US eye World Cup after thrilling Gold Cup win
santa clara — The United States’ 2-1 win over Jamaica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on Wednesday took their unbeaten streak to 14 games but coach Bruce Arena says they must not lose sight of the big picture — qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals.
The United States are unbeaten since Arena replaced Juergen Klinsmann last November, moving up to third in CONCACAF’s six-team final qualifying round where the top three sides get an automatic berth for Russia.
The fourth placed side will take on a team from the Asian confederation for another place at the finals. “We’ve made progress but we are a long way from qualifying for a World Cup and that’s the objective for sure,” he told reporters in Northern California after the United States won their sixth Gold Cup.
Despite the upturn in their fortunes since he took over, Arena, who led the US team at the 2002
We’ve made progress but we are a long way from qualifying for World Cup. That’s the objective for sure Bruce Arena, USA coach
and 2006 World Cups, joked that he was far from irreplaceable.
“I’m probably going to get fired tomorrow,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe tonight.”
Arena’s attention now turns to selecting his squad for a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica on Sept. 1 followed by matches against Honduras, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Arena called up goalkeeper Tim Howard, midfielder Michael Bradley and forwards Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore for the Gold Cup’s knockout stage.
He left his starting lineup unchanged between the semifinal and the final, where he opted to bring Dempsey off the bench, a role that seemed to suit the 34-year-old and gave the crowd a lift when he was brought on in the 55th minute on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to evaluate this performance in July and then we’ve got to win some games in September and October,” Arena said. Since the inception of the Gold Cup, Mexico and the US have won all but one edition, with Canada triumphing in 2000. Jamaica lost their talismanic goalkeeper, Andre Blake, to a hand injury early in the contest.
Miller was in goal as halftime approached, when US captain Michael Bradley was fouled in midfield and Altidore curled the ensuing free kick over the wall and into the top corner of the net. Miller soared to get his fingertips to the ball but couldn’t keep it out of the net. Jamaica pulled level when Watson bullied his way past Morris on a Kemar Lawrence’s corner kick to volley a short shot past US goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Morris admitted that he was stung when the man he was marking scored - and relieved he could make up for it with the game-winner.
“Credit to Jamaica - they made it very tough for us,” Morris said. “I was nervous - it was my guy that scored on the (Jamaican) goal. So I was trying to make up for that any way I could. “Obviously, I take responsibility for it, but luckily I could put it in the back of the net.”
For Jamaica, however, Morris’s goal was “like a dagger in the heart,” Jamaica coach Theodore Whitmore said.
“But again, this is football,” he said. “If you look in the semifinal against Mexico, the same thing happened in that game (when Jamaica scored an 88th-minute winner).” — Reuters/AFP