Monday, June 20, 2011

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Quarterfinals Night Two: US & Panama Get a Rematch


Sunday afternoon at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the United States hosted Jamaica and Panama played El Salvador to determine which teams would advance to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Wednesday night.

It was US hoping to get past Jamaica in the matinee match, and get by Jamaica they did thank to goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. Coming into Sunday's match, Jamaica had scored multiple goals while keeping clean sheets in all of its group stage matches. Despite looking dangerous from time to time, Jamaica was unable to score and its keeper, Donovan Ricketts, managed numerous saves, but couldn't stop them all.

RFK Stadium was packed with fans of El Salvador hoping to see their team beat Panama and advance to the semifinals. It was El Salvador that scored first, when Rodolfo Zelaya put the ball in the net in the 77th minute, but it only took 12 minutes for Panama's Luis Tejada to respond with a goal of his own. The match was tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation time, forcing it to be decided on penalty kicks. Panama ends up advancing to the semifinals after beating El Salvador 5-3 on penalty kicks.

Sunday's results mean that the United States and Panama will face each other in a rematch on Wednesday night at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.



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