HOUSTON, Texas (CMC) – CONCACAF powerhouse United States reached their fourth consecutive Gold Cup final when they edged Panama 1-0 here Wednesday night, and will now meet Mexico who needed extra time to beat a stubborn Honduras. The Americans, who beat the Caribbean’s top-ranked side Jamaica in Sunday’s quarterfinals, were lifted to victory through Clint Dempsey’s 76th minute strike at the Reliant Stadium.
Mexico, meanwhile, took the tougher route as Jesús De Nigris and Manchester United star Javier Hernández scored in the first period of extra time to eke out a 2-0 win after regulation finished nil-all.
U.S. and Mexico have met in four of the last nine Gold Cup finals with the Mexicans winning on three of those occasions. More importantly, they crushed the Americans 5-0 in the most recent final two years ago.
Wednesday’s victory for the U.S., however, was revenge for their 2-1 loss to the Panamanians in the preliminary round.
Still, the U.S. were hardly convincing as Panama dominated possession early on and created several chances.
Panama came close to getting on the scoresheet as early as the 11th minute when Armando Cooper fired wide.
Juan Agudelo responded minutes later with a fantastic opportunity when Steve Cherundolo put in a cross only for the resulting strike to rebound off the uprights.
Nil-all at halftime, Panama squandered two great chances afterwards when Nelson Barahona’s cross somehow missed Alberto Quintero in a goal-scoring position and Armando Cooper’s shot was tipped over by goalkeeper Tim Howard.
The persistence of the Americans paid off 14 minutes from the end, however, when Freddy Adu set Landon Donovan free down the right flank. His subsequent cross found Dempsey who squeezed the ball in at the far post.
Mexico, meanwhile, failed to break down the Hondurans in full-time creating some panic in the favourites’ camp.
But De Nigris powered in a header from Pablo Barrera’s corner in the second minute of extra time before Hernandez added a second six minutes later, popping up at the far post to push De Nigris’ header across the line with his stomach for his seventh goal of the tournament.