The United States opened CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying with a win over Antigua and Barbuda at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. USA captain Carlos Bocanegra opened the scoring in the 7th minute with Clint Dempsey making it 2-0 from the penalty spot just before halftime. Antigua and Barbuda's Peter Byers subbed on in the 62nd minute and scored two minutes later to pull a goal back for the visitors. The US would add one more when Herculez Gomez scored in the 71st minute. The US plays Guatemala in Guatemala City on Tuesday (10pm ET - PPV).
"We discussed that prior to the game that it would be difficult to break them down," US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "Antigua did a very good job defending and made it very tight. I think we created quite a few chances and we could have scored a few more goals. Those games are tricky. At the end of the day, I think the three points is the starting point that we wanted to have. We know that we have to step it up a lot going into Guatemala, which we will do. Overall, we give a complement to Antigua and a complement to the crowd of over 23,000 coming to the game. It was amazing. Now we've got to look toward Tuesday and we've got to give Guatemala a real fight."
-- GAME REPORT --
Match: USA vs. Antigua & Barbuda
Date: June 8, 2012
Competition: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying; Semifinal Round
Venue: Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Fla.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET
Attendance: 23,971
Weather: 73 degrees; rain
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 2 1 3
ATG 0 1 1
USA - Carlos Bocanegra 8th minute
USA - Clint Dempsey (pen) 44
ATG - Peter Byers 65
USA - Herculez Gomez 72
Lineups:
USA : 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 21-Clarence Goodson, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 16-Jose Torres (5-Oguchi Onyewu, 57); 7-Maurice Edu , 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Jermaine Jones (18-Terrence Boyd, 81); 10-Landon Donovan, 8-Clint Dempsey, 9-Herculez Gomez (17-Jozy Altidore, 80)
Subs not used: 2-Michael Parkhurst, 12-Brad Guzan,14-Kyle Beckerman, 20-Geoff Cameron
Head Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
ATG : 18-Molvin James; 2-Marvin McCoy, 5-Marc Joseph, 17-George Dublin, 11-Quinton Griffith; 14-Randolph Burton, 8-Mikele Leigertwood, 15-Lawson Robinson, 10-Keiran Murtagh (16-Peter Byers, 62); 13-Tamarley Thomas (9-Stefan Smith, 83), 23-Dexter Blackstock
Subs not used: 1-Olson Forde, 3-Joshua Parker, 4-Karanja Mack, 6-Ranja Christian, 7-Kimoi Alexander, 19-Troy Dublin, 20-Akeem Thomas, 21-Keita Decastro, 22-Justin Cochrane
Head coach: Tom Curtis
Stats Summary: USA / ATG
Shots: 19 / 7
Shots on Goal: 11 / 2
Saves: 1 / 8
Corner Kicks: 14 / 2
Fouls: 17 / 10
Offside: 3 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
ATG - Marc Joseph (caution) 12th minute
ATG - Quinton Griffith (caution) 67
Officials:
Referee: Hugo Cruz (CRC)
Assistant Referee 1: Warner Castro (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Osvaldo Luna (CRC)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Cerdas (CRC)
