Dempsey leads the U.S. into Gold Cup title match

Arlington, Texas — Clint Dempsey grew up playing youth soccer in the Dallas area, nearly 200 miles from his Texas hometown. Back in his home state and coming off the bench, Dempsey matched the American international scoring record and sparked the U.S. to a spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup title game.

Dempsey fed Jozy Altidore for the go-ahead goal not long after entering, then scored on a free kick to match Landon Donovan with his 57th international goal Saturday night in a 2-0 semifinal win over Costa Rica.

"This has to be the best in Texas for me, since I tied the record and it was an important game," the 34-year-old forward from Nacogdoches.

Dempsey entered in the 66th minute and made a perfectly timed through pass six minutes later that allowed Altidore to break in alone and beat goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton with a left-footed shot from 10 yards.

Dempsey doubled the lead in the 82nd minute with a 27-yard shot that went around a four-man defensive wall that got past Pemberton on two bounces.

"I saw the keeper cheating a little bit, and it went in," Dempsey said.

Dempsey has 136 international appearances, trailing only Cobi Jones (164) and Donovan (157) among American men. The assist was his 20th for the national team.

"Coming back from two heart procedures, being able to still play at this level," Dempsey said in his Texas twang, "living a dream. So I'm happy."

After starting in Wednesday's quarterfinal win over El Salvador, Dempsey moved to a reserve role against the Ticos. While the U.S. inserted five new starters in a roster rotation, Costa Rica went with the same 11 who opened in Wednesday's win against Panama.

"I know it's something that was important to Clint, and to score that goal in a big game makes it even more