Soccer | U.S. men reach CONCACAF Gold Cup semis

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Landon Donovan scored an important goal. Now it is time for the U.S. men's team to work on its defense.

The United States beat Panama 2-1 Saturday to advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals despite some sloppy defense late in the game that led to a goal in the 84th minute.

"They scored and made the last two minutes crazy," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "That's something we certainly will talk about."

Those discussions will take place before Thursday night's semifinal at Soldier Field in Chicago against Canada, which was impressive in beating Guatemala 3-0 in the first quarterfinal at Gillette Stadium.

In today's quarterfinals in Houston, Honduras plays Guadeloupe and Mexico meets Costa Rica.

Donovan scored on a penalty kick in the 60th minute and Carlos Bocanegra connected in the 62nd.

With 32 goals, Donovan is two behind Eric Wynalda's U.S. career record. It was the 10th Gold Cup goal for Donovan, who moved ahead of Wynalda into second place in the tournament's history, two behind Mexico's Luis Roberto Alves.

"I don't want to downplay it because, obviously, it's cool," Donovan said. "But in the context of what's going on with the team, it pales in comparison."

The defending Gold Cup champion U.S. team, which jumped from 29th to 16th in the latest FIFA rankings, needs to improve on finishing its scoring chances.

Blas Perez scored for 57th-ranked Panama, which lost to the United States on penalty kicks in the 2005 final of the Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The United States, seeking its fourth Gold Cup title, improved to 8-0-1 since Bradley took over as coach from Bruce Arena.

U.S. women prevail

CLEVELAND — Abby Wambach scored twice on headers in the second half to give the U.S. women's team a 2-0 win over China. The match was the first in a six-match exhibition series for the United States leading up to the World Cup in September in China.

Wambach has 73 goals in 91 career international games. The Americans extended their team-record unbeaten streak in regulation time to 42 games and are 34-0-7 under coach Greg Ryan.

The U.S. team was without starting goalkeeper Hope Solo, a former Washington Huskies standout who returned home to Richland because her father died Thursday. The Americans wore black armbands in his honor.

Briana Scurry started in goal but was rarely tested.

"I thought about Hope all day," Scurry said.

Major League Soccer

At Chivas USA 2, Rapids 0

Ex-Seattle Sounder Maykel Galindo scored and Colorado's Terry Cooke put the ball in his own net as Chivas USA triumphed in Carson, Calif.

At Revolution 3, Crew 3

Alejandro Moreno scored on a diving header in the 85th minute to help Columbus salvage a draw with New England.

At D.C. United 3, Fire 1

Luciano Emilio scored twice to lead D.C. United past Chicago. United extended its unbeaten streak to seven.

At Red Bulls 3, Wizards 3

Juan Pablo Angel scored his second goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to give New York a draw with Kansas City.