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* Dempsey scores day after attending family wedding

* Americans to play Panama in Wednesday’s semi-final (Corrects clarifying this match was a quarter-final in para 6 and deleting reference to Landon Donovan as U.S. captain)

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - The United States scored twice in the second half to beat a 10-man Jamaica squad 2-0 on Sunday and advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals.

Jermaine Jones broke the deadlock with his first goal for his country four minutes into the second half after his shot took a deflection off Jamaican defender Jermaine Taylor, giving goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts no chance of making the save.

“I thought we played a good game today,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “It took a while to get the goal and the second goal, but certainly as far as establishing our game today I thought we did an excellent job.”

Jamaica, which did not concede a goal in the pool stages, were reduced to 10-men when Taylor was red-carded for tripping Jones as he was bearing down on goal.

American striker Clint Dempsey, who rejoined the team on Sunday after missing three days to attend his sister’s wedding in Texas, put the result beyond doubt in the 80th minute, side-stepping an advancing Ricketts and tapping the ball into an open net after a low cross from Juan Agudelo.

Landon Donovan, who also missed three days of training to attend his sister’s wedding in California, started the game on the bench.

“There are times that players come to you with personal requests,” Bradley said. “Ultimately, after speaking at different points with Clint and Landon, I knew how important both of these days were for them. You always try to do what’s best for the team and you make tough decisions.”

The U.S. have reached the semi-finals in each of the last six editions of the tournament for North and Central America and Caribbean teams and play Panama on Wednesday in a repeat of the 2005 final, which the Americans won on penalties.

Panama, who beat the U.S. in the group stage, sealed their place the hard way, scoring in the 90th minute of regular time to tie El Salvador 1-1 before winning 5-3 on penalties.

Mexico and Honduras will play in the tournament’s other semi-final.

The winner of the tournament will represent North and Central America and the Caribbean at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

“As the tournament goes on, you start to build team unity. It doesn’t happen right away,” said Donovan. “We’re starting to play as a team. Tonight was a really good performance.”

(Reporting by Julian Linden in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Labels: beats, CONCACAF, Jamaica, reach, Reuters, semis

Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Oezil is expecting a tough Round of 16 tie against Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League, but the German international is confident the Blancos can overcome the French side.

Oezil has revealed the Merengues are keen to reach the Champions League final, which will be played Wembley Stadium in England.

"We all expect the game to be difficult, but we want to win, and we know we can," the 22-year-old told the club's official website. "I expect us to be successful.

"I have been watching their games and they actually worry me as a team. It’s clear they will make things difficult for us, but we want to defeat them.
"The squad thinks about winning titles, but we have to take things slowly and play one game at a time. We have to eliminate Olympique Lyonnais because we want to reach the Wembley Stadium final."

The German international also spoke about his first Champions League goal against Milan during the group stage.

"It was incredible to score my first Champions League goal," he continued. "I didn't care how nice my goal was because it was my first in the European Cup.

"It is always incredible to score, no matter where you are, but it's even more special when you do so at home before the Bernabeu crowd. The stadium makes me feel fantastically well."

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Labels: champions, final, Goalcom, league, Madrid, Mesut, Oezil, reach

In a repeat of last year's final, Carter started brightly with a 118 before the world number one hit back with breaks of 71 and 76 to lead 2-1.

Carter levelled at 2-2 but then his Scottish opponent turned on the style after the interval, with two quick frames and knocks of 69 and 55.

Higgins powered on in Newport and will now play Mark Selby or Stephen Maguire.

Carter, who last won the title in 2009, struggled after the interval and was unable to stay at the table for any substantial length of time as his opponent took hold of the match.

Higgins now has his sights set on his second major title of the year after marking his return from a six-month ban by winning the UK Championship.

The 35-year-old is competing for the first time since pulling out of the German Masters after his father, also called John, lost his battle with cancer earlier this month.

Tomorrow's final will be his fifth at the event, with Higgins looking to add to the titles he won in 2000 and 2010.

Labels: beats, Carter, final, Higgins, reach, Sport, Welsh