Jones Has Large Role in U.S. Rout
Cobi Jones and friends put the finishing touches on a great start for the hosts in the U.S. Cup.
Led by Jones’ two goals and two assists, the United States routed South Africa, 4-0, Saturday at RFK Stadium in Washington in the opener of the U.S. Cup, the largest margin of victory for the Americans in five years.
Jones, within two appearances of setting a record for international games by an American man, scored twice in the first half. Then he made two brilliant plays on goals by Claudio Reyna and Earnie Stewart in the second half.
“Today I got two goals, tomorrow who knows?” said Jones, who had been held scoreless his last 10 games with the Galaxy. “I can’t worry about that situation, but just do the best I can and keep pushing and pushing.”
The South Africans gave the Americans far too much room in the penalty area, and it paid off big for Jones, Reyna, Stewart and Brian McBride, who paced the attack. That pleased Coach Bruce Arena, who had complained about his team’s lack of scoring despite many opportunities.
Did Arena’s complaints make the difference?
“If that’s all it took, we’d score 30 goals a game,” he said, laughing. “Although we scored four, we had some other good chances we didn’t put in the net.”
“I wish there was a significance [to so many goals]. We’ve had the chances to score four before and did not do it.”
Jones personally took care of the offensive problems. He ran unimpeded diagonally from the right wing to the middle of the field before sending a 20-yard left-footed rocket above the hands of goalkeeper Andre Arendse in the 36th minute.
“The guy marking me kept saying, ‘Shoot it, shoot it,’ ” he said of defender David Kannemeyer. “So I did. I think he was a little surprised.”
Jones, making his 127th international appearance, struck again off a corner kick in the 44th minute. Eddie Lewis’ corner was punched out by Arendse, who then fell. The ball came to Reyna outside the area and he headed it sideways to Jones at the top of the penalty box. Another left-footed blast found its way home off Arendse’s outstretched right arm.
The U.S. plays Ireland on Tuesday in Foxboro, Mass., and South Africa faces Mexico in Dallas on Wednesday.
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Jose Saturnino Cardozo scored twice as Toluca defeated Santos, 5-1, at Toluca, Mexico, to win Mexico’s summer championship on 7-1 aggregate.
Cardozo put Toluca ahead for good with a header in the 60th minute, his 100th Mexican League goal in six seasons.
Cardozo scored in the 76th off a pass from Manuel Abundis, and Rafael Garcia made it 4-1 in the 86th.
