June 17 2002

Gregg Berhalter

In his first World Cup appearance, Gregg Berhalter helped the United States to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Mexico.

Berhalter made history by becoming the first Palace player to play in a World Cup finals and the US will face Germany on Friday afternoon BST.

A delighted Gregg said: "It was great to be named in the starting line-up and I was very pleased we kept a clean sheet.

"We had to bounce back after the defeat against Poland and this was a fine team performance. Now we can't wait to play Germany on Friday."

Replacing the injured Jeff Agoos, Berhalter watched teammate Brian McBride put them ahead from 10 yards in the eighth minute from Josh Wolff's cross.

Mexico tried to get back into the game - but were generally disappointing throughout - Braulio Luna had a swerving free-kick tipped onto the bar by Brad Friedel.

John O'Brien nearly conceded a costly penalty after he cleared a Mexican corner with his hand. Luckily for him, the referee failed to spot it in a busy penalty box.

USA made the game comfortable in the 65th minute when Landon Donovan headed home Eddie Lewis's cross from the left.

Rafael Marquez was red carded with two minutes to go after a rash challenge on Cobi Jones and the the USA were through to the quarter-final stage for the first time since 1930.