| | CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- The United States failed to
advance to its first men's world soccer final, losing to Australia
7-6 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie Wednesday in the semifinals of
the FIFA Under-17 Championship.
Kenny Cutler of Richmond, Va., sent the Americans' eighth
penalty kick over the crossbar, giving the win to Australia, which
took a 2-0 lead in regulation before the United States tied on
goals by Landon Donovan of Redlands, Calif., and Oguchi Onyewu of
Olney, Md.
"I'm incredibly proud of this team, as our entire country
should be," U.S. coach John Ellinger said. "It's a great group of
guys who are hurting a lot right now."
The Americans hope their run at this tournament heralds success
in Project 2010, their program to win a World Cup by that year. The
U.S. Soccer Federation hopes to convince players to bypass college
and become fulltime soccer players.
"This team's success over here, and for the last two years, is
the essence of what Project 2010 is all about," Ellinger said. "I
believe that in 10 or 11 years, these and others players that we
are still out there scouting will be challnging for a World Cup
title."
Donovan; Bobby Convey of Philadelphia; Nelson Akwari of Houston;
Abe Thompson of Fairfax Station, Va.; Adolfo Gregorio of Hilmar,
Calif; and Alex Yi of Easton, Md., converted penalty kicks for the
United States. Because the U.S. team went second, the Americans
were facing elimination when Thompson, Gregorio and Yi converted
their kicks.
DaMarcus Beasley, kicking second for the Americans, was stopped
when goalkeeper Jess Kedwell-Vanstrattan dove to his left. But U.S.
goalkeeper D.J. Countess of Sacramento, Calif., stopped Wayne Srhoj
on Australia's fourth shot.
Mark Byrnes, Joseph Di Iorio and Shane Cansdell-Sherriff made
Australia's first three kicks, and Jade North, Dylan MacAllister,
Aaron Goulding and Joshua Kennedy made the final four.
Countess nearly stopped Goulding's shot, diving to his right,
but it slid under him into the net.
In the other semifinal, Ghana played Brazil at Auckland later on
Wednesday in a rematch of the 1997 final won by Brazil.
The loss stopped a 24-game unbeaten streak (19-0-5) for the
United States, which hadn't lost since August 1998. The Americans
have fallen behind in four of five games at the tournament.
Only twice before had a U.S. men's team advanced to a world
semifinal: the 1930 World Cup and the 1989 FIFA World Youth
Championship for players under 20.
Australia went ahead 2-0 on goals by Goulding in the third
minute and Scott McDonald in the 35th.
Just one minute later, Donovan sent a 16-yard, left-footed shot
into the upper left corner of the net for his third goal of the
tournament.
The Americans tied the score six minutes into the second half
when Donovan sent a corner kick to the far post and Onyewu headed
the ball in.
MacAllister nearly won it 14 minutes into overtime, but his
5-yard shot went just over the crossbar.
U.S. defender Seth Trembly was ejected in the 115th minute.
| |
ALSO SEE
FIFA Under-17 World Championships schedule, results
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