Panama Rallies to Tie Mexico
Luis Tejada scored on an acrobatic bicycle kick in the 74th minute to give Panama a 1-1 tie against Mexico in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match at Panama City on Wednesday.
Ramon Morales scored Mexico’s goal in the 26th minute after firing a strong shot down the middle.
Mexico, which leads the group with seven points, played a man short for most of the second half after Pavel Pardo was ejected in the 56th minute for fouling Panama’s Juan Solis.
Mexico was coming off a 2-1 win over the United States on Sunday.
In another CONCACAF game, Costa Rica tied host Trinidad and Tobago, 0-0, at Port of Spain.
After the game, Trinidad fired coach Bertille St. Claire. Jack Warner, Trinidad’s former federation president and current CONCACAF president, said St. Claire would be replaced by a European coach he would not identify.
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In South American qualifying games: Hernan Crespo scored in the 65th minute as Argentina defeated a 10-man Colombia, 1-0, at Buenos Aires to remain atop the 10-team standings with 28 points.... World champion Brazil needed Emerson’s goal in the 68th minute to tie host Uruguay, 1-1, at Montevideo. Diego Forlan scored in the 48th minute for Uruguay. Brazil is in second place with 24 points.... Gustavo Morinigo and Jose Cardozo each scored to lead Paraguay to a 2-1 win over visiting Chile at Asuncion. Paraguay has 19 points and is tied for third with Ecuador.... Ulises De la Cruz and Antonio Valencia each scored for visiting Ecuador in a 2-2 tie at Lima against Peru, which got goals from Paolo Guerrero and Jefferson Farfan.
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In selected European qualifying games: Ruud van Nistelrooy and Romeo Castelen scored first-half goals to give the first-place Netherlands a 2-0 win over visiting Armenia in a Group 1 game at Eindhoven.... Andriy Voronin scored the lone goal in the 68th minute and host Ukraine beat Denmark, 1-0, at Kiev to maintain first place in Group 2.... Substitute Helder Postiga scored the tying goal in the 62nd minute to help Portugal tie host Slovakia, 1-1, at Bratislava as both teams remained atop Group 3.... Avi Nimni headed in a late equalizer and Israel held France to a 1-1 tie at Tel Aviv. Both teams have 10 points to lead Group 4.... Steven Gerrard and David Beckham scored as England beat visiting Azerbaijan, 2-0, at Newcastle to stay atop Group 6.... Serbia and Montenegro maintained its lead in Group 7 after a 0-0 tie with visiting Spain at Belgrade.... Dado Prso scored two goals to lead Croatia to a 3-0 victory over visiting Malta at Zagreb to move into first place in Group 8.
