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NASHVILLE —The Americans had only a handful of seconds left to run out the
clock and advance a step closer to the Olympics. Terrell Suggs Youth Jersey . With the
pressure building with each tick, victory slipped away. Right off their hands.
The United States, known for producing top goalkeepers such as Brad Friedel,
Kasey Keller and Tim Howard, found themselves done in Monday night when
substitute Sean Johnson couldnt handle a long shot from Jaime Alas of El
Salvador in stoppage time. The ball bounced off his hands, up over him and into
the net, and El Salvador ousted the United States from Olympic qualifying with a
3-3 tie. “This is probably the worst feeling Ive ever felt in my life so far as
a pro athlete,” U.S. captain Freddy Adu said. “This is going to be hard to get
over. But at the end of the day things like this happen. For me, I never want to
feel this way again, and Im going to do whatever it takes to never feel this way
again.” The Americans had to win to reach Saturdays semifinals in Kansas City,
Kan., and they led 3-2 on Joe Coronas goal in the 68th minute. Officials added
four minutes of stoppage time onto the game, and U.S. coach Caleb Porter said
they were “seconds away” from closing out the win and taking the top spot in
Group A. A television clock showed the ball going in four minutes 14 seconds
into stoppage time. What happened is something U.S. midfielder Mix Diskerud said
no one wants to experience in life, something he couldnt believe. “The last 20
minutes after our third goal, all those minutes felt like very, very long hours.
But I thought we were going to make it. Everybody thought we were going to make
it.,” Diskerud said. “One shot.” Alas stunned the Americans, who missed the
Olympics for the second time since 1976 and second time in three Games. Several
Americans dropped to the field in exhaustion and disbelief after the score, and
Porter had to try to rally them back to their feet for one last gasp chance that
didnt materialize. Porter said he hugged Johnson after the game. The 6-foot-4
keeper did not speak with reporters. “He feels like hes let everybody down, let
his teammates down, and I told him he didnt,” Porter said. El Salvador reached
the semifinals, putting it a win away from its first Olympic berth since 1968.
Canada, which tied Cuba 1-1 earlier, finished second. Lester Blanco and Andres
Flores also scored for El Salvador, a team coach Mauricio Alfaro pointed out had
less than two weeks to prepare for this tournament and didnt have the whole
roster together until late. “It was just incredible,” Alfaro said of the win
through an interpreter. But Alfaro also said he had told his players to shoot
more in the second half to try to pressure Johnson and the El Salvadoran coach
said he did feel Johnson made a mistake on Alas kick. “The shot didnt have much
power,” Alfaro said through the interpreter. Terrence Boyd scored twice for the
U.S., and Johnson replaced keeper Bill Hamid in the 39th minute. After a 2-0
loss to Canada in the second of this three-game, round-robin tournament, the
Americans needed to win to advance. The crowd of 7,889 was about evenly split
between the countries keeping the U.S. from a true home-field advantage at LP
Field, home of the NFLs Tennessee Titans. El Salvador survived a physical game
with plenty of yellow cards on each side. Boyd went to the sideline with blood
on the front of his shirt late in the game. Diskerud said both he and Adu were
bitten and showed reporters marks as proof. “Part of the game, I guess,”
Diskerud said. The U.S. had a little bit of time left to try and go ahead but
couldnt get anything going before the game ended. The result leaves the
Americans adding 2012 to 2004 and 1976 as years they failed to qualify for the
Olympics, missing out on a 15th appearance overall. Boyd got his first start in
this round-robin tournament with Juan Agudelo recovering from surgery in New
York to fix torn cartilage in his left knee, and Boyd gave the Americans the
scoring boost they missed against Canada on Saturday night. The Americans
attacked from the start, Boyd scored 61 seconds into the game. Brek Shea
dribbled out of three defenders and sent a cross over to Boyd who scored off a
left-footed volley. And Boyd nearly scored twice more. His header went over the
crossbar in the 10th minute, and he had a breakaway chance in the 11th only to
see keeper Yimy Cuellar come out to break up the play. Hamid rolled covering up
a ball and appeared to hurt his ankle midway through the first half. El Salvador
took advantage by scoring two goals in two minutes to grab the lead and the
momentum. Blanco scored on a header off a corner kick over Hamids hands in the
35th minute, and Flores beat Hamid in the 37th minute off what had been a weak
shot by Alas that turned into a cross. Porter pulled Hamid in the 39th minute,
