15/6/2007 - 12:52(EST)

The U.S. will try to ratify their status as favorite

The U.S., on Saturday, will try to show why they are considered favorite to win the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. When they face Panama in the quarterfinals.

15/JUN/2007 – The U.S. is the only team in the tournament that won all of their first round games, while not receiving a single goal in the tournament. They are also the team that best played together.

Panama showed good form in the first round, with a win over Honduras, a tie with Cuba, and a 1 – 0 loss to Mexico where they dominated the game despite the loss.

This loss forced Panama to face the U.S. Panama will be without three key players, Gabriel Gómez, Rolando Escobar, and Román Torres, because of suspension.

“We have to prove that this team isn’t just made up of 13 players but of 23. The game against the U.S. will be difficult”, stated Panama coach Alexandre Guimaraes.

This will be the third time that the U.S. and Panama meet in the Gold Cup, and it is a re-match of the last Gold Cup final that the U.S. won.

Landon Donovan has been a nightmare for Panama, who has 3 goals and two assists in four games. Donovan only has one goal in this edition of the Gold Cup, but with that goal he reached 31 goals scored with the U.S. national team. That is only 3 less than the record holder Eric Wynalda.

The U.S. is in familiar territory and is looking to make their eight semifinal in nine Gold Cups, including this year.

Probable Starters:
USA: Tim Howard, Michael Parkhurst, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Benny Feilhaber, Pablo Mastroeni, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Damarcus Beasley, and Landon Donovan.

PANAMA: Jaime Penedo, Carlos Rivera, Felipe Baloy, Luis Moreno, Juan Pérez, Víctor Herrera, Ricardo Phillips, Luis Tejeda, Amilcar Henríquez, José Luis Garcés, and Blas Antonio Pérez.

Terra/AP