Early U.S. lead vanishes in Gold Cup loss

Times wires
Sunday, June 26, 2011

LOS ANGELES — In some ways, Saturday's Gold Cup final at the Rose Bowl followed form.

For the third time in as many tournaments, the title game matched the United States and Mexico. And it drew a sellout crowd of 93,420.

Aside from that, though, it was a match full of surprises — not the least of which was the final score: 4-2 Mexico.

Consider Mexico's Javier Hernandez, who entered with a tournament-high seven goals but didn't score. Or U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, who hadn't given up a goal in 3½ games but allowed four.

Then there's U.S. coach Bob Bradley. Criticized earlier in the tournament for his lack of creativity, he looked like a genius when he started Freddy Adu and Landon Donovan and watched them stake the Americans to a 2-0 lead.

Then the Rose Bowl caved in.

Pablo Barrera scored twice to lift Mexico to its second straight Gold Cup title and sixth overall.

At stake was a berth in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil, an important tuneup to the next World Cup. Just as important, however, were regional bragging rights, something the United States and Mexico have been trading with regularity in recent years.

The shootout started early, with Michael Bradley heading an Adu corner kick off the right arm of Mexican keeper Alfredo Talavera and into the net in the eighth minute.

Donovan, who started the previous two games on the bench, quieted the overwhelmingly pro-Mexican crowd in the 23rd minute, taking a pass from Clint Dempsey that split the defense before sending a left-footed shot into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

In less than 24 minutes, the United States had scored as many goals as Mexico had allowed in its previous five games combined.

The lead lasted less than 15 minutes.

First Hernandez, accustomed to being the finisher, became the distributor. He sent a through ball up the right side to Barrera, who beat Howard just inside the near post.

Next, Mexico took advantage of confusion in the U.S. backline. Eric Lichaj fumbled his chance to clear a Giovani Dos Santos shot, allowing Andres Guardado to pounce on the rebound. He got just enough of his boot on the ball to get it across the goal line.

Five minutes into the second half, Mexico took the lead.

Guardado chested down a loose ball just outside the penalty area and fed Barrera moving through the box to his right. From there, Barrera had an open shot at the far post and didn't miss.

The Americans had two chances to tie. In the 58th minute, Talavera snatched Adu's bending free kick just below the crossbar. Two minutes later, Dempsey sent a rocket that struck the top of the goal.

Dos Santos closed things out with one of the best individual efforts of the tournament.

First, he dribbled in on Howard to draw the keeper out of the box. Then with the keeper crawling after him, swiping with his hands at the ball, Dos Santos retreated, spun and lifted a rainbow toward to the far post, where it dropped just over a leaping Lichaj and into the goal.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/early-us-lead-vanishes-in-gold-cup-loss/1177441

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