By Nina Mandell, Della Hasselle, Josh Williams and Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Landon Donovan scored the winning goal in extra time for Team USA to beat Algeria 1-0 in a do-or-die game to advance to the next round of the World Cup.
The face of USA soccer scored in the first minute of extra time, after a game of thwarted goal scoring chances.
"Amazing goal!" said Paul Rehling, 26, of SoHo, who caught the game at the Petite Abeille in TriBeCa. "The U.S. is the comeback kings!"
Fans streamed out of Jack Dempsey's in Midtown chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" and singing the national anthem.
Before the miracle goal, you could hear a pin drop on Lexington Avenue and East 53rd Street where ESPN had set up a truck for fans to watch the game.
Nearly 200 of them had gathered there, hanging on every second as Team USA mounted a desperate all-out attack to get the win, which ensures them a spot in the knock-out round.
Everyone leapt from their chairs at Dempsey's when the goal was scored, and then high-fives and hugs all around.
"Beautiful!" shouted Eduardo Vargas.
"It's about time!" yelled another fan.
"I knew they were going to do it," said Will Horgan, 16. "We're American!"
Heading into Donovan's late-game heroics, it looked like Team USA would be the victims of another international goal robbery.
Clint Dempsey scored a goal earlier in the game that was called back by a controversial offsides call.
"We were robbed out of our first goal," said Mike DeCriscio, 18, from Valley Stream, at Dempsey's.
"It's frustrating," said Jennifer Banegas, 31, from Long Island. "It should be 3-0."
It was a crucial match for Team USA. They needed a win to advance. With England beating Slovenia 1-0, the US would have been booted from the tournament with a 0-0 tie.
ESPN had orange cones and police tape set up at their outpost on East 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue where they set up a truck to show the game.
"I like the energy here, everybody shouting," said Chris Lopez, of the Bronx. "I wish I could stay to watch the whole game, but I have to go to work today."
Fans had showed up early to bars across Manhattan to cheer on the team.
At Dempsey's, John from Hoboken was catching the game.
He didn't want to give his last name because he didn't want his boss to know he had slipped out of work to catch the game.
"I just left," he said.
Chad Robertson, 29, said he didn't even try to hide the fact he was taking a "long lunch" to watch the game.
"I blasted 'Born in the USA' on my way out," he said, clad in a fake white beard to resemble Uncle Sam.
With the win, Team USA takes first place in Group C, and will next face the second place team from Group D in the knockout round.
That team will be determined after another round of games Wednesday afternoon.
It will either be Germany, Australia, Serbia or Ghana. Germany takes on Ghana and Australia takes on Serbia at 2pm.
