The U.S. Men’s National Team shattered Panama’s hopes of a berth to the 2014 FIFA World Cup – and kept Mexico’s alive – with two stoppage-time goals to rally for a 3-2 victory at Estadio Rommel Fernandez.
Down 2-1 after a Luis Tejada strike in the 83rd minute, the U.S. got the late goals from Graham Zusi and second-half substitute Aron Johannsson, playing in only his fourth game with the U.S. MNT. Zusi’s equalizer came in the second minute of stoppage time, while Johannsson’s game-winner came a minute later.
With the victory, the U.S. MNT equals its best performance in FIFA World Cup Qualifying with a 7-2-1 record and 22 points, matching its point total from the 2005 Hexagonal.
For a few minutes, Mexico’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup were on life support, only to be saved by Zusi’s equalizing strike. If the U.S. would have lost to Panama, Mexico, who lost to Costa Rica 2-1 this evening, would have finished in fifth place and missed out on their first World Cup since 1982. With the U.S. win in the final minutes, Mexico was assured a fourth place finish ahead of Panama. The USA’s rivals will now play the two-game Intercontinental Playoff against New Zealand on Nov. 15 and 19, with the aggregate winner advancing to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The USA finishes atop the CONCACAF region, followed by Costa Rica (5-2-3, 18 points), Honduras (4-3-3, 15 points), Mexico (2-3-5, 11 points), Panama (1-4-5, 8 points) and Jamaica (0-5-5, 5 points). The top three teams automatically qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Next up, the U.S. travels to Glasgow to face Scotland on Nov. 15 and Vienna to face Austria on Nov. 19. The game against Scotland kicks off at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN2, WatchESPN and UniMas. The Austria match will kick off at 2:45 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network. Fans can also follow the games on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer.
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