Consolation prize

U.S. to face rival Mexico or former coach for third place

Kasey Keller takes the ball off the feet of Brazil's Nilmar. AP

ATLANTA (SI.com) -- While the anticlimax of a third-place game offers the United States national team small consolation after Wednesday’s semifinal loss to Brazil, Saturday’s contest will present an intriguing matchup regardless of who wins the other semifinal on Thursday.

Though the U.S. failed to defend its Gold Cup title with a 2-1 loss in extra time, it will get a crack in Miami (8 p.m.; Galavision) at either No. 1 rival Mexico or Costa Rica, which is led by former U.S. coach Steve Sampson.

Mexico will have the home-field advantage at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, but Costa Rica is now 9-2-1 under coach Sampson, who was fired by the U.S. after failing to win a game at the 1998 World Cup. Sampson’s U.S. squad was plagued by in-fighting at that tournament.

Mexico has a chance to earn regional bragging rights at the Gold Cup after being eliminated by the United States in the second round of the 2002 World Cup.

McBride out 4-6 weeks U.S. forward Brian McBride will be sidelined 4-6 weeks after breaking a bone near his left eye in Wednesday's 2-1 extra-time loss to Brazil in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Columbus Crew star, who scored three goals in the first two games of the tournament, suffered a minimally displaced fracture of the orbital floor of his left eye, according to U.S. Soccer. FULL STORY

On Wednesday, some 35,000 fans watched the Americans try to repeat history as they had upset the Brazilians in the 1998 Gold Cup semifinals behind a stellar performance from Kasey Keller in net and a 65th-minute goal from Preki Radosavljevic. On Wednesday, the U.S. almost pulled it off again.

But Brazil came from behind with Diego scoring a golden-goal penalty to take the South Americans into the final.

“Certainly fatigue was a factor tonight,” said U.S. manager Bruce Arena. “We ran out of gas. Give Brazil credit; they are an excellent team with outstanding attacking players. But I give my team credit as well as we gave everything we had and just fell short.”

The spot-kick was awarded 10 minutes into extra time when Diego's goal-bound shot was intentionally handled by defender Cory Gibbs, who was red carded for the offense.

"The ball was going in the goal," Gibbs said.

"The only chance I had to do something to prevent the loss was that. That's the way it goes and the ref saw it."

The winning goal capped a stirring comeback for the Brazilians, who dominated most of the match but fell behind in the 62nd minute when Carlos Bocanegra headed in a Claudio Reyna free kick to give the U.S. a surprising 1-0 lead.

Brazil, fielding its under-23 side, intensified its efforts to break down the U.S. defense and nearly pulled level in the 74th minute when Julio Baptista was foiled by an acrobatic save by Keller Keller, who had been 18-0-4 over the last five years in U.S. home games.

But Kaka leveled the score in the 89th minute, capping a half hour of steady pressure. Ewerthon fired a shot that Keller initially stopped, but could not hang on to, allowing Kaka to swoop in and put the ball into the near corner.

Kaka had hit the post twice -- including once in the 75th minute, when he forced Keller to fist a shot onto his own woodwork. The Olympian also had a goal disallowed under debatable circumstances. Kaka is the only player on the roster who was part of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning team.

"It was a very exciting game," Brazil coach Ricardo Gomes said.

"We dominated much of it, but had a lot of difficulty getting through. The U.S. never gave up on offense; they put a lot of long balls into the area and they ended up getting a goal that way.

"Overall, I think the amount of plays we made and the opportunities we had, we couldn't leave here without a win.

Landon Donovan failed to break down Julio Baptista (7) and Brazil. AP

"When we suffered that goal, our quality as a team was that we remained composed and came back to win the game."

Brazil now travels to Mexico City for Sunday’s final at the Azteca Stadium.

"We ran out of gas out there," Keller said. "It was really tough giving up the goal right at the end of the game because we had defended so well.

"As extra time came, we were drained and I knew that we were going to have to hang on for dear life."

It was a rough game, with several hard fouls. Brian McBride was forced to leave the game in the 25 minute when a collision with Alex opened a cut above his eye, bloodying the forward. He would be replaced by the largely ineffective Clint Mathis.

"We basically ran out of gas," said Arena. "Losing McBride that early in the game really hurt us. We knew Reyna had to come out because he isn't match fit, so we debated making that last change.”

Reyna was clearly struggling to keep up with the game before being replaced with defensive midfielder Richard Mulrooney.

“The decision was that we have a 1-0 lead, lets get some fresh legs in and defend the game. I don't have any big objection that we got defensive with 10 minutes to play, but when we had a center back as a forward, I knew we were in trouble."

Keller finished with seven saves, four of which were made from point-blank range. He had 10 stops in the February 1998 win over Brazil.

"The tank was empty," Keller said. "They're such a difficult team. They have so much individual skill that you have to chase them all over the field."

The Americans clearly tired late, playing in 84-degree heat and 80 percent humidity. Several American players were cramping in the final minutes.

Kaka's goal was the first allowed by the Americans in the 600 minutes since Brazil's Adriano scored in a 1-0 win on June 21 at the Confederations Cup in France. It also stopped an 800-minute shutout streak for Keller in the Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Stats Summary   USA  BRA  Shots  7  16  Saves  7  5  Corners  2  6  Fouls  16  15  Offside  2  5

“That’s the way it goes,” said Keller. “It’s unfortunate [to lose], because I think we had them. We had four or five good chances to score, and they created a lot of chances too. I think the heat and the humidity were definitely a factor and by the last five minutes you could tell we were out of gas. It was a great game.”

Saturday's third-place game in Miami is probably the last time most top American players will be together before the start of World Cup qualifying in January.

Because Brazil is an invited guest to the tournament, the winner of Thursday's semifinal earns CONCACAF's berth in the 2005 Confederations Cup in Germany.

Historically, the U.S. has lost 11 of 12 fixtures against Brazil.

Summmary

Teams:
United States - 18-Kasey Keller, 15-Bobby Convey, 4-Carlos Bocanegra, 6-Cory Gibbs, 2-Frankie Hejduk, 7-Eddie Lewis, 10-Claudio Reyna (13-Richard Mulrooney, 71), 25-Pablo Mastroeni, 8-Earnie Stewart (17-Damarcus Beasley, 83), 20-Brian McBride (11-Clint Mathis, 30), 21-Landon Donovan.
Brazil - 1-Gomes, 2-Maicon, 3-Luisao, 4-Alex, 5-Adriano, 6-Paulo Almeida (9-Ewerthon, 86), 7-Julio Baptista, 10-Diego, 15-Nilmar (Nadson, 81), 8-Kaka, 11-Robinho (17-Carlos Alberto, 75).

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Claudio Reyna (caution) 7th minute
BRA – Nilmar (caution) 16’
USA – Pablo Mastroeni (caution) 41’
BRA – Adriano (caution) 61’
BRA – Maicon (caution) 65’
BRA – Carlos Alberto (caution) 78’
USA – Carlos Bocanegra (caution) 85’
USA – Cory Gibbs (ejection) 98’

Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)

SI.com wire services contributed to this report.

 

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