San Diegan Joe Corona came within a minute Monday night of clinching a win for the U.S. U-23 team fighting for a spot in the Olympics.
Instead, he and his teammates were eliminated from the competition.
In a heart-stopping match, El Salvador tied the U.S. team 3-3, which ended the Americans quest to reach the Summer Games.
With the tie, the Salvadorans clinched first place in Group A and, along with Canada, will advance to the semifinals, where the two teams that will go to the Olympics will be defined.
The night started well for the Americans.
The team jumped ahead at minute 2 after Terrence Boyd scored on a pass from Brek Shea.
El Salvador dug in, however, and only needed a two-minute period to turn the game around.
First, at minute 35, Mark Blanco tied the score.
And at minute 37, Andrés Flores scored on a pass from Jaime Alas.
Advantage 2-1 for El Salvador.
In the second half, the Americans unleashed an attack that nearly put them ahead.
At minute 68, Boyd again scored on a pass from Freddy Adu, tying the match.
Three minutes later, Corona looked like he would be the hero of the night. Adu sent a ball into the center of the area that Corona headed into the net, putting the U.S. team a breath away from qualifying for the Olympics.
But there was still about a minute left to play in injury time.
El Salvadors Alas fired a shot from outside the area that the U.S. goalkeeper could not knock down. Just like that the score was 3-3. The U.S. needed to win for a chance to advance to the semifinals.
Then the referee blew the final whistle, and the Salvadorans began to weep tears of joy.
The Salvadorans advanced to the semifinal round on Saturday, most likely against Honduras.
And Mexico, as Group B leader, likely will face Canada.
The last matches in the initial round will be played Tuesday. First up, Honduras will face Trinidad and Tobago then it will be Mexico against Panama.
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