CONCACAF GOLD CUP - Day 3

Panama 3 Guadeloupe 2

Panama looked to be well on their way to an easy win going up 3 in the 56th minute with Guadeloupe already a man down, but the island nation battled back scoring a pair of goals late and nearly stole one eventually falling 3-2. Blas Perez, Luis Tejada and Gabriel Gomez all scored for Panama as they will now prepare to face the United States in Tampa on Saturday. Substitute Brice Jovial, who plays professionally in France's second division for Le Havre AC, scored both of Guadeloupe's second half goals, but they couldn't overcome the loss of Mickael Tacalfred who received a straight red in the 38th minute after appearing to step on Panama's Luis Henriquez. MLS's Stephane Auvray (Kansas City) started and played the whole game for Guadeloupe while wearing the captain's arm band.

USA 2 Canada 0

My friend Cory and I have a running joke that Clint Dempsey only scores in games that I don't watch. Well, once again, that appears to have been the case. Jozy Altidore got the U.S. on the board in the first half and Dempsey added a goal after the intermission as the U.S. won their Gold Cup opener 2-0 over rival Canada. Tim Howard picked up the shutout for the United States in his 60th career appearance for the United States as they won for the first time in 2011. Dempsey's  goal was his 20th for the United States and first since his goal against England during the opening game of the 2010 World Cup. For the 21 year old Altidore, his goal was his 11th as his pairing with youngster Juan Agudelo worked out well in the opener. Canada started 3 MLS players in defeat as Andre Hainault (Houston), Dwayne De Rosario (New York) and Will Johnson (Salt Lake) all saw significant time for the Canadiens.

U.S. Lineup (Caps/Goals)

GK- Tim Howard (60/0)
DEF- Steve Cherundolo (67/2)
DEF- Clarence Goodson (19/2)
DEF- Tim Ream (5/0)
DEF- Carlos Bocanegra (88/12)
MID- Clint Dempsey (72/20)
MID- Michael Bradley (54/8)
MID- Jermaine Jones (6/0)
MID- Landon Donovan (131/45)
FWD- Jozy Altidore (36/11)
FWD- Juan Agudelo (6/2)

Subs

Maurice Edu for Jones (23/1)
Sacha Kljestan for Altidore (28/4)
Chris Wondolowski for Agudelo (3/0)