PASADENA, Calif. -- After 120 minutes of mostly watching his teammates play at the other end of the field, Kasey Keller finally got his chance to make some diving saves.
Josh Wolff and his U.S. teammates outshot Canada 36-10, but couldn't find the back of the net.
The U.S. goalkeeper batted away two penalty kicks after a scoreless tie in regulation and overtime Wednesday night as the United States beat defending champion Canada 4-2 on penalty kicks to gain the finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.
The United States faces Costa Rica, a 3-1 winner over South Korea in the other semifinal, for the Gold Cup championship on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The U.S. team dominated the game, outshooting Canada 36-10, but could not get the ball into the net until the penalty kicks.
Landon Donovan, Brian McBride, Jeff Agoos and Clint Mathis each made his penalty shot against goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld, who had kept Canada in the game by making 15 saves -- to Keller's 3.
"We were a little unlucky not to get a goal," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "We clearly deserved to win this game. I give Canada credit for fighting hard for 120 minutes, but in all honesty, I think the better team won."
As his teammates were making their first four kicks from the spot, Keller sprawled to his left and blocked a low liner by Kevin McKenna, Canada's first kicker. After Paul Stalteri and Dwayne DeRosario made their kicks for Canada, Keller dived to his right and blocked Tam Nsaliwa's shot to give the United States the win.
"I thought we played great, probably our best performance," Donovan said. "We were a little bit unlucky, but we did everything we needed to win. It wasn't our night, though, until the end."
On a chilly night when temperatures dipped into the 30s, attendance was only 7,241 in the 90,000-plus seat Rose Bowl. Several U.S. players, including Cobi Jones, DaMarcus Beasley and Donovan, wore gloves.
Hirschfeld, a reserve goalkeeper who has been filling in because starter Craig Forrest is recovering from cancer, was spectacular in goal during regulation and overtime.
Hirschfeld and defender Jason DeVos combined to stop a flurry of four shots within seconds during the 54th minute. Josh Wolff's shot from 11 yards hit high on the left post and bounced back in front of the goal. McBride then shot from 12 yards and Hirschfeld stretched and batted the ball forward and straight to Wolff.
Wolff made a hard bicycle kick toward the net, but DeVos headed the ball out, to McBride. McBride shot again, only to have Hirschfeld tip it away and out.
Mathis had been out since June because of torn knee ligaments. He made his second appearance in as many games, again entering the game as a second-half sub, this time for Wolff.
Wolff started in place of Ante Razov, who strained a groin muscle in Sunday's 4-0 U.S. win over El Salvador and also will miss Saturday's championship game.
The United States is 8-9-4 all-time against Costa Rica, which finished first -- and the United States second -- in the CONCACAF group in qualifying for this summer's World Cup. The two national teams split their games during the qualifying, however, each winning at home.
The United States has beaten the Costa Ricans all three times they've met in the Gold Cup tournament.
Costa Rica is led by Paulo Cesar Wanchope, who scored twice in the semifinal against South Korea and has four goals in the tournament.
The trip to the finals will be the fourth for the United States, which won just one of its earlier three Gold Cup title games, defeating Honduras on penalty kicks in 1991, the inaugural tournament.