ST. LOUIS — The U.S. men’s national team is heading to the Gold Cup final, and from the fourth minute onward here at Energizer Park, that outcome was rarely in doubt.
The USMNT raced out to an early 2-0 lead in Wednesday’s semifinal, and ultimately beat Guatemala, FIFA’s 106th-ranked team, 2-1.
But for long stretches of the first half, it struggled. At the 45-minute mark, Guatemala had more Expected Goals, and more than twice as many shots.
And over the final 15 minutes, after a Guatemala goal, amid raucous noise, the U.S. wobbled.
Fortunately for the Americans, they had Diego Luna.
Luna’s meteoric rise — from the outside looking in at the under-23 Olympic roster to the full USMNT’s starting lineup — continued Wednesday with a fourth-minute goal, then shot even further skyward with a 15th-minute banger.
With the confidence and borderline cockiness that head coach Mauricio Pochettino loves, Luna dropped his shoulder, shimmied, deked into the box, and slammed his second goal of the match past Guatemalan goalkeeper Kenderson Navarro.
“It’s just finding the rhythm and being able to get the freedom from the coaching staff and the team,” Luna said post-match about being the team’s difference-maker. “[Knowing] that they’re going to have my back and the trust of the defensive responsibilities, allows me to do what I do on the ball.”
He silenced a pro-Guatemala crowd, and sped for the corner flag, and pointed to the U.S. Soccer crest on his left pec. He pointed to the name on the back of his jersey, then danced as his teammates mobbed him, and as Guatemalan hopes seemed to dim for good.
But then, over a somewhat shocking half hour, those hopes were rekindled.
They were rekindled by 20,000 Guatemaltecos, who injected unceasing energy into the evening, just kept chanting.
“Gua-té!” they shouted. “Gua-té!”
And even after their team went down 2-0: “Sí se puede!” Yes we can!
And their players responded.
Los Chapines, as they’re known, could’ve hung their heads. They could have conceded that the USMNT was simply better. But instead, playing in their first Gold Cup semifinal in 29 years, they fought. And they fought some more.
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
They earned back territory. And gradually, they grew into the game. They created a few half-chances, then some legitimate chances. And the USMNT, which had spent the past 70 hours talking about fighting, didn’t fight back.
The Americans nearly succumbed to the pressure. Their intensity slipped, and for around 20 minutes, the game was relatively one-sided — in favor of the side that not a soul expected to be in this semifinal.
Rubio Rubin, the Oregon-born Guatemala striker, got free in the box more than once, and nearly pulled the underdogs back into the match.
In the end, they simply didn’t have enough quality. They gave Luna and Malik Tillman too much space in the opening 15 minutes. And they couldn’t take advantage of the space that the USMNT, after a strong start, began to give them.
In the second half, the U.S. stabilized. But Patrick Agyemang, Pochettino’s choice to start at striker throughout this Gold Cup, had his worst game in a USMNT jersey. His touches were sloppy. His passes were off. His finishing was wayward. He and his U.S. teammates seemed to get discouraged, and exhibited frustration.
Then, in the 80th minute, they conceded, and Energizer Park erupted.
The U.S. threw on a second left back, then a second center back, Walker Zimmerman. They held on for dear life against a team whose entire roster is worth about one-fourth of Tillman. Matt Freese scrambled to make a stoppage-time save.
And in the end, they held out for a victory to advance to Sunday’s final.
But that, they surely know, will be a much tougher game. They’ll meet the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between Mexico and Honduras. They’ll have a chance to win a trophy. But still, in many ways, they haven’t proven anything yet.
A blow-by-blow recap of Wednesday’s game is below.
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Featured
Full-time: USA 2-1 Guatemala
Diego Luna finds the net twice in the first 15 minutes and the USMNT holds off Guatemala for the semifinal win. They’ll face the winner of tonight’s Mexico-Honduras match.
Don’t forget to tap in to our post-game show for immediate reaction and analysis:
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Watch: Olger Escobar lights up the St. Louis crowd
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80′ | GOAL – Olger Escobar cuts the U.S. lead in half
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On a hot and humid night in the Midwest
Guatemala makes five substitutions and Pochettino goes to his bench again to bring in Jack McGlynn for Tyler Adams and John Tolkin for Diego Luna.
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70′ | Hydration break
The USMNT seems content to sit back and hold on for the 2-0 win. They’ve taken 11 shots with 6 on target to Guatemala’s 18 total shots with 3 on target. Agyemang’s header from a few yards out and an open look minutes later were both saved by Navarro. He followed that up with an ugly miss on a breakaway.
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58′ | Substitution
Mauricio Pochettino makes his first substitution: Luca De La Torre comes out for Brenden Aaronson.
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Luna booked for general time-wasting and obstruction
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Back underway…
… and Guatemala picked up right where it left off, pinning the U.S. back in the opening minutes of the second half.
But now the U.S. has settled a bit.
Still 2-0.
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Reminder: Don’t miss the Cooligans post-match show!
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Halftime: USA 2-0 Guatemala
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USMNT up 2-0 at halftime…
… but there seemed to be some frustration as the players walked off the field
Rather than head right to the locker room, Malik Tillman stayed out on the field, waited for goalkeeper Matt Freese, and had an extended discussion with him, then with goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez.
Guatemala was the better team, by far, over the latter half of that first half — and perhaps, on balance, over the first 45 minutes as a whole.
Agyemang has been quite poor
Pochettino likes his physicality, his running and his hold-up play. But he hasn’t even been good with his back to goal tonight.
And when facing goal, he’s so ineffective. Choosing the wrong passes, taking sloppy touches.
