USA in Gold Cup Semis

Cooper's Extra Time Penalty Beats Panama

July 20, 2009

The U.S. men’s national team got a stunning strike from Kyle Beckerman and a penalty kick in overtime from Kenny Cooper to defeat Panama 2-1 Saturday evening at Lincoln Financial Field and advance to the semifinals of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The U.S. will face Honduras in the semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m. ET at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The U.S. fell behind when Panama capitalized on a corner kick during injury time of the first half, but Beckerman struck back early in the second half for the equalizer. Cooper, who came on for Davy Arnaud in the 77th minute, was fouled inside the penalty area late in the first overtime.

Cooper took the spot kick himself, placing it just past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, off the post and in for the game-winner.

“It was a challenge to the team to be in that spot at halftime and I still felt good that the response was strong,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “When we didn’t finish the game in regulation, you still got a sense the mentality was, ‘We’re going to take care of this thing.’ The players deserve a lot of credit for that.”

The match, which was a rematch of a 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal, saw several starters from the first two matches return to the lineup, including Beckerman, who had only come on in reserve against Haiti.

The U.S. applied pressure from opening whistle, finding success through combination play, particularly down the left flank. In the eighth minute, forward Brian Ching nearly got the early goal for the U.S. with a header. Rising up to meet a Stuart Holden cross, the Hawaiian put the header towards the right side of the net with power, but agonizingly saw it hit the post.

After surviving the initial attack, Panama settled in after the quarter hour mark and began to try and push forward. Offensively, their attempts at playing balls into the U.S. area were mostly swallowed up by center backs Jimmy Conrad and Chad Marshall, along with goalkeeper Troy Perkins, and overall the match slowed down for large periods of the half as the teams fought to keep possession.

A frightening collision occurred just before halftime when Conrad, wearing the captain’s band, went up for a header on a U.S. corner and knocked heads with a Panamanian defender. Clearly shaken, Conrad was helped to his feet and taken off the field, forcing Bradley to make an early substitution and bring on Clarence Goodson to replace him.

Goodson was immediately thrown into the fire since Panama earned a corner kick as the first half came close to its end. The corner was sent into the middle of the box and flicked on towards the far post by Goodson’s mark, Felipe Beloy. Bouncing off Holden, who couldn’t control the ball or clear it from danger, the loose ball was blasted into the roof of the net by Blas Perez to give the Central American side the lead going into halftime.

Coming out in the second half with aggression, the U.S. got right down to the business of tying the match. In the 49th minute, Robbie Rogers sent a floater to back post. With no clear shot on goal, Arnaud played the ball back seemingly looking for Holden but it was out of his reach but provided a perfect set-up for Beckerman just inside the penalty area and he unloaded a rocket to the upper right corner.

The goal marked Beckerman’s first in seven appearances for the full team, making him the eighth different goal scorer for the U.S. in the 2009 Gold Cup.

“The ball went out wide and was sent across. I gambled a little bit just thinking it may pop out to the top of the box,” said Beckerman. “Sometimes you gamble and sure enough the ball finds your foot.”

Ten minutes into overtime, the U.S. played beautiful soccer to earn a great attempt on goal. Combining up the field, simple passing between Heath Pearce, Beckerman, Robbie Rogers and Ching allowed Pearce to get open on the left side of the box. Pearce blasted his shot on frame, but Penedo dove to his right and made the save of the night to deny the U.S. the lead.

Five minutes later, the U.S. got the game-winner from the foot of Cooper. Looking for the towering forward, Holden struck a pass into the top of the box. Attempting to collect, Cooper was kicked high in his chest by defender Roman Torres. With a perfect view of the foul, referee Benito Archundia wasted no time in pointing to the spot and giving a yellow card to Torres.

Stepping up to take his own penalty, Cooper hesitated on the run-up before placing the ball perfectly on the inside left post and into the goal. Penedo guessed correctly, but the bottom corner shot was just out of reach. It was Cooper’s third career goal for the U.S. and first penalty strike.

“It’s fortunate any time you can get a penalty,” said Cooper. “It obviously came at a good time in overtime. Fortunately, it snuck in and the guys did great to hold on defensively.”