot, setting off a frenzied celebration on the field and
in the stands.
"When you lose doing what we did, you can't be sad," Mexico
coach Hugo Sanchez said. "It bothers me, sure. But when you look at
how we did in the tournament, we got a lot better and we deserved a
better result. Sometimes the team that plays better doesn't always
win."
|
|
| Match Stats |
|
United States |
Mexico |
| Shots (on Goal) |
10(9) |
15(8) |
| Fouls |
13 |
6 |
| Corner Kicks |
2 |
10 |
| Offsides |
0 |
2 |
| Time of Possession |
0% |
0% |
| Yellow Cards |
5 |
2 |
| Red Cards |
0 |
0 |
| Saves |
5 |
6 |
| Match Information |
Stadium: Soldier Field, Chicago, United
States
Attendance:
Match Time: 15:00
ET
Referee:
|
| Teams |
| United States |
Mexico |
| 1 Tim Howard |
Oswaldo Sánchez 1 |
| 3 Carlos Bocanegra |
José Magallón 2 |
| 13 Jonathan Bornstein |
Rafael Márquez 4 |
| 22 Oguchi Onyewu |
Ricardo Osorio 5 |
| 17 Jonathan Spector |
Carlos Salcido 3 |
| 7 DaMarcus
Beasley |
Andrés Guardado 18 |
| 5 Benny Feilhaber |
Jaime Lozano 16 |
| 4 Pablo Mastroeni |
Alberto Medina 7 |
| 11 Brian
Ching |
Pavel Pardo 8 |
| 8 Clint
Dempsey |
Jared Borgetti 9 |
| 10 Landon
Donovan |
Nery Alberto Castillo 21 |
| Substitutions |
R Clark for P Mastroeni (45)
|
O Bravo for J Borgetti
(40)
|
T Twellman
for C Dempsey
(69)
|
C Blanco for A Medina (78)
|
F Simek for J Spector (73)
|
A Bautista for J Lozano
(81)
|
| Yellow Cards |
Carlos Bocanegra (9)
|
Alberto Medina (18)
|
Pablo Mastroeni (33)
|
José Magallón (61)
|
Brian
Ching (77)
|
|
DaMarcus
Beasley (85)
|
|
Frankie Simek (87)
|
|
| · Club Rosters: United
States | Mexico | |
