By David Gold
March 27 – There was a major shock in Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) men’s Olympic football qualifiers as the hosts, the United States, were knocked out after a failing to beat El Salvador in their final group game.
They drew 3-3 in Nashville, with Jaime Alas (pictured centre) scoring a stoppage time equaliser for El Salvador to send the hosts crashing out.
It had been a up and down encounter, with the US going in front through Terrence Boyd early on, only for El Salvador to turn things round and take a 2-1 lead through quickfire goals from Lester Blanco and Andres Flores before half time.
The US then equalised through Boyd midway through the second half and a goal from Joe Corona then put them in front and heading for the last four, before Alas’ dramatic intervention.
The result was a major shock for the US, who miss out on the Olympics for only the second time since 1976, while El Salvador are aiming to qualify for the first time since 1968.
They had been beaten 2-0 at home by Canada in their previous game, who drew their last game 1-1 with Cuba to secure a spot in the last four and a semi final against Mexico.
“It’s a painful moment,” US coach Caleb Porter said.
“The players are devastated.
“To put in as much as they put in that game and all the heart they put in and played the way they did in the second half…to be seconds away from [finishing top of the group], it’s unimaginable.”
El Salvador coach Mauricio Alfaro said that he ordered his players to target Sean Johnson in the US goal with a series of shots from distance.
“I noticed on the first shot that the ‘keeper was a little bit nervous,” he said.
“In the second half I told my players to shoot a little bit more on goal, try to have more shots on him.”
Canada’s progress to the last four takes them another step closer to a first appearance at the Olympics in almost 30 years, though they will be underdogs against Mexico (pictured), who are looking to make amends for missing out on Beijing 2008.
They have won both of their games so far to secure top spot in Group B with a game to go, crushing Trinidad and Tobago 7-1 at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles and cruising to a 3-0 win against Honduras, who reached the Olympics four years ago.
Honduras managed to beat Panama in their opening game, 3-1, meaning they are strong favourites to qualify for the last four from the group.
Panama and Trinidad and Tobago could only draw their clash, a result which did little for either side’s chances of progress.
“It was a great game on our part,” said Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena.
“It is hard to say if this has been our best game yet but we definitely played with good intensity – to win 3-0 against Honduras is not easy.”
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