El Salvador & Canada win Gold Cup openers
Reuters - Saturday 04 July 2009, 05:07
LOS ANGELES - El Salvador and Canada enjoyed victories on the first day of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the regional tournament for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
In Group A, El Salvador, backed by an impressive following at the Home Depot Centre, pulled off an upset 2-1 win over Costa Rica while Canada beat Jamaica 1-0 in an earlier game at the same venue.
Osael Romero scored both goals for El Salvador in a high-intensity game. The forward opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a superb solo finish after Williams Reyes had headed on a long ball.
Costa Rica pulled level in the 63rd minute with a close range strike from Warren Granados before Romero grabbed the winner five minutes from the end with a side foot finish after poor defending from the Costa Ricans.
In the earlier game, Canada's Ali Gerba struck the winner in the 75th minute when Mike Klukowski looped a cross into the area from the left wing and Gerba's first-time volley flew past Jamaica keeper Donovan Ricketts.
Jamaica had put Canada under pressure with Ricardo Gardner going close, while Canada goalkeeper Greg Sutton produced a fine close-range save from striker Ricardo Fuller in the 65th minute.
Champions the United States begin their campaign in Seattle on Saturday against Grenada while Honduras take on Haiti.