ROODEPOORT, South Africa — Edson Buddle scored his first two international goals and Herculez Gomez added a third Saturday, leading the U.S. to a 3-1 victory over Australia in the Americans’ last warm-up for their World Cup opener against England.
Playing in just his third game for the national team, Buddle scored in the fourth and 31st minutes. That offset a 19th-minute equalizer by Tim Cahill, who beat Everton teammate Tim Howard for his 20th international goal.
Gomez, like Buddle a surprise pick for the World Cup roster, entered in the 82nd minute and scored from 8 yards out in injury time off a pass from Landon Donovan. It was the second international goal for Gomez, who also scored against the Czech Republic last week.
The U.S. had never scored in two previous matches against Australia, losing 1-0 in 1992 and tying 0-0 six years later.
Don’t rule striker Drogba out
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba has hope of playing in the World Cup after having surgery on his broken right arm in a Swiss hospital.
The Ivory Coast football federation said in a statement the operation at the Lindenhof Hospital in Berne was a success, and Swiss doctors and the team’s medical staff are confident that the Chelsea forward will make a “speedy recovery.”
The federation did not give further details about the time required for Drogba’s recovery. Ivory Coast’s first game is June 13 against Portugal.
Drogba broke his arm in an exhibition match against Japan on Friday.
Footnotes.
Netherlands winger Arjen Robben limped off the field with a left hamstring injury in the team’s 6-1 rout of Hungary in a friendly in Amsterdam, casting his Cup participation into doubt and delaying his departure for South Africa. The extent of Robben’s injury was not clear, but coach Bert Van Marwijk said he feared the worst.
• Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel will miss the tournament because he has not fully recovered from left knee surgery.
The Associated Press
