U.S. beats Panama on penalty kicks to win Gold Cup
It took more than two hours, but the United States was finally able to secure the CONCACAF Gold Cup thanks to the left foot of Brad Davis.
Davis booted a low corner shot just past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo to secure a 3-1 victory on penalty kicks over Panama after the teams played a scoreless 120 minutes.
It is the third time that the U.S. has taken home the regional tournament, having won the inaugural Gold Cup in 1991 and again in 2002.
Panama, which won its quarterfinal match against South Africa on penalties, had trouble making shots from the spot in this one. Luis Tejada opened the penalty kick round by having his shot denied by U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
"We tried to go to school from their quarterfinal," Keller said. "Tejada went to the left in the quarterfinal, so I figured he'd go that way."
After Santino Quaranta connected in the Americans' first attempt, Jorge Valdes struck the post for the Panamanians but Chris Armas had his effort stopped by Penedo to keep the score 1-0. Panama's Felipe Baloy and Landon Donovan of the U.S. each hit their kicks, but Alberto Blanco sailed his kick into the stands to set up Davis' game-winning shot.
"I tried to get him to commit to one side or another but he didn't move until I took my last step," Davis said. "Thankfully it made it through the keeper, who had a really good tournament."
The Americans, who were guided by assistant Glenn Myernick because coach Bruce Arena was serving a red card suspension, had most of the scoring opportunities in the first half.
Jimmy Conrad missed an open tap in the 23rd minute and Clint Dempsey's header in the 38th was turned away by Penedo, who was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
Penedo also stopped DaMarcus Beasley in the 41st minute after the U.S. striker received an excellent headed pass from Josh Wolff, whose 44th-minute effort also was thwarted by the 23-year-old goalkeeper.
"I felt the pressure of the attack of the American team," Penedo said. "We defended them good and my defenders played well in front of me and helped me out a lot."
"I think both teams had chances to win the game," Myernick said. "Beasley gave our best shot, but both teams were poorly finishing today."
Even though the U.S. had the better run of play after halftime, Panama had the better chances to score. Angel Luis Rodriguez found Valdes open in front of the net, but the striker's attempt ricocheted off the left post in the 75th minute.
Valdes again was denied six minutes into the extra session when Keller dove to his right to stop the Panamanian's shot.
"We had our chances to win the game, but we just didn't finish putting the ball in the net," Panama coach Jose Hernandez said. "I didn't want to go to penalty kicks because of our rivals' keeper."
The U.S. had beaten Panama on the road in a World Cup qualifier on June 8, 3-0.
The Americans entered the game shorthanded after a physical struggle in their 2-1 semifinal win over Honduras. Pablo Mastroeni, Eddie Pope and Steve Ralston were all injured in the contest in part because of the rough play by Honduras, which won the Fair Play Award in the tournament.
Arena had been handed his red card for arguing that a foul should have been called on Honduras after Armas was the recipient of a hard tackle.
"We had a few players go down against the team that won the Fair Play, and the only red card issued was against the coach," Arena said after the final.
