USL News Release

Monday, July 13, 2009

FOXBOROUGH, MA – Minnesota Thunder striker Leonel Saint Preux almost led Haiti to a dream victory over the United States on Saturday night in the finale of Gold Cup Group B action. The match ended 2-2.

The U.S. went up 1-0 after five minutes when American midfielder Stuart Holden put Davy Arnaud through alone on the Haitian goal. The Kansas City Wizards striker slotted easily past Haiti keeper Jean Zephirin.

Holden nearly doubled the lead in the 25th minute when he tested Zephirin from 30 yards out. The blast was tipped by the Haitian goalkeeper before hitting the cross bar and coming down just in front of the goal line.

The athletic Haiti squad recovered and nearly equalized when Puerto Rico Islanders striker Fabrice Noel (right) caught American goalkeeper Luis Robles cheating off his line. Noel blasted a shot from 25 yards out which caught the U.S. debutante by surprise. Robles pushed the ball over his head but had to recover to save the ball from trickling into the back of the net.

After going into the half down a goal, Haiti came out with renewed purpose in the second half and it was Saint Preux who led the come back in the 46th minute. The Thunder striker immediately went down the right side where he beat U.S. left back Jay Heaps before crossing to find Vaniel Sirin for the equalizer.

Just four minutes later, Haiti went ahead after a miscue between Heaps and Robles saw the defender clear directly to Haitian midfielder Mones Chery. Chery made Robles pay for the mistake and fired a 25 yard rocket into the empty U.S. goal.

After taking the lead, the Haitians sat back with hopes of stifling the American attack. Midway through the second half U.S. head coach Bob Bradley inserted Charlie Davies (Westchester Flames; 2006) and Brian Ching (Spokane Shadow; 1998-99) to liven up the American squad.

As second half stoppage time began, it looked as though Le Rouge est Bleu would become the first team ever to defeat the United States in Gold Cup group play but Stuart Holden had other ideas.

Looking to repeat his first half blast, Holden cannoned a shot at the Haitian goal from 25 yards out, this time beating Zephirin and giving the Dynamo midfielder his second goal in as many games for the Americans.

The result gave the United States the top spot in Group B while Haiti had to settle for third place after Honduras defeated Grenada 4-0 later in the evening. The Americans will meet Panama in the quarterfinals next Saturday, July 18 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia while Haiti will have a tough task playing Mexico the next day at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX.