Bradley's late strike seals US draw with Slovenia

Slovenia 2
Birsa 13, Ljubijankic 42

United States 2
Donovan 48, Bradley 82

Midfielder Michael Bradley's late goal sealed the United States' fightback as they drew 2-2 with Slovenia at the World Cup yesterday to keep their hopes of reaching the last 16 alive.

Slovenia were heading to their second win of the tournament, and unexpectedly becoming the first team into the last 16, having led 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals by Valter Birsa and Zlatan Ljubijankic before the US fought back to force the equaliser.

First right-wing Landon Donovan scored a superb goal on 48 minutes, then the equaliser came with eight minutes left as US striker Jozy Altidore flicked on a header deep in the penalty area and Bradley - son of the coach Bob - fired his shot home.

Slovenia had got off to the ideal start when Auxerre's Birsa drilled in a long-range shot from 30 metres out which flew into the back of the net with goalkeeper Tim Howard rooted to the spot after 13 minutes.

Slovenia centre-back Bostjan Cesar then picked up the first yellow card of the match when he fouled Altidore on 35 minutes and Francisco Torres's free-kick forced the Slovenian goalkeeper into a diving save.

The US threatened with half-time approaching as a Bradley shot was saved off the line, but in the melee striker Robbie Findley was booked for handball and misses the next game against Algeria next Wednesday.

With three minutes left of the half, Ljubijankic latched onto a well-timed pass which split the US defence and drilled his shot past Howard to make it 2-0 at the break.

US coach Bradley made two changes at the break bringing Maurice Edu in as a defensive midfielder and putting Benny Feilhaber on the wing.

It paid off as Donovan controlled the long-ball, dribbled into the area and drilled his shot into the roof of the net past Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

Slovenian centre-back Marko Suler was booked on 69 minutes for hauling down Altidore just outside the area and the forward managed to latch onto the end of the resulting free-kick but fired his shot at Handanovic.

With the US upping the pace, Slovenia's left-wing Andraz Kirm also went into the referee's book as did Bojan Jokic for a foul on Donovan just before Bradley's equaliser.

The US looked to have taken a sensational lead when Edu scored with time almost up, but the referee judged the goal off-side.

Slovenia: Handanovic, Brecko, Suler, Cesar, Jokic, Birsa (Dedic 87), Koren, Radosavljevic, Kirm, Ljubijankic (Pecnik 74, Komac 90), Novakovic.

United States: Howard, Cherundolo, Demerit, Onyewu (Gomez 80), Bocanegra, Donovan, Torres (Edu 46), Bradley, Dempsey, Altidore, Findley (Feilhaber 46).

Yellow cards: Findley; Cesar, Suler, Kirm, Jokic.

Referee: Coulibaly (Mali).

Attendance: 45,573.