putting in 6-foot-4 Johnson for his first appearance in this round-robin
tournament. Boyd tied it up with his second goal off a pass from Adu in the 65th
minute. Joe Corona, whose mother is a native of El Salvador, sco Ray Lewis Jersey . It still wasnt enough to
take down the sharpshooting Toronto Raptors. Andrea Bargnani scored a
season-high 25 points, Jermaine ONeal added 16 points and 17 rebounds, and the
Raptors were 8-for-8 on three-pointers in the second half to overcome Wades huge
effort and beat the Miami Heat 101-95 on Wednesday night. Cary Williams Jersey . With the expiration
date on the current collective bargaining agreement—Sept. 15—drawing near,
NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, and his top assistant and brother, Steve
Fehr, sat down with commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy, Bill Daly, for a
status check after a week of little to no communication. http://www.shopthebaltimoreravens.com/torrey-smith-jerseys
. Through five games with the 51s (the Jays Triple-A affiliate), Lind is hitting
.389 with three homers and five runs batted in while splitting his time between
first base and DH. Joe Flacco Jersey . Drabek felt a “popping
sensation” in his elbow last week during an outing against the Washington
Nationals. Preliminary tests showed Drabek suffered a torn ulnar collateral
ligament (UCL) and a second opinion from Dr. Ed Reed Youth Jersey . The star centre
fielder and general manager Ned Colletti each signed the agreement during a news
conference at Dodger Stadium, with lame duck owner Frank McCourt looking on.
“This is very special for me,” Kemp said. PHOENIX —Aaron Hill hit a solo homer
in the seventh inning to become the fifth Arizona player to hit for the cycle,
lifting the Diamondbacks to a 7-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.
Hill hit a single in the first inning off Hector Noesi (2-8), added a triple in
the third and a double off the Mariners starter in the fifth. He finished it off
in style, hitting a one-out, solo homer off Shawn Kelley in the seventh for the
majors second cycle this season. New York Mets outfielder Scott Hairston had the
other one, against the Colorado Rockies on April 27 It was the first cycle by a
Diamondbacks player since Kelly Johnson did it against San Francisco on July 23,
2010. Stephen Drew (2008), Greg Colbrunn (2002) and Luis Gonzalez (2000) also
hit for the cycle with the Diamondbacks. Seattle hadnt allowed a player to hit
for the cycle since Oaklands Miguel Tejada did it on Sept. 29, 2001, at Seattle.
Arizona also tied a team record with four sacrifice flies, giving Wade Miley
(8-3) more than enough run support. Both starters were coming off hard-luck
losses. Noesi allowed a run on five hits in seven innings of a 1-0 loss to San
Diego last Thursday, extending his losing streak to a career-high four games.
Miley gave up a run three hits in 7 2-3 innings with eight strikeouts in a 1-0
loss to Texas the same day. Neither was nearly as sharp this time. Justin Upton
drove in one with Arizonas third straight opening single off Noesi, then
Jason Kubel and Paul Goldschmidt each hit sacrifice flies to put the
Diamondbacks up 3-0 and end their scoreleess streak at 21 innings. Ray Rice Womens Jersey. Upton added a
sacrifice fly in the third inning, Miguel Montero added another in the sixth and
Josh Bell made it 6-1 with a run-scoring single later in the inning. Noesi
allowed six runs—five earned—on nine hits in six innings. Miley worked
through traffic the first five innings, thanks to seven strikeouts, before
Casper Wells drove in Seattles first run with a run-scoring double in the sixth.
Dustin Ackley followed with a single to left with two outs, but Kubel threw a
one-hop strike to get Wells at the plate to end the inning. Miley again found
trouble in the seventh, getting out of it this time with the help of a diving
stop by Bell at third and Montero nabbing Miguel Olvio at second on a
strike-out, throw-out double play to end the inning. The rookie left-hander was
lifted in the seventh inning after allowing a run on nine hits and matching a
career high with eight strikeouts. Hill followed with his cycle-finishing homer
in the bottom half, lifting Kelleys 1-0 pitch just over the wall in left-centre.
Notes: Seattle RF Ichiro Suzuki, whos one hit away from No. 2,500, was given the
night off. ... Arizona also had four sacrifice flies on May 18, 2003, against
the Pirates. ... Diamondbacks RHP Daniel Hudson, Tuesdays starter for the second
game of the series, is 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts since coming off the
DL. ... RHP Erasmo Ramirez, Seattles starters against Hudson, will make his
second career start in the majors and ninth appearance. He allowed five earned
runs on eight hits in five innings against San Diego last week. ’ ’ ’