MIAMI, 25 July 2003 — Brazil came from behind to defeat the United States 2-1 in a CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal on Wednesday, with Diego scoring a golden goal penalty to take the South Americans into the final.
The spot-kick was awarded ten minutes into extra time when Diego’s goal-bound shot was intentionally handled by defender Cory Gibbs who was red carded for the offense.
“The ball was going in the goal,” Gibbs said.
“The only chance I had to do something to prevent the loss was that. That’s the way it goes and the ref saw it.”
The winning goal capped a stirring fightback for the Brazilians who dominated most of the match, but fell behind in the 62nd minute when Carlos Bocanegra headed in a Claudio Reyna free kick to give the US a surprise 1-0 lead.
A pro-Brazilian crowd of 35,211 welcomed the goal in a match that appeared to be headed toward a goalless stalemate.
Brazil, fielding its under-23 side, intensified its efforts to break down the US defense and nearly pulled level in the 74th minute when Julio Baptista was foiled by an acrobatic Kasey Keller save.
However, the Brazilians were finally rewarded a minute from time when Kaka latched onto a rebound to beat Keller from eight meters.
Tirana Seal Upset Win Over Dinamo Tbilisi
In London, SK Tirana of Albania pulled off the first shock of the 2003-04 Champions League by knocking out Georgian champions Dinamo Tbilisi in the opening qualifying round on Wednesday.
Tirana won 4-2 on penalties after securing a 3-0 victory to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit, setting up a tie against Austrian team Graz AK.
Irish side Bohemians were too strong for BATE Borisov of Belarus as they cruised to a 3-0 victory and a 3-1 aggregate success.
Omonia Nicosia won 2-1 at Irtysh Pavlodar of Kazakhstan thanks to second-half goals by Rainer Rauffmann and Nicolaos Georgiou.
The Cypriot team progressed 2-1 on aggregate following a goalless draw at home last week and will next meet Polish champions Wisla Krakow.
HJK Helsinki overcame Glentoran 1-0 on aggregate, Juho Makela scoring the only goal of Wednesday’s match after 73 minutes following a goalless first leg in Northern Ireland. Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol knocked out Estonia’s Flora Tallinn 2-1 on aggregate after the second leg ended 1-1.
Kristen Viikmae grabbed an equalizer for hosts Tallinn in the 88th minute after Andriy Nesteruk had put Tiraspol ahead, but the Moldovans advanced to a clash with Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine. Kaunas of Lithuania crushed HB Torshavn 4-1 on Wednesday to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory and set up a second qualifying round tie against Scotland’s Celtic.
Latvian champions Skonto Riga defeated Maltese team Sliema Wanderers 3-1 to progress on away goals and their next opponents will be Danish champions FC Copenhagen.
Leotar Trebinje of Bosnia beat Gravenmacher of Luxembourg 2-0 following a goalless first leg. They will next play Czech side Slavia Prague.
Barry Town beat Macedonia’s Vardar Skopje 2-1 on Wednesday, but the Welsh team lost 4-2 on aggregate, Skopje setting up a tie against CSKA Moscow. Finally, Armenian team Pyunik Yerevan knocked out KR Reykjavik 2-1 on aggregate.
Agvan Mkrtchyan put Pyunik 1-0 ahead after 73 minutes and although Arnar Gunnlaugsson scored from the penalty spot to earn the hosts a 1-1 draw the Armenians progressed to a meeting with CSKA Sofia.
