Mexico rallies to beat U.S., win Gold Cup

Los Angeles (CNN) -- In one of soccer's biggest showdowns, Mexico rallied from an early deficit with four straight goals to defeat the United States 4-2 and win the 2011 Gold Cup on Saturday.

The American team jumped out to an earlier lead when Michael Bradley, a center midfielder and the son of coach Bob Bradley, scored the first goal just nine minutes into the game. Landon Donovan, the leading goal-scorer in U.S. history, netted a second goal roughly 20 minutes later.

But Mexico answered back, with Pablo Barrera and then Andres Guardado scoring two goals within 10 minutes of each other to tie the score.

A few minutes into the second half, Barrera scored another goal to give Mexico its first lead of the game. Giovani dos Santos gave Mexico a 4-2 advantage with a score with about 13 minutes remaining, effectively cinching his team's victory.

Fox Soccer reported that 93,420 spectators watched the game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, above its capacity of 92,542 according to the stadium's website.

Mexico's win gives in bragging rights in the rivalry, the third consecutive time both teams have met in the tournament's final.

As it is every year, the game was organized by the soccer confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Besides boasting privileges, Mexico earns a ticket to the Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013, a year before the World Cup.

Mexico and the United States had split the last two Gold Cups, with the Mexicans embarrassing the Americans with a 5-0 thrashing in 2009.

In 2007, the Americans took the contest, sending the team to the 2009 Confederations Cup where it finished second behind Brazil.

Until Saturday night, the United States had not lost to Mexico on American soil when at full strength in 12 matches dating back to the year 2000.

Still, the American players know that soccer draws many fans to Mexico's team, as was evident at this weekend's game. Hispanics are now the nation's second-largest group under the latest census.

"You come into your country and you know they are going to have more fans than you are," U.S. defender Jonathan Bornstein said in remarks on the confederation website, "but nonetheless, we're going to have enough fans out there supporting us. We're on our home turf, and so we need to be considered the home team even though we might not have all the fans."

Added U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard about the rivalry: "It's been the same since I was a kid watching it. It's the same today. It's passion. There's a ton of respect, but yet again it borders on hatred."

"But it's passion. It's good. I think we have very healthy respect for them and whether they want to say it or not, they have healthy respect for us and they should," Howard said on the confederation website.

Mexico's team manager Jose Manuel de la Torre said before the contest that the game "has transformed into something very important to the Mexican people that live in the United States."

"It is a clasico," de la Torre told the confederation, before Saturday's match. "That makes for a heated atmosphere. But the final is still a soccer game featuring two strong, well-coached teams that have worked hard to reach a final we will enjoy."

For the United States, it marks its fourth consecutive appearance in the final -- a confederation record, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation. The Gold Cup is being held in Southern California for the first time in nine years, the federation said.

CNN's Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

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Syrians 'forced to attend Assad rallies'

(CNN) -- Syrian workers and students were forced to attend rallies in support of President Bashar al-Assad this week, a human rights campaigner from the country told CNN Wednesday.

Government workers were ordered to attend the rallies, said Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.

Qurabi provided CNN with a copy of what he said were leaked official government documents saying that government workers who refused to attend would have their pay docked and would be considered absent from work for the day.

CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the document. Syria has not responded to Qurabi's allegations.

Qurabi, who is from Syria but is currently in Egypt, says his organization received complaints from dozens of college students across the country that were forced to attend the rallies or face losing academic credits for the year.

Executives of pro-Assad corporations such as Rami Makhlouf's SyriaTel also required employees to attend the rallies by threatening to dock pay, Qurabi charged.

Syria's official news agency SANA reported Tuesday that "millions of Syrian citizens gathered in the public squares in support of the comprehensive reform program under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad."

State TV showed images Tuesday of thousands joining pro-regime rallies in Daraa, Aleppo and Homs. Some in the crowds chanted, "With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Bashar" and "God, Syria and Bashar only."

In addition to the pro-Assad demonstrations, fighting raged in a major Syrian city Tuesday, with at least two people killed and several others wounded, an activist group said.

Clashes erupted between protesters and security forces in Homs, according to the Local Coordination Committee in Syria, a network of activists that promotes and documents demonstrations across the country.

They occurred in al-Khalidiya neighborhood, and video said to be from the Homs unrest shows protesters running and throwing rocks and contains sounds of heavy gunfire. CNN cannot independently confirm the information.

Demonstrations critical of the government began in the southern city of Daraa months ago and were swiftly suppressed by security forces. Anti-government fervor caught on nationwide as more protests were met with tougher crackdowns.

After three months of protests, more than 1,100 have died and thousands more have been jailed, according to human rights activists.

Qurabi, the activist with the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, said Tuesday that dozens of protesters were arrested the day before during peaceful anti-government demonstrations in the city of Aleppo.

The world's attention has been focused on the plight of Syrians displaced from their homes by violence.

At least 10,718 Syrian refugees, many of whom fled a military advance in and around the city of Jisr al-Shugur, have crossed the border into Turkey.

The U.N. refugee agency Tuesday said it participated in a government-sponsored mission to Jisr al-Shugur the day before, a trip that included diplomats, reporters and U.N. agencies.

"There was no evidence of people working in the fields. Jisr al-Shugur itself was almost deserted, with most shops shuttered and closed," the agency said, which "indicates significant displacement."

The agency said many people are "severely traumatized" by the ordeal.

"Syrian refugees spoke to our team about their fears and trauma. Many had lost family members, who they said were either killed, missing or in hiding. Our team heard accounts of murders, targeted assassinations, assaults, civilians getting killed in crossfire, torture and humiliation by the military," the agency said. "Most of these people had lost virtually all their belongings and property. In many cases their livestock were shot, fields were torched, and homes and businesses destroyed or confiscated."

On Monday, al-Assad offered vague promises of reform and called for refugees to go back home.

Al-Assad said he was "working on getting the military back to their barracks as soon as possible" but also warned the government would "work on tracking down everyone who shed blood or plotted in shedding the blood of the Syrian people, and we will hold them accountable."

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

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