![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/altidore.jpg?resize=220%2C300\" "\\"Jozy")
<\/a>Jozy Altidore's 9th minute goal sent the U.S. to the Gold Cup quarterfinals. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
The U.S., who finished second in Group C with 6 points (2-1-0), will now face Jamaica at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on Sunday in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
After a disappointing 2-1 loss to Panama on Saturday, U.S. head coach Bob Bradley made two changes to the U.S. line-up. Center back Tim Ream and striker Juan Agudelo were both dropped from the line-up after poor performances. Captain Carlos Bocanegra was moved from left back to the center in place of Ream and Eric Lichaj was inserted into the line-up on the left. Chris Wondolowski got his first start of the competition in place of Agudelo.<\/p>\n
Altidore put the U.S in the lead in just the 9th minute after taking a pass from Michael Bradley about 25 yards from goal. Altidore took a step before sending a fantastic strike towards the upper corner that left goalkeeper Franck Grandel with no chance.<\/p>\n
The U.S. had gotten off to a poor start and Guadeloupe came close to taking the lead in just the fourth minute. A mishandled corner kick was poorly cleared by Landon Donovan and deflected off Clint Dempsey to Guadeloupe\u2019s Stephane Zubar near the penalty spot. Zubar blasted a shot towards goal that was only denied by the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Dempsey threatened first for the U.S. in the 6th minute after earning a free kick about 30 yards from goal. Dempsey stepped up to take the set piece, powering a shot over the all that was targeted for just below the crossbar before Grandel got just enough of a hand on the shot to tip it over.<\/p>\n
After taking the lead, the U.S. put together another impressive attack in the 21st minute as Donovan found Lichaj on the left flank. Lichaj pressed forward before sending a pass back to Donovan, who sent a shot that looked targeted for inside the far post before Zubar slid in to block the shot.<\/p>\n
Dempsey had a fantastic chance three minutes later when Steve Cherundolo found him open in the six yard box with a cross from the right flank. The former New England Revolution star couldn\u2019t direct his header on frame however.<\/p>\n
In the 35th minute it was Dempsey again with another great chance from close range, this time coming off a cross from the left from Michael Bradley. As with his earlier effort, Dempsey\u2019s header was wide of the target.<\/p>\n
The U.S. had several chances to score in the 42nd minute, when Altidore played Wondolowski behind the defense. His first effort was denied by a charging Grandel. The ball eventually found its way back to Wondolowski in the box, but his second attempt was stopped by Grandel as well.<\/p>\n
Altidoe nearly had a second goal in the 53rd minute after Jermaine Jones played him behind the defense with a long ball from midfield. Altidore dribbled into the box, but the defense recovered and his eventual shot from near the penalty spot was deflected wide by a defender.<\/p>\n
Donovan should\u2019ve made it 2-0 in the 57th minute after Jones found him open about seven yards from goal. Somehow Donovan couldn\u2019t keep his shot on frame.<\/p>\n
Dempsey had perhaps the best chance of the match in the 76th minute after Altidore got into the box and sent a pass across the face of goal. Dempsey, with an open net to shoot at, got the ball caught up in his feet allowing a defender to get back and steal the ball just a few feet away from the net.<\/p>\n
Dempsey had one last chance just before the final whistle, getting the ball from substitute Sacha Kljestan and turning in on goal from about seven yards before firing wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Altidore\u2019s stunning strike puts the U.S. in the Gold Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/altidorefeature.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4995"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4995"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5006,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4995\/revisions\/5006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}