U.S. men pull out a tie with Cameroon

CANBERRA, Australia — The U.S. men have miscued, mistimed and just plain missed dozens of goal chances as they've opened the Olympic soccer tournament with ties against Cameroon and the Czech Republic.

But coach Clive Charles says the law of averages is on their side.

"No, I'm not concerned," Charles said after strikers Conor Casey and Josh Wolff wasted at least four genuine scoring opportunities in Saturday's 1-1 tie against Cameroon at Canberra.

"I'll only be concerned if we stop creating opportunities," he added. "Goals come in batches. I think we will eventually start to hit the back of the net — we have to."

Going into the last preliminary round, the United States faces a must-win game against Kuwait in Melbourne on Tuesday, while Cameroon takes on the winless Czech Republic.

With the top two teams in each group advancing to the quarterfinals, Cameroon leads Group C with four points from a win and a tie.

Kuwait, shocking 3-2 winners Saturday against the Czech Republic, is second with three points followed by the United States with two and the Czechs, who have one point from an opening 2-2 tie against the Americans.

A win in Melbourne should ensure the United States advances to the second round of the Olympic tournament for the first time.

Cameroon held a 1-0 lead at halftime on Patrick Mboma's penalty kick at 16 minutes. The U.S. tied it on a penalty kick by Pete Vagenas in the 64th minute.