U.S. Overpowers Panama 3-0

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Posted 5:02PM on Thursday, June 9, 2005

PANAMA CITY - With wins over Costa Rica at home and Panama on the road by identical 3-0 scores, the United States is close to earning its fifth straight World Cup appearance. If it gets to Germany next year, the U.S. team will find Argentina, South Korea, Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia and the host Germans already in the field. Carlos Bocanegra, Landon Donovan and Brian McBride scored first-half goals to lead the Americans over Panama on Wednesday night, a victory in hot-and-humid conditions on a dimly lit field, where visitors usually stumble. "We just need to continue to do that," McBride said. "Two wins from now, we'll be OK. Until you do that, you think about the next game." That would be their Aug. 17 match at East Hartford, Conn., against Trinidad and Tobago. "We really put ourselves in a good position," said goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who made several spectacular saves in the first half. "This was a golden opportunity. We took advantage of it," Donovan said. The Americans (4-1) are second at the midpoint of the final round of the North and Central American region with 12 points, one behind Mexico (4-0-1), which beat visiting Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. Costa Rica (2-2-1) beat Guatemala 3-2 (1-3-1). Trinidad and Tobago is 1-3-1. Panama (0-3-2) is virtually out of contention with two points. The top three nations qualify for next year's tournament, and the No. 4 team meets Bahrain, Kuwait or Uzbekistan in a home-and-home playoff for another berth. The Americans have three home games left, including matchups with T&T and Panama, the two weakest teams in the group. Also Wednesday, Argentina secured a spot by beating defending champion Brazil 3-1 on two goals from striker Hernan Crespo and one by Juan Roman Riquelme. Roberto Carlos scored Brazil's goal. Argentina, World Cup winner in 1978 and 1986, leads the 10-team qualifying group with 31 points, followed by defending champion Brazil with 27. Ecuador is third with 23, followed by Paraguay with 22 after 15 games. Colombia got its second straight lopsided win, 3-0 over Ecuador. Tressor Moreno scored two goals within four minutes, while Martin Arzuaga completed the rout. Colombia, which routed Peru 5-0 on Saturday, has 20 points. Japan gained the first berth, beating North Korea 2-0 in a game played in Bangkok, Thailand, in a stadium closed to fans. FIFA, soccer's governing body, last month shifted the game, originally scheduled for the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. FIFA made its decision to play the game at Bangkok's Supachalasai Stadium after fans in North Korea rioted following a World Cup qualifying loss to Iran at Pyongyang. Japan got goals from Atsushi Yanagisawa in the 73rd minute and Masashi Oguro in the 88th. Iran beat visiting Bahrain 1-0 on Mohammad Nosrati's 47th-minute goal before 100,000 at Sazadi Stadium in Tehran. With one game remaining, Iran (4-0-1) and Japan (4-1) can't be caught in Asia Group B. Saudi Arabia qualified for its fourth straight World Cup by beating Uzbekistan 3-0 at Riyadh. Sami al-Jaber scored in the eighth and 60th minutes before 75,000 at King Fahd Stadium. South Korea, a semifinalist in the 2002 World Cup, earned its sixth straight berth with a 4-0 victory at Kuwait in hot weather and a sand storm. Officials suspended play for eight minutes after South Korea's second goal as fans hurled stones and empty water bottles. Saudi Arabia (3-0-2) and South Korea (3-1-1) earned the berths from Group B. Bahrain will play either Kuwait (1-3-1) or Uzbekistan (0-3-2) in a playoff to determine which nation will play the No. 4 team from CONCACAF for another berth. Bocanegra scored off Donovan's corner kick in the sixth minute, Donovan got his third goal in two games in the 20th and McBride took advantage of a defensive mistake in the 40th. Keller made the lead stand with his second straight strong performance in goal, getting his 39th career shutout in 81 games. "Getting the result like that is exceptional when nobody else has been able to do it," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said, noting that Panama rarely loses at home. It was a steamy 81 degrees with an 89 percent humidity at gametime, and a just-short-of-capacity crowd of about 23,000 filled Estadio Rommel Fernandez, a low structure with a track surrounding the field and poor lighting. The fans, nearly all dressed in Panama red, honked horns, beat drums and banged inflatable Thunder Stix. They booed at the end of "The Star-Spangled Banner," and again as Panamanian players walked off the field at halftime. It was just the fifth win for the United States in 17 qualifiers in Central America. "The players showed a lot of heart, a lot of determination," DaMarcus Beasley said after the Americans scored on three of their first four opportunities. Keller came up with a nice save on Roberto Brown, Panama's leading scorer in qualifying. Donovan made it 2-0 with a glancing header from 10 yards, outjumping defender Felipe Baloy to get to Steve Ralston's cross. Donovan's 22nd goal in 64 international appearances moved him past Bruce Murray for sole possession of fourth on the U.S. career scoring list behind Eric Wynalda (34), McBride (28) and Joe-Max Moore (24). Donovan also has a goal or assist in 12 of 13 qualifiers for next year's tournament. Keller made two spectacular saves in the 26th minute, going to his right to block Brown in front of the goal, then batting away Baloy's follow shot. "It kind of hit me and I was able to gather it after that," Keller said of Baloy's shot. Two minutes later, Brown had Keller beat but couldn't get his head on a cross, and Jose Garces hit the post off a 25-yard shot in the 32nd minute. On the third goal, Donovan's free kick was headed out by a defender. Frankie Hejduk sent the ball back in, and it bounced off Baloy to McBride, who kicked it in with his left foot. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.