US Outlasts Panama in Gold Cup

For the second straight match in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. national team is breathing a major sigh of relief. Trailing by a goal at the half, the U.S. rallied for a 2-1 win over Panama Saturday night in Philadelphia in extra time to advance to the semifinals.

A week after needing a stoppage-time cracker from Stuart Holden to salvage a 2-2 draw with Haiti, again the U.S. left it to be decided late. Saturday night Kenny Cooper was the hero, placing a 104th-minute penalty kick just inside the left post and past diving Panama keeper Jamie Penedo.

It's easy to dismiss the Gold Cup for the U.S., considering most pundits have tabbed the lineup a "B" or "C" level team. And while, to some degree, that assessment is accurate, there's no denying the effort that the team on the Lincoln Financial Field grass did to punch a ticket into the semifinals against Honduras.

Just before the end of the first half, It all went wrong for the U.S. very quickly. Jimmy Conrad went up for a header from a U.S. set piece, only to be cracked inadvertently in the head by a Panama defender. Conrad, who wore the captain's armband, was bloody, bruised and dazed. He was forced to leave the game and went to the hospital.

Shortly after Conrad's exit, Panama went ahead 1-0 when Blas Perez ripped in a rebound right in front of the U.S. net.

The U.S. came out like a new team in the second half, with Kyle Beckerman pulling it level at 1-1 with a nice rip into the upper right netting from just inside the box on a ball laid off by Davy Arnaud in the 48th minute for the dread-locked midfielder's first International goal.

From there it appeared the it was only a matter of time before the suddenly energized U.S. would take the lead, but that second goal never came as the team seemed to run out of gas (or ideas) as the half wore on.


The go-ahead goal finally came 14 minutes into the first half of extra time when Holden sent a ball into the box for Cooper, who came on for Arnaud -- Cooper was clipped squarely in the midsection by the boot of Panama defender Ramon Torres. In real time it looked like a dubious penalty, but replays showed it was legit.

Cooper lined up behind the ball from outside the penalty area, rushed up to the spot, stutter-stepped and clipped it off the far post and in. It was an important goal for a player that hasn't seemed to be fully embraced by U.S. coach Bob Bradley and is fighting for a spot on the 2010 World Cup team.

And fighting might be the accurate word for the U.S. effort Saturday night. It was by no means the prettiest example of soccer, but a mainly MLS-manned lineup dug down into their energy reserves for 120 minutes and ensured the U.S. would get a chance to continue defending its Gold Cup crown Thursday night in Chicago against Honduras.

Bradley might not have learned anything he didn't already know about the fringe U.S. players' skills and abilities, but he did find out a little bit about their grit and guts, which in the long run, might prove more important.

Panama, meanwhile, capped its bizarre Gold Cup -- which included a near fracas with Mexico due to Javier Aguirre's brain lapse -- with many of its players swarming Mexican ref Benito Archundia, and a pair drawing red cards after the fact.