CHICAGO: Brek Shea scored in the 69th minute to give the United States a 1-0 victory over Panama in yesterday’s title match of the Gold Cup, North America’s biennial continental football championship tournament.
The Americans stretched their team-record win streak to 11 matches and claimed their fifth Gold Cup crown after previously taking the title in 1991, 2002, 2005 and 2007. Every edition of the event has been played on US soil.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” US captain DaMarcus Beasley said. “I’m at a loss for words. I’m so excited. This is what it’s about, winning championships together.”
The decisive moment came when a US centering pass was deflected toward the Panama goal. Onrushing Landon Donovan, the all-time US scoring leader, raced for the ball and attracted all attention from Panama’s defenders.
But the ball rolled past Donovan’s outstretched foot and toward the far side of the yawning goal, where Shea raced forward and tapped the ball across the goal-line. AFP
