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Tuesday, September 26
Spain reaches finals with 3-1 win
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- The dream run is over for the U.S.
men's soccer team.
The Americans suffered their first defeat of the Olympic tournament
3-1 to Spain in the semifinal Tuesday at the Sydney Football Stadium
to tumble out of gold medal contention.
|  | | Angulo, left, celebrates the second goal for Spain, and teammate Jose Mari gets ready to join him. |
The victory sent Spain, gold medalists at the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics, into the final Saturday against Cameroon, a 2-1 winner
over Chile in the other semifinal in Melbourne.
The U.S. men, who carried the tag of perennial underachievers
into the tournament, will play for bronze Friday night against
Chile.
Midfielder Jose Mari Romero had two assists in the first half
and scored the clincher in the 87th minute, swooping in on a
rebound after U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel made a diving fingertips
save on Raul Tamudo.
Jose Mari celebrated with an impersonation of an airplane coming
into land, diving chest first, arms spread-eagle as he slid across
the slippery surface.
After making the second round of an Olympic tournament for the
first time, the U.S. under-23 team emerged as medal contenders and
threatened as a new force on the international scene.
But after falling behind 2-0 after 25 minutes, their trademark
comeback skills deserted them in the rain before more than 35,000
spectators.
Spain led 2-1 at the break, Pete Vagenas scoring just before
halftime with a penalty kick.
Josh Wolff had the only U.S. shot on goal in the second period
with a free kick after 63 minutes. But he fired a shot over the net
from 28 yards.
Vagenas, who also nailed vital penalty kicks against Cameroon in
the preliminaries and Japan in the quarterfinals to keep the
Americans alive, had no difficulty with this one, either. Frankie
Hejduk was knocked down by Miguel Angulo inside the area in the
41st minute, and Vagenas converted.
Friedel made a diving save a minute before halftime, sliding
into a shot from Angulo from inside the goal area. The save brought
the crowd alive.
The Americans came on after a double substitution in the 39th
minute, when Landon Donovan and Sasha Victorine came in.
But the Spanish were too skilled and, after a brief lull after
halftime, hit full speed.
Spain opened the scoring in the 16th minute after a
fastbreaking counter-attack by forward Jose Mari. He beat U.S.
defender Danny Califf on a 40-yard run on the right wing, sent a
cross into the box, where Tamudo threaded the ball between the left
post and a diving Friedel.
Jose Mari also created the second goal as the Spanish doubled
their lead at 25 minutes. He seized a loose ball as American
defenders slipped on the edge of the goal box and took the ball on
his chest. Then he outmaneuvered Califf, playing a ball through for
Angulo, who drove a shot to the right of Friedel as he was brought
down.
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ALSO SEE
U.S.-Spain box score
Stunning shootout victory sends U.S. to soccer semis
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