Another benchmark for the United States. Another huge goal for Clint Dempsey. As unlikely as it seemed a few weeks ago, the US is in the semifinals of the Copa America.
Dempsey scored for the third straight game and set up Gyasi Zardes for a tap-in goal, boosting the United States into the Copa America semifinals with a wild 2-1 win over Ecuador on Thursday night.
"Clint is special," US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "He showed that tonight. He showed that the last couple of weeks. He showed that throughout his entire career."
Playing before a boisterous and almost completely partisan home crowd of 47,322 in the football-mad Pacific Northwest, the US won a knockout game against a nation outside its region for only the second time other than in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. It will play Argentina or Venezuela on Tuesday in Houston.
And the Americans did it on the back of Dempsey, their fiery 33-year-old striker whose place on the U.S. team was debated early this year. Dempsey's 52nd international goal, five behind landon Donovan's American record, put the US ahead in the 22nd minute. Zardes guided Dempsey's cross into the net in the 65th for his sixth goal and a 2-0 lead.
"I've been blessed that I was able to step up and, hopefully, I can keep going," Dempsey said.
Michael Arroyo scored for Ecuador in the 74th minute, making for a tense ending, and Enner Valencia missed a pair of great chances moments later on a pair of headers.
The only previous knockout win for the US over a non-CONCACAF team was against Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal. The only other U.S. appearance in the Copa semifinals was in 1995, when it advanced to the final four by beating Mexico.