FOXBORO, Massachusetts, 14 July 2003 — Goals by Eddie Lewis and Brian McBride helped the United States open the defense of its CONCACAF Gold Cup title with a 2-0 defeat of El Salvador on Saturday.
In the earlier match, Canada upset Costa Rica 1-0.
The US controlled much of the lackluster game and were unlucky not to have scored twice inside the opening 10 minutes when goalkeeper Juan Gomez saved from Earnie Stewart before Pablo Mastroeni crashed a shot off the crossbar.
Lewis broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when the midfielder’s right-footed shot from 14 meters beat Gomez. He nearly added a second a minute before the interval, but his chip went just over the bar.
The US then silenced the mostly El Salvador supporting crowd of 33,652 when McBride added an insurance goal 14 minutes from time when he headed in a cross from substitute Steve Ralston.
It was McBride’s 21st goal in his 69th appearance and moved him into third on the all-time scoring list for the US.
Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna, who missed eight months through a knee injury, made his first international start since the World Cup and impressed during his 60-minute stint before being replaced by Clint Mathis.
“It was a good win,” said US coach Bruce Arena. “We made it more difficult then we had to. We had some good chances in the first half, but I think El Salvador is much improved from the team we saw a year ago. It was a good team effort.”
In the earlier game, a second-half strike by Paul Stalteri gave Canada a shock 1-0 victory over Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, ranked joint 18th in the world - compared to Canada’s 78, dominated most of the Group D match but failed to take their scoring chances, especially in the second half.
They paid the price when a composed Canada side snatched victory with Stalteri’s 59th minute strike on the break.
Midfielder Jason Bent made a run down the right flank, Costa Rica defender Luis Marin failed to control his cross and Stalteri surged through to beat Ricardo Gonzalez from 16 meters.
“We truly got off to a good start today,” said Stalteri. “This takes a lot of pressure off of us. Hopefully we can wrap our group up and avoid the US in the quarterfinals.”
The goal followed a series of missed chances by Costa Rica.
Walter Centeno, put through by Leonardo Gonzalez, could only graze the right post, while striker Winston Parks broke through on the right side, only for his angled shot to be parried by goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.
Parks then failed to beat Hirschfeld again from just seven meters after collecting the ball from Rolando Fonseca, while the ensuing counterattack led to Stalteri’s goal.
Jubilo Ease Past Oita 4-0 in J-League
In Tokyo, a first-half double from Brazilian striker Rodrigo Gral helped Jubilo Iwata overpower Oita Trinita 4-0 and propel the champions into second place in the J-League yesterday.
Defender Toshihiro Hattori opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a fierce strike from the edge of the box as visiting Jubilo quickly seized control under a closed roof at Oita World Cup Stadium.
Gral slid home a second in the 29th minute after a clever pass from Hiroshi Nanami and the Brazilian made it 3-0 from point-blank range three minutes before halftime. Moments from time, substitute Aleksandar Zivkovic rifled in a fourth from 20 meters to underline the gulf between the two teams.
