Gold Cup Nuws U.S

The United States and Mexico both turned to their stars to advance to the Gold Cup final.

The United States beat El Tri 2-1 in 2007, and Mexico won 5-0 in the 2009 final.

"It was a really good team effort," American coach Bob Bradley said. Freddy Adu made a long-awaited return to American soccer in the second half, and set up the winning play with a long, slanting pass to Donovan, who played in his 27th consecutive Gold Cup match to extend his own record.

Panama lost to the Americans in the knockout stage for the fourth straight time. Coach Julio Dely Valdes said his team surprised the Americans in their earlier match, and the U.S. team was more focused this time.

Adu played for the national team for the first time since 2009. "The opportunity (Wednesday) was earned on his part. The United States is unbeaten in 22 of its last 24 games in the Gold Cup, a tournament with 12 teams from Central and North American and the Caribbean. The Americans improved to 7-1-2 against Panama all-time.

Mexico had trouble with Honduras in the semifinal, with neither team scoring through 90 minutes of regulation.

De Nigris and Javier "El Chicharito" Hernandez scored off corner kicks early in overtime to propel Mexico into its third straight Gold Cup final.

Pablo Barrera assisted on both goals for Mexico on Wednesday.

What might have been surprising, though, is the difficulty both teams had in keeping their date, with the U.S. squeaking past Panama, 1-0, on Clint Dempsey's goal late in the second half and Mexico needing overtime to beat Honduras, 2-0, on goals by Aldo De Nigris and Javier Hernandez.

After scoring a tournament-high 14 goals in group play, Mexico has been held scoreless in three of the four halves it has played since then.

For Adu, 22, who had not played for the national team since the 2009 Gold Cup, setting up the game-winning score offered a bit of redemption.

It was his fourth goal in five games.

Six minutes later, Hernandez scored his seventh goal of the Gold Cup, finishing off another play that began with a corner to De Nigris.