U.S. holds nerve in penalty shootout
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Brad Davis ended a long day and a long tournament, regaining the CONCACAF Gold Cup for a depleted U.S. soccer team that will limp into its next World Cup qualifier.
Santino Quaranta, Landon Donovan and Davis converted their shots and goalkeeper Kasey Keller stopped Panama's first attempt, leading the United States to a 3-1 win on penalty kicks following a bland, scoreless tie Sunday in the final of soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean championship.
"We've got to rally the troops, get the Band-Aids out and try to get 11 guys on the field to play on Aug. 17," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena, looking ahead to the World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago at East Hartford, Conn. "The travel, the heat, the field conditions, the officiating, it took a huge toll on us. We lost four players the other night to the team that got the fair play award."
Ejected from the semifinal win over Honduras on Thursday night, Arena was suspended for the final and watched from a box in the stands. The Americans, who also won this tournament in 1991 and 2002, had only 17 players available because of injuries.
Defenders Eddie Pope (sprained knee) and Steve Cherunoldo (sprained knee); midfielders Pablo Mastroeni (sprained ankle) and Steve Ralston (mild concussion); and forwards Conor Casey (torn anterior cruciate ligament) and Pat Noonan (sprained ankle) didn't dress. Pope is suspended for the Trinidad game and Arena said the others are all likely to miss the next qualifier along with forward Eddie Johnson (injured toe), who hasn't played since May.
"This has been a beating for us," Arena said. "We're lucky we didn't get some worse injuries than we got because some of the tackles were real bad. And the other night, the only red card in that game was the coach, which is remarkable."
Davis, making just his second international appearance, got the winning penalty kick by taking a stutter step and putting the ball just past the outstretched fingers of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, who dived to his left.
"Brad has a great left peg," said Glenn Myernick, the acting U.S. coach Sunday.
The 23-year-old Davis had his penalty kick stopped against Honduras in February 2004 during the third-place game of the regional Olympic qualifying tournament. The coach that day was also Myernick.
"He came up to me and asked me if I wanted redemption and I said, without a doubt, I wanted to step up and finish it," Davis said. "I said a little prayer. I hit it in the same exact spot. I hit it with confidence. I said it was not going to happen twice."
Keller stopped the opening shot from Luis Tejada and allowed just one penalty, to Felipe Baloy. Jorge Luis Dely Valdes hit the crossbar and Alberto Blanco put the his shot over the bar. Keller dived left because Tejada went that way against South Africa in last weekend's quarterfinals.
"I don't have a phenomenal record in penalties but I have a decent record," Keller said. "I feel comfortable, especially when maybe I have a little knowledge."
Only one of the Americans failed to convert his penalty kick, with Chris Armas sending the ball right to goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. Four U.S. players were too tired after 120 minutes and asked not to be among the first five, and midfielder DaMarcus Beasley came out in the 114th minute because a hamstring hurt too much for him to shoot.
"Mooch really just asked who wanted to take them and some guys just said 'I can't,'" Donovan said of Myernick. "Santino opted to go first, which is the hardest."
The Americans, ranked sixth in the world, dominated Panama to win 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier last month at Panama City. But they struggled Sunday against the No. 83-ranked team.
"There was no pressure," Penedo said through a translator.
Luis Dely Valdes hit a post for Panama in the 75th minute and was stopped by Keller's diving save six minutes into overtime. Jimmy Conrad, Clint Dempsey and Beasley all had good chances for the Americans in the first half.
At the end, with only a few thousand fans left from the crowd of 31,018 at Giants Stadium, American players raised the trophy.
"You don't get many chances to win as professionals," Donovan said. "This could be the last time I ever win anything. I hope not, but you never know."
Game notes
Because the next FIFA Confederations Cup isn't until 2009, the 2007 Gold Cup will determine the region's representative. ... Arena hopes to have U.S. captain Claudio Reyna for the Trinidad game. ... The U.S. team is 4-3 on penalty kicks since 1990.
