Late goal sends US to semis
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With just one regular in the starting lineup, the United States rallied past Panama into the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Kenny Cooper converted a penalty kick in the 105th minute, giving the two-time defending champions a 2-1 victory last night in Philadelphia and a semifinal berth against Honduras.
Blas Perez put Panama ahead in first-half stoppage time, but Kyle Beckerman tied the score in the 49th.
In today’s quarterfinal doubleheader, Guadeloupe meets Costa Rica and Mexico faces Haiti in the first sporting event at the Dallas Cowboys new stadium at Arlington, Texas. The semifinals are Thursday in Chicago.
Honduras 1, Canada 0 - Walter Martinez scored a goal in the 36th minute off a penalty kick and it was all Honduras (3-1) needed to advance to the semifinals.
Donis Escobar was flawless in goal for Honduras, making a few nice stops in the second half to preserve the lead.
Canada (2-1-1) was penalized and gave Martinez a shot at putting the first goal on the board during a spirited first half.
Martinez shot the penalty kick to the left of Canadian goalie Greg Sutton.
Steven Lenhart also scored for Columbus (6-3-9), which improved to 12-0-6 during its run at Crew Stadium. The streak matches San Jose’s mark, set in 2004 and ’05.
Raphael Cox scored his first career goal for Real Salt Lake (5-7-5), which had its five-game unbeaten streak snapped.
Dynamo 1, Toronto FC 1 - Bobby Boswell scored the tying goal in the 75th minute as visiting Houston rallied for a draw.
Boswell, sent in alone on a pass from midfielder Geoff Cameron, was foiled on his first attempt by goalie Stefan Frei, but the ball came loose. Boswell then buried a shot for his third goal.
Houston improved to 9-4-5, best in MLS.
D.C. United 3, Rapids 1 - Bryan Namoff redeemed himself after knocking a ball into his own net, scoring the tiebreaking goal in the 56th minute to spark United over visiting Colorado.
Namoff’s header off Christian Gomez’s corner kick beat screened Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens. The goal was the third of Namoff’s 187-game MLS career.
In the 14th minute, Namoff kicked the ball into his own goal, putting Colorado (6-5-6) up, 1-0.
Fire 2, Earthquakes 0 - Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored a goal and added an assist to help first-place host Chicago snap its franchise-record six-game home winless streak by beating San Jose.
Blanco set up the winning goal in the 82d minute when he intercepted a pass from defender Brandon McDonald and found forward Patrick Nyarko alone in the center of the box.
