U.S. beats Guadeloupe, 1-0, to advance to Gold Cup quarterfinals

Group play in the Gold Cup used to be little more than a formality for the U.S. soccer team.

But those days are gone with the Americans, needing a tie to advance to the tournament’s knockout stage, hanging on for a 1-0 win over stubborn Guadeloupe on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Yet if Jozy Altidore’s 30-yard blast into the near corner of the net in the ninth minute sent the U.S. into a quarterfinal Sunday against Jamaica with a bit of room to spare, it also underscored just how much work the Americans have ahead of them. Because after being frustrated repeatedly by Franck Grandel, who played a marvelous game in goal for Guadeloupe, the Americans next face Galaxy keeper Donovan Ricketts, who hasn’t allowed a goal in the tournament.

“We need to finish a few more chances next time,” said U.S. keeper Tim Howard, who has two shutouts in three matches. “The good thing is we created the chances and we ended up dominating the game.

“Unfortunately, it was only 1-0.”

Coming off a 2-1 loss to Panama, U.S. Coach Bob Bradley made some changes to his lineup Tuesday, replacing central defender Tim Ream with Eric Lichaj, moving Carlos Bocanegra to the middle and sitting attacker Juan Agudelo in favor of MLS scoring champ Chris Wondolowski.

The result was a new pace and energy that helped the Americans outshoot Guadeloupe, 7-0, in the first half. But with the exception of Altidore’s long-distance strike — his second goal in three matches — the U.S. was unable to close out any of its chances.

The offensive pressure — and frustration — continued into the second half with Altidore being thwarted by the defense in the 54th minute and Clint Dempsey hitting the crossbar with a free kick five minutes later. In the 76th minute, Dempsey had the ball taken off his boot by Julien Ictoi just as he was taking aim at an open net.

So while the U.S. wound up outshooting winless Guadeloupe, 21-5, they wound up outscoring them just 1-0. Although that wasn’t good enough for the Americans (2-1-0) to win their group — the first time that’s happened in Gold Cup play — it was good enough to send them to the next round.

“Tonight was a good exercise in that we had to focus and we had to bear down,” Howard said. “We knew that we needed a result and we wanted to get that result. We know what lies ahead and every time you can progress now, you’re just one step closer.”

The U.S. could have won Group C if not for a goal by Luis Tejada in second-half stoppage time that earned Panama a tie with Canada and left it unbeaten in pool play.

Needing a win to advance, Canada took a 1-0 lead in the 62nd minute on Dwayne De Rosario’s penalty-kick goal. But Tejada matched that by scoring during a wild scramble in front of the net in the first minute of extra time.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Baxter reported from Los Angeles.