Sports

Soccer

U.S. tops Panama 2-0 in finale

Associated Press
Published October 13, 2005

---

FOXBORO, Mass. - Kyle Martino and Taylor Twellman scored their first international goals and the United States beat Panama 2-0 Wednesday night in its final World Cup qualifying match.

Already qualified for the 2006 World Cup, the United States fielded a starting lineup that included six players with less than 10 games of international experience and two players, midfielders Justin Mapp and Brian Carroll, making their first appearances for the national team.

Martino opened the scoring in the 51st minute. Defender Chris Albright corralled a throw-in from Mapp and delivered a pass to Martino, who beat keeper Jaime Penedo from 25 feet.

Twellman, who leads Major League Soccer with 16 goals in 24 games for the hometown New England Revolution, gave the Americans a two-goal lead in the 57th minute with a breakaway.

Penedo came out of the net to challenge a long pass from Danny Califf to Twellman at the penalty spot. Twellman touched the ball past Penedo and scored into an open net.

Panama captain Julio Dely Valdes missed the net on a penalty kick in the 86th minute.

Tim Howard, who allowed all three goals in the recent 3-0 loss to Costa Rica, earned his sixth career shutout for the United States.

The Americans went 7-2-1 in World Cup qualifying, finishing atop the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the first time since the final phase went to six teams in 1994. Panama went 0-8-2.

CUP UPDATE: France, Serbia-Montenegro and Sweden clinched Europe's three remaining automatic berths for next year's World Cup in Germany.

France beat Cyprus 4-0 to win Group 4, Serbia-Montenegro defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 for first in Group 7, and Sweden won 3-1 over Iceland to secure second place in Group 8 behind Croatia. Sweden advanced as one of the best second-place teams along with Poland.

[Last modified October 13, 2005, 01:11:19]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]