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Story courtesy US Soccer Communications
COLUMBUS, Ohio (September 3, 2005) - The U.S. Men’s National Team
earned a berth to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany with a 2-0 victory
against Mexico this evening in front of a raucous sold-out crowd of
24,685 fans at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. After a
scoreless first half, Steve Ralston and DaMarcus Beasley scored in a
six-minute span to qualify the U.S. for their fifth consecutive World
Cup.
This is the first time since 1934 that the U.S. was the first team from
the CONCACAF region to qualify for the World Cup, as Mexico was unable
to clinch with the defeat. The U.S. became the eighth country to
qualify for the 32-team FIFA World Cup, joining host Germany, Japan,
Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Ukraine, which also
qualified today. The draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup will be held on
December 9 in Leipzig, Germany.
With the victory, the U.S. sits atop the hexagonal at 18 points, two
ahead of Mexico, with three matches still left to play in the final
round of CONCACAF qualifying. The U.S. will travel to Guatemala City on
Monday in preparation for the game against Guatemala at Estadio Mateo
Flores on Wednesday (live at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
"The top two teams in CONCACAF are the U.S. and Mexico. We had the one
blemish on our record in the first part of the final round when we lost
in Mexico City,” said U.S. manager Bruce Arena, who advanced to his
second straight World Cup while increasing his home qualifying record
to 14-1-2. “It’s nice to get that back and it’s obviously very special
to qualify at home and against our arch rival."
After both teams struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, the U.S.
broke the scoreless deadlock off a free kick from the right sideline in
the 53rd minute. Eddie Lewis served the ball to the back post where
Onyewu was able to rise over his defender and headed the ball off the
left post. The ball deflected across the goalmouth past Sanchez to the
right side and Ralston had an easy tap-in to push it to the back of the
net. The goal was Ralston’s fourth with the MNT and his second during
2006 World Cup qualifying.
Five minutes later, the U.S. doubled their lead as Beasley started and
finished off a perfectly executed corner kick. Beasley played a short
corner to Landon Donovan and he pushed the ball back near the corner of
the penalty box to Claudio Reyna. With one touch the U.S. captain
slipped the ball into the right side of the penalty box for a streaking
Beasley, who collected the ball about eight yards out and curled a
left-footed shot over the outstretched arm Sanchez and into the left
side netting.
The U.S. defense held staunch during the entire match, as Greg
Berhalter and Onyewu shutdown most of the Mexican attack up the middle.
Mexico got off only seven shots during the match, only two of which
were on goal.
The most taxing attempt at Keller came just before the end of the first
half when Mexico won a free kick at the top of the box. Ramon Morales
hit a curling 25-yard free kick towards the lower-left corner, but
Keller was able to stretch out and get a hand on the ball to knock it
out for a corner kick.
The victory was Keller’s 50th in international play with the U.S.,
giving him an astonishing 44 shutouts in 88 career caps. The victory
was Keller’s fifth straight shutout in qualifying, giving him a
507-minute shutout streak, which dates back all the way to the USA’s
last meeting with Mexico, a 2-1 loss on March 27.
"We qualified pretty comfortably in 1998, but really made it difficult
on ourselves last time,” said Keller, who now has a total of 19
shutouts in World Cup qualifying, a team record. “This time when we've
needed the results we've got 'em and we ended up doing it comfortably.
It always means a lot to beat Mexico. To beat Mexico to qualify to
finish this thing off and to beat them comfortably 2-0 is even better.
It just makes it better."
The U.S., which has not lost at home to Mexico in a World Cup qualifier
since 1972, increased its overall qualifying record on home soil to
29-6-11. The U.S. has lost only one home qualifier in 20 years, a 3-2
loss to Honduras on Sept. 1, 2001. Prior to that the U.S. had not
dropped a home qualifier since May 31, 1985, a 2-1 loss to Costa Rica
in Torrance, Calif.
Since 2000, the U.S. has collected a 6-0-1 home record against Mexico,
netting 11 goals while conceding zero.
Reyna and Berhalter will not be available for the match against
Guatemala as they both received a yellow card, their second cautions
during qualifying, and will serve an automatic one-match suspension.
Jeff Cunningham got his first qualifying cap, coming on in reserve for
Brian McBride during injury time.
In the other two matches in the hexagonal, Trinidad & Tobago got
two late goals from Stern John for a dramatic 3-2 victory against
Guatemala to keep their World Cup hopes alive, while Costa Rica took
over sole possession of third place with a 3-1 victory against Panama.
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