U.S. Salvages Victory at End
There were less than five minutes left on the clock, the United States was trailing Honduras by a goal and the American coach was in the locker room, watching on television after being tossed out of the game.
In short, things looked bleak for the U.S. at Giants Stadium on a hot and sticky Thursday evening.
“You’re always sweating it a little bit, because of the chances we had, and you just think maybe it’s one of those days where it’s just not going to happen for you,” goalkeeper Kasey Keller said.
“But I had a good feeling once we got the first one that we were going to get the second one.”
The Americans did just that.
John O’Brien tied the match at 85:32 and Oguchi Onyewu scored the game-winner in the 90th minute as the U.S. defeated Honduras, 2-1, to advance to the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The Americans will play Panama in Sunday afternoon’s final, seeking their third championship of soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) region and their second under Coach Bruce Arena.
The two late goals salvaged not only the game but Arena’s mood, which might have been savage after his ejection just before the hour mark.
Afterward, Arena was almost calm about the incident, which will probably cost him a place on the bench in the final.
“I’m going to respect the appeal process,” he said. “I firmly believe when reasonable people get together they’re going to realize that was a mistake. I don’t think there was anything wrong with what I did.”
What did Arena do?
“I protested the call,” he said of a foul called against U.S. midfielder Chris Armas that occurred in front of the U.S. bench. “I jumped up and used a four-letter word.”
The CONCACAF disciplinary committee will decide whether Arena is to be suspended and for how long. Confederation officials Thursday night indicated it would be for one game.
“Whatever happens, happens,” Arena said.
Honduras still is trying to figure out what happened. It was marginally the better team in the first half and managed to hang on to the lead provided by Mario Ivan Guerrero’s goal in the 30th minute off a superb through pass by Milton “Tyson” Nunez after U.S. defender Frankie Hejduk had given the ball away.
“I think the mistake Honduras made was there were 25 minutes left in the game and they sit back,” Arena said. “You can’t hold the fort down that long.”
The U.S. had struggled in the first half with Honduras’ attack-minded approach but more so with the grass field that had been laid atop Giants Stadium’s usual artificial surface.
“We finally started to get some decent crosses” in the second half, Arena said. “It was very difficult on the field to serve the ball properly. It was difficult footing.”
It was Onyewu, playing in only his eighth game for the U.S., who served the ball that led to the first goal. It reached Landon Donovan, who chested the ball down only to see it poked away by Honduran defender Erick Vallecilo.
Unfortunately for Honduras, Vallecilo’s clearance went only as far as O’Brien, who stuck it into the back of the net, just inside the right post, for his third goal for the U.S. and his first since the 2002 World Cup.
“We were searching for one,” O’Brien said. “We had a lot of good chances but it didn’t happen. That goal took a lot of weight off.
“[Vallecilo] toe-poked the ball, trying to get it away from Landon. It came right at me and I just reacted with my left foot.”
Having tied the score, the U.S. set about winning it.
In the second minute of injury time, Donovan curled a free kick into the crowded goal area and Onyewu leaned in to head the ball past goalkeeper Junior Morales, who had replaced injured starter Victor Coello at the half.
The victory extended the Americans’ unbeaten streak at home against regional opponents to 29 games.
The last CONCACAF team to beat them, in 2001, was Honduras.
