Late Heroics Lift U.S., 2-1
Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, teenagers with the shared dream of playing in the World Cup this summer, led the United States to its first soccer victory over South Korea on Saturday, a 2-1 triumph in front of 42,117 on a chilly afternoon at the Rose Bowl.
The youngsters, both 19, each scored a goal in the opening-round CONCACAF Gold Cup match as the Americans defeated one of the teams they will play in the world championship in June.
Beasley’s game-winner came with only 25 seconds left. “Jeff Cunningham put a great ball over and I saw a little crack [of daylight] at the near post and I just went for it,” said Beasley, whose left-foot volley flew straight and true. “I was lucky it went in the goal, so I’m happy.”
Not as happy as Bruce Arena, the U.S. coach who saw his team outplayed in many areas of the field by a Korean side that was much faster and, seemingly at least, quite a bit fitter.
Even while playing a man down for the final 34 minutes, South Korea looked the more dangerous team.
“It wasn’t a pretty game today, for sure,” Arena said. “Korea’s a very difficult team to play against, very physical, very aggressive. I’m happy there weren’t any rules that you couldn’t play teenagers, because we’d be in a lot of trouble.”
It was the fifth game between the countries, and the Koreans came into it holding a 3-0-1 edge.
They might have put themselves in a good position to win had they been able to take advantage of a penalty kick they were awarded in the seventh minute.
With 6:35 gone, defender Danny Califf, the Galaxy player making his national team debut, grabbed Korean forward Choi Yong-Soo’s jersey and yanked him to the turf. Referee Richard Samuel of the Dominican Republic pointed immediately to the penalty spot.
Yoo Sang-Chul stepped up to take the kick, but drove the ball straight at goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who bobbled it but hung on.
“There was a ball in the air and it came through and some guy [Choi] ran through and he was going to be in alone on Kasey, so I did what I thought I had to do and it ended up working out,” Califf said.
“In the locker room at halftime I definitely went up to him [Keller] and said thanks because he came up huge.”
The save loomed even larger in the 35th minute when Donovan latched onto a crossfield pass from Ante Razov, beat South Korea’s offside trap and lobbed the ball over advancing Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae and into the net.
Three minutes later, the score was tied.
With the U.S. defense dropping back and allowing the Koreans more time than they should have been given, Song Chong-Gug found himself with the ball at his feet 30 yards from goal.
He unleashed a shot that flew into the upper right corner of the net, well beyond Keller’s outstretched fingers. The goal sparked a loud celebration from the enthusiastic Korean fans.
South Korea enjoyed more of the play in the second half and several times caused problems for the American defense. In the 56th minute, however, Donovan again broke free and was homing in on goal when he was tackled from behind by Choi Jin-Cheul.
The two crashed to the ground in a tangle of legs and arms and when order was restored referee Samuel showed Choi the red card, leaving the Koreans to play out the game with 10 men.
The Americans should have been able to take advantage, but it was the Asian side that more often seemed in control, just as in the first 45 minutes.
“I think they were rather surprised that we took the initiative in the first half and it was bad luck that we didn’t score the penalty or on one or two other occasions,” said Guus Hiddink, South Korea’s Dutch coach.
“The United States [players] had a lot of problems with us, the way we played. ... The decisive moment was the red card.”
Then came Beasley’s heroics.
“We were obviously lucky to get a goal right at the end of the game,” Arena acknowledged. “A tie might have been a fairer result.”
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CONCACAF GOLD CUP
Remaining first-round schedule
Today (Miami)--Costa Rica vs. Trinidad and Tobago, noon; Ecuador vs. Haiti, 2 p.m.
Monday (Rose Bowl)--U.S. vs. Cuba, 3 p.m.; Mexico vs. Guatemala, 5 p.m.
Tuesday (Miami)--Trinidad and Tobago vs. Martinique, 4 p.m.; Canada vs. Ecuador, 6 p.m.
Wednesday (Rose Bowl)--Guatemala vs. El Salvador, 7 p.m.; South Korea vs. Cuba, 9 p.m.
