McBride, Reyna Spark U.S to Victory
The return of Brian McBride and other key players helped the United States rebound from last month’s failure in France and disappoint flag-waving El Salvador fans.
McBride had a goal and an assist Saturday when the United States beat El Salvador, 2-0, in an opening game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in front of 33,652 at Gillette Stadium.
The United States scored only one goal in going 0-2-1 in the Confederations Cup in June. McBride sat out that tournament because his wife was due to give birth, and captain Claudio Reyna was recovering from knee surgery.
“You can tell it’s different with Brian back and Claudio back,” forward Landon Donovan said. “They make things jell.”
Kasey Keller, who also sat out the Confederations Cup, was rarely tested in posting his second shutout in a week. The other came in an exhibition, a 2-0 victory over Paraguay at Columbus, Ohio.
The United States would advance to the quarterfinals of the 12-team Gold Cup with a win or tie Monday night in its Group C game against Martinique.
In Saturday’s opener, Canada upset Costa Rica, 1-0, in a Group D opener.
Paul Stalteri scored in the 59th minute for Canada, ranked 78th in the world by FIFA and ninth in CONCACAF. Canada faces Cuba on Monday.
For the United States, Eddie Lewis scored in the 28th minute and McBride connected in the 76th.
Reyna made his first start since last summer’s World Cup, where the United States reached the quarterfinals. He played the first 60 minutes at midfield before being replaced by Clint Mathis.
“It was great. Just to lead the team out again as captain was a wonderful feeling,” he said. “I was concerned a bit if things would come back to me natural, but everything felt pretty good.”
Lewis made it 1-0 when he beat goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez from 16 yards after taking a pass from McBride. It was Lewis’ second goal in the team’s 12 games this year.
McBride got his first goal when he headed in a cross from the right side from Steve Ralston. Just five minutes earlier, Ralston had replaced Earnie Stewart at midfield.
Forward DaMarcus Beasley sat out the game because of a sprained right ankle and said he might play Monday.
