Panama booked their Gold Cup semi-final berth in dramatic style on Sunday, beating El Salvador 5-3 on penalties after Luis Tejada equalized in the 90th minute.
Panama lined up another match against their Group C rivals the US, who had second-half goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey in a 2-0 victory over Jamaica in the quarter-finals of the regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
In the second match of the day’s double-header at RFK Stadium, Tejada’s 90th-minute strike answered the penalty converted by Rodolfo Zelaya in the 78th minute for El Salvador.
Photo: Reuters
Tejada converted in the penalty shootout, making the clinching shot after Nelson Barahona, Luis Renteria, Anibal Godoy and Amilcar Henriquez converted.
Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo stopped the first penalty he faced in the decider, from El Salvador’s Dennis Alas.
“If things don’t go your way in terms of soccer, you have to look for other ways to reach your goals,” Panama coach Julio Dely Valdes said. “We have gotten a result in a way we’re not used to. I think Panama never stopped fighting and that’s how we reached the goal, which is the most important thing going forward.”
Photo: Reuters
Both coaches were unhappy with some of the referee’s decisions.
Tejada’s goal in the last minute first appeared to have been saved by El Salvador goalkeeper Miguel Montes, but he was in the net and it was determined that the ball had crossed the line.
After a delay in posting the goal on the scoreboard, it was briefly taken down, then put up again.
“It’s an elimination that has been conditioned by human error made by the referees, which is OK because they are human and they can make mistakes,” El Salvador coach Ruben Israel said.
Both Panama and El Salvador played extra-time with just 10 men after Panama’s Blas Perez and El Salvador’s Luis Anaya were sent off after a scuffle at the end of regular time.
Panama will play the US on Wednesday in Houston in a re-match of Panama’s 2-1 Group C victory.
The US advanced thanks to Jones’ goal in the 49th minute and Dempsey’s 80th-minute strike.
German-born midfielder Jones, making his ninth appearance for the US, fired a shot from outside the area that was deflected by Jamaica defender Jermaine Taylor’s outstretched leg past goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
The US gained a man advantage after Taylor was sent off in the 67th minute for a foul on Jones.
They made the most of the advantage with Dempsey’s goal. A cross from Juan Agudelo found Dempsey alone on the left side of the goal. Ricketts came out to contest, but Dempsey eluded him and slotted the ball home.
“We just played good football,” Dempsey said. “We were patient. We were confident. We moved the ball around well.”
Agudelo had come on in the 12th minute for Jozy Altidore, who departed with a strained left hamstring.
Jamaica had reached the quarter-finals as the winners of Group B with victories over Grenada, Guatemala and Honduras, but they had never beaten the US and had never made it beyond the quarter-finals, trends they couldn’t reverse on Sunday.
“I thought we were in the game until we gave up the first goal,” Jamaica coach Theodore Whitmore said. “Even one man down, I think we were still in the game, still getting chances.”
In Wednesday’s other semi-final, Mexico will face Honduras and Mexico will be allowed to replace the five players withdrawn from their 23-man squad over positive out-of-competition drugs test results, CONCACAF said on Sunday.
The defending Gold Cup champions had petitioned organizers to replace the players because national federation officials believe they inadvertently ingested banned clenbuterol in tainted meat.
They tested positive at a pre-tournament training camp near Mexico City last month. Upon learning of the results, Mexico pulled them from the Gold Cup after the team’s opening victory over El Salvador.
Even without them Mexico were unbeaten in group play and they advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 victory over Guatemala on Saturday.
CONCACAF said the Gold Cup organizing committee had reviewed the case and received advice from world governing body FIFA.
“Based on the specific facts of this case, and on FIFA’s advice on the matter, the situation at hand is a case of force majeure as contemplated in the competition regulations,” a statement said. “Therefore the Mexican national team shall be permitted to replace the five separated players with up to five other players for the remainder of the competition.”
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Francisco Javier Rodriguez and Edgar Duenas, and midfielders Antonio Naelson and Christian Bermudez were the players pulled from the squad.
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