With a better striker, the USMNT would be up more than two. With Agyemang, they’re now struggling to get much going in the final third. Guatemala has actually been the better team over the last 20 minutes
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Some Guatemala chances…
Perhaps we spoke too soon?
Rubio Rubin got in behind Tim Ream and tested Matt Freese.
A header just flashed wide.
Los Chapines still in it, despite the 2-0 scoreline!
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Guatemala puts the ball in the net…
… but Rubio Rubin was clearly offside.
Still 2-0.
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U.S. in control
The USMNT is keeping possession, and finding a good balance of going forward when there are opportunities to do so, but keeping the
Pat Agyemang has had a pretty rough 25 minutes, but that’s about the only blemish.
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Watch: Luna bags a brace
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Goal U.S.! Diego Luna again!
Luna jukes past a defender with a stepover, and fires a shot low past the keeper.
Excellent goal.
2-0 to the U.S.
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A good U.S. goal…
… and also pretty clear evidence of the gap in quality between those two teams.
Against better opposition, Luna wouldn’t have had space to come inside and spray the ball wide to Alex Freeman; and Malik Tillman wouldn’t have had the time and space for that Cruyff turn on the edge of the box; and Luna might not have gotten to the rebound.
Very tall task for Guatemala now.
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Watch: The summer of Diego Luna continues
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Goal U.S.!
Diego Luna scores it, after Malik Tillman and Sebastian Berhalter helped make it.
Took less than four minutes!
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Underway in St. Louis!
It’s about 90-10 Guatemala fans.
And there’s huge noise anytime the underdogs win the ball.
Much of the stadium standing.
“Sí, se puede!” chants.
Incredible atmosphere.
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The Guatemala support is amazing
Behind one goal, where the St. Louis City FC supporters group usually stands, and where it appears U.S. supporters are supposed to be, there’s an American Outlaws banner and maybe two rows of USMNT fans.
The rest is Guatemala fans.
When the stadium emcee just introduced the two teams, “USA” got moderate boos, and “Guatemala” got a huge roar.
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Kickoff is minutes away!
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Listen: Pochettino on USMNT vs. Guatemala
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The Guatemala story
U.S.-based journalist Jon Arnold, the authority on all things CONCACAF, has written a few great pieces explaining how Guatemala got here, to its first Gold Cup semifinal since 1996.
That link above is one. Here’s another. And another.
The best part of the story is Juan Rodas, a Guatemalan-American who’s obsessed with soccer. So obsessed that he began creating YouTube videos about Guatemalan soccer, in both Spanish and English. He then began identifying and recruiting Guatemalan-American players for the national team. Some of those players are part of this remarkable Gold Cup squad.
And U.S. fans might recognize two of the U.S.-born players: Rubio Rubin and Aaron Herrera.
Herrera was a U.S. youth international and now plays for DC United in MLS.
Rubin actually played seven times for the senior USMNT, but all in friendlies. He then switched allegiances to his mother’s homeland, Guatemala, in 2022. Now he’s the starting striker, and scored the crucial goal against Canada in Sunday’s quarterfinal upset.
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USMNT lineup unchanged
For tonight’s semifinal, Mauricio Pochettino goes with the same lineup that (barely) won the quarterfinal on Sunday.
The pros: continuity.
The cons: fatigue — Sunday’s penalty shootout ended less than 70 hours ago.
The question: Is playing with three true central midfielders really necessary against an overmatched Guatemala team, and really the best way to break down that team?
It’s good for “security” in defensive transition, as Malik Tillman told a few of us on Sunday. But the lineup isn’t exactly overflowing with dynamic attackers…
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Such a cool, lively, and (most of all) fun atmosphere
Some U.S. fans will trickle in closer to kickoff. But looking like it’ll be 90-10 Guatemala, at least in terms of passion and noise.
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Hello from St. Louis…
… where, with an hour until kickoff, there are already thousands of Guatemala fans inside Energizer Park.
Some were buzzing around the stadium this morning at 10 a.m.
By the time gates opened at 4:30 p.m., lines were stretching around corners. Flags were waving. Horns were honking.
For many Guatemaltecos living here in the U.S., this is their first opportunity to see their men’s national team in a semifinal of any kind — because Los Chapines haven’t been to a semifinal in 29 years.
And the atmosphere is going to reflect that. It’ll be a pro-Guatemala crowd. What an occasion!
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Lineup: Starting XI for Guatemala
Guatemala: Kenderson Navarro, Áaron Herrera, José Pinto, Nicolás Samayoa, José Morales, Stheven Robles, José Rosales, Rudy Muñoz, Pedro Altán, Rubio Rubin and Oscar Santis.
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Lineup: Starting XI for USA
USA: Matt Freese, Max Arfsten, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Alex Freeman, Luca de la Torre, Tyler Adams, Diego Luna, Malik Tillman, Sebastian Berhalter and Patrick Agyemang.
North American powerhouse Mexico has been made to labor against Honduras in their Concacaf Gold Cup semi-final clash tonight in California until finally breaking the deadlock just after the restart.
And it would be none other than Raúl Jiménez to give El Tri a justified lead on the night after first missing a guilt-edged sitter before the half-time interval.
The 34-year-old Fulham ace would make amends in the 50th minute after he was slid into the box by 16-year-old teenage prodigy Gilberto Mora before he rifled his low effort past Edrick Menjivar to bag his 42nd goal for El Tri.
With his latest goal, which ended a result goal drought by the veteran striker, he now sits just four behind former Mexico stalwart Jared Borgetti (46) on the all-time goals list.
Given that Jiménez seemingly still has plenty left in the tank, there is still time for him to further cement his legacy in Mexican football lore.
