FOXBORO, Mass. - A four-goal performance by Landon Donovan powered the United States to a 5-0 rout of Cuba on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The defending champion United States advanced to a semifinal Wednesday against Brazil, which defeated Colombia 2-0 in Miami.
Donovan, who has been going through a relative dry scoring spell, could seemingly do no wrong against punchless Cuba as he connected twice in each half, increasing his strike rate to 14 in 42 international appearances.
"Landon's performance speaks for itself," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "He did an outstanding job getting in front of the goal."
Despite taking 2-0 wins against El Salvador and Martinique, the Americans squandered numerous scoring opportunities in each of those first-round fixtures, but only needed 22 minutes to unlock the amateur Cuban side making its first appearance in the quarterfinals of the regional championship.
Unlike their opening match against Canada where Cuba proved an opportunistic counterattacking team, the Cubans were resigned to defending against the dominant U.S. squad that enjoyed a 14-2 advantage in shots.
In another quarterfinal, Walter Centeno scored three goals as Costa Rica beat El Salvador 5-2.
MLS: Manny Lagos' tiebreaking goal in the second half lifted San Jose to a 2-1 victory over D.C. United. ... Igor Simutenkov scored in the 58th minute, and Tony Meola made nine saves as Kansas City beat Columbus 1-0 ... Rookie Damani Ralph scored and set up goals by Kelly Gray and Justin Mapp as Chicago beat New England 3-1 ... John Wolyniec scored in the 96th minute to lead the MetroStars to a 2-1 win over the Dallas Burn.
WUSA: Abby Wambach scored twice to lead Washington to its second win in nine games, 2-0 over New York. ... Briana Scurry made two saves and earned her league-leading seventh shutout in Atlanta's 0-0 tie with Boston ... Nel Fettig scored in the 25th minute as Carolina beat San Diego 1-0.
COLLEGES: Dotson says Baylor unfair
In his first interview in nearly three weeks, Carlton Dotson declined to discuss his statement to police last week about the disappearance of his former roommate, Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy.
Dotson told the Dallas Morning News Baylor officials have treated him "very unfairly and very unjust."
Waco police have called Dotson a "person of interest." On Thursday, he spoke with police. Dennehy's stepfather said police briefed the family about Dotson's statement.
"From my understanding, (Dotson) didn't really say anything that had any bearing on Patrick's case," Brian Brabazon said. "I'm kind of exasperated, just because it looks like there's a lot happening, and then nothing happening at the same time."
ARKANSAS: Sophomore defensive end Wes Murphy was diagnosed with an enlarged heart.
HORSE RACING: Spoken Fur wins by 31/2
Spoken Fur won the $500,000 CCA Oaks by 31/2 lengths at Belmont Park, taking another step toward a sweep of the NYRA's Triple Tiara for 3-year-old fillies.
ARLINGTON-WASHINGTON PARK HANDICAP: Perfect Drift beat Aeneas by five lengths at Arlington Park. The gelding ridden by Pat Day covered 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.49.
ET CETERA
Boxer dies in Utah
A boxer died one round into a scheduled six-round bout at Cedar Raceway in Cedar City, Utah.
Heavyweight Brad Rone took a punch from his opponent Billy Zumbrun with about five seconds left in the first round.
Less than 10 seconds later, Rone fell. He was declared dead at Valley View Medical Center, according to the Iron County Sheriff's office medical examiner.
"Right now the speculation is cardiac arrest," the examiner said.
OLYMPICS: Beijing has agreed to an IOC request to spend more on security for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The extra spending will add as much as $450-million to the total cost of the games, a vice president of the organizing committee said.
TRACK AND FIELD: Maria Mutola won the 800 meters at the Madrid Super Grand Prix. ... Ken Ferguson won the 110-meter hurdles, helping the United States dominate the first events of the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.
WORLD ARCHERY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Americans took four of six podium places in the individual compound finals.
WORLD JUNIOR BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Paul Davis scored 20, leading the U.S. past Slovenia 77-72.
