Beasley at His Best as U.S. Advances

By Mark Pukalo

July 17, 2005 12 AM PT

Hartford Courant

FOXBORO, Mass. —

Even though the scores didn’t always reflect it, the U.S. men’s national soccer team was often bottled up by ultra-defensive game plans in the first round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Jamaica rarely has that mind-set.

The Americans benefited from a more open style Saturday. DaMarcus Beasley had a hand in all three goals as the U.S. team defeated the Reggae Boyz, 3-1, in a quarterfinal before 22,108 at Gillette Stadium.

The U.S. will play Honduras, a 3-2 winner over Costa Rica in the first game, in a semifinal Thursday at East Rutherford, N.J.

“Everything worked perfectly for us,” Beasley said. “We know they get disorganized in the back. We wanted to get at them on the flanks and, when that happened, the middle opened up. We had a lot of space and we could have had four, five, six goals.”

Beasley said the knee he injured in April playing for PSV Eindhoven of the Dutch League is 100%. He is still working himself into shape, but the speedy, shifty wing midfielder was able to play 90 minutes Saturday and gave Jamaica fits.

In the sixth minute, John O’Brien’s cross from the left corner was tracked down in the penalty area by Beasley. His shot from 18 yards was redirected by Josh Wolff to give the Americans the lead. Just before halftime, Beasley timed his run well on the left side of the penalty area and knocked home Landon Donovan’s through pass from 12 yards.

“One of the major factors was our concentration was not there on a consistent basis,” Jamaica Coach Wendell Downswell said. “[Beasley] had good movements off the ball and caused us problems. He destabilized our defensive network.”

The Jamaicans missed their best chance just seconds after Wolff’s goal.

Greg Vanney took down a player in the penalty area, but U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller saved Andy Williams’ penalty kick.

The second half was a wild one, with two red cards. U.S. midfielder Ben Olsen was ejected for taking down Ricardo Fuller on a breakaway just outside the penalty area in the 58th minute. Cari Stephenson hit the right post on the free kick.

Nine minutes later, Jermaine Taylor was ejected for a nasty tackle on Beasley along the sideline and the Americans began to press forward again.

Wolff and Steve Ralston had good chances before substitute Chris Armas tiptoed through the Jamaican defense and got off a low cross. Beasley was able to knock in his own rebound in the 83rd minute.

Fuller scored in the 88th for Jamaica. Donovan missed a penalty kick in injury time.

“I think it was our best game of the tournament,” U.S. Coach Bruce Arena said.

The only downer came when midfielder/defender Steve Cherundolo injured his left knee after a hard Jamaican foul. Arena said he is probably out for the tournament.

Wilmer Velasquez had a goal and an assist in Honduras’ 3-2 victory over Costa Rica in another quarterfinal.

Elvis Danilo Turcios and Milton Nunez also scored for Honduras, which led 3-0 after only 29 minutes.

Christian Bolanos scored in the 39th minute and Bryan Ruiz scored in the 81st for Costa Rica.

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Gold Cup

Results, schedule for the CONCACAF Gold Cup:

QUARTERFINALS

Saturday at Foxboro, Mass.

* Honduras 3, Costa Rica 2

* United States 3, Jamaica 1

Today at Houston

* Mexico vs. Colombia, noon