NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Doneil Henry and Lucas Cavallini each scored goals as Canada beat the United States 2-0 Saturday night for its first win over the Americans since 1992 in the CONCACAF men's Olympic qualifying tournament.
The Americans could have clinched a berth in the semifinals on March 31 in Kansas City, Kan. Those winners qualify for the London games. Instead, they now must beat El Salvador, a 4-0 winner over Cuba earlier Saturday, on Monday night to advance.
The Americans came in 4-1-2 all-time against Canada in this tournament.
The Canadians played a scoreless tie against El Salvador to open the Group A tournament, and they stayed just as strong defensively against the Americans.
Henry headed the ball off a corner kick in the 58th minute, and Cavallini scored off a diving header in the 83rd minute for a 2-0 lead.
The U.S. squad played without Juan Agudelo, who U.S. Soccer officials announced before the game tore cartilage in his left knee in Thursday night's 6-0 win over Cuba and the forward will rejoin the New York Red Bulls on Sunday with team doctors figuring out a recovery timetable. Agudelo, who scored a goal Thursday night, watched from the bench.
U.S. coach Caleb Porter will not be able to replace Agudelo on the roster since the Americans still have 19 players available and must get to 18 before an injury replacement is allowed.
Teal Bunbury, whose father played for the Canadian national team, got the start along with Jorge Villafana as they replaced Kofi Sarkodie and Agudelo.
The teams played to a scoreless first half, and Porter substituted Joe Gyau for Joe Corona, who had three goals in Thursday night's 6-0 win over Cuba. Terrence Boyd substituted for Bunbury in the 56th minute.
The Americans thought they had gone ahead in the 48th minute when Ike Opara headed a Freddy Adu free kick into the goal. But Opara was called offsides.
They had a great chance to tie it up when Jorge Villafana found Adu for a kick on goal only to have keeper Michal Misiewicz deflect it and smother the ball. After the referee gave a yellow card to Canadian Andres Fresenga for wasting time on the ground in the 66th minute, the U.S. had another chance. But Brek Shea's kick banged off the side of the net.
Randy Edwini-Bonsu had a chance in the 55th minute and kicked the ball over the net, and the Canadians finally scored in the 58th minute. Philippe Davies had the corner kick, and Henry jumped up in the crowd and headed the ball into the corner of the net.
The Canadians had plenty of chances. U.S. keeper Bill Hamid tipped a shot after a penalty on Amobi Okugo in the 81st minute. Then Russell Teibert sent a corner kick to Davies, who redirected it to Cavallini for a 2-0 lead.
Adu was wide on a free kick late, and not even four minutes of stoppage time gave the Americans enough time to score. Edwini-Bonsu did pick up a red card just before the end of the game.
? 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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