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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 30, 2010

U.S. World Cup team rallies past Turkey, 2-1


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American players lingered on the field, waving to adoring red-white-and-blue clad fans. They hope to be making a similar victory lap when games count next month.

Landon Donovan set up second-half goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, leading the United States over Turkey, 2-1, yesterday at Philadelphia in the Americans' last home exhibition before leaving for South Africa.

"We're going to be as good as we want to be," Donovan said. "And if we play the way we're capable of playing, we can beat a lot of teams in the world."

Arda Turan put the Turks ahead in the 27th minute on a counterattack after right back Jonathan Spector was dispossessed upfield.

Altidore tied the score in the 58th minute and Dempsey put the U.S. ahead in the 75th before an overwhelmingly pro-American crowd of 55,407 at Lincoln Financial Field.

"We were a little bit rusty at times," Altidore acknowledged.

The Americans depart today for South Africa and meet Australia in a last friendly on June 5, one week before their World Cup opener against England. U.S. coach Bob Bradley used something approaching a first-choice lineup, far different from the backup-filled 11 he put on the field for Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Czech Republic in East Hartford, Conn.

Bradley has put the team through lengthy conditioning since players gathered May 17. Now, the running and weightlifting will ease.

"I think we accomplished everything that we would have wanted here," Bradley said. "The type of game we were in today pushed them very hard."

ELSEWHERE

Men's lacrosse final set: Max Quinzani scored the tie-breaking goal with 12 seconds left, and the Duke Blue Devils defeated the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, 14-13, last night in Baltimore to advance to the NCAA men's lacrosse national championship game.

Fifth-seeded Duke (15-4) will play unseeded Notre Dame (10-6) tomorrow for the title. Notre Dame earned a berth in the finals for the first time with a 12-7 victory over Cornell.

Klitschko retains boxing title: Vitali Klitschko knocked out Albert Sosnowski in the 10th round to retain his WBC heavyweight title yesterday at Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Klitschko (40-2, 38 KOs) landed a couple of hard right hands to the body early, and one more hard right hand in the 10th sent Sosnowski (45-3-1) to the canvas. Klitschko's brother Wladimir holds the IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion.

Ching scored in Dynamo's loss: Second-half substitute Danny Mwanga scored three minutes into stoppage time, lifting the visiting Philadelphia Union to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer play.

Philadelphia's win spoiled the return of Houston forward Brian Ching, who was not included on the U.S. national team roster for the World Cup. Ching, a Kamehameha Schools alum, subbed to start the second half and scored in the 52nd minute with a header off a free kick by Brad Davis to tie the score at 1-1.

Evans wins UFC light heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans dominated the first two rounds and survived Rampage Jackson's vicious third-round flurry to win their light heavyweight bout by unanimous decision at UFC 114 last night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"I was hurt for a little bit, but that's what happens sometimes," Evans said. "I'm not going to give up, no matter what."

Evans (20-1-1) is expected to get a shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in his next bout.

Jackson (30-8), who will appear in the big-screen version of "The A-Team" when it opens next month, was fighting for the first time since March 2009.