USA 2 Guatemala 1
July 2 – The USA hung on to beat Guatemala on a hot, steamy and passionate night in the Energiser Stadium in St Louis with two goals from the irrepressible Diego Luna.
The USA have looked stronger and more composed as the tournament has progressed. Mauricio Pochettino has at last imposed his plan on this team, and without the six or seven of its brightest starts, it is starting to work. The Gold Cup has come at the right time for the Pochettino and the US and they have grabbed the opportunity.
The same can be said for Guatemala who have been one of the break out teams of the tournament, ranked 106th in the world, they have punched far above that ranking place and it hasn’t been a fluke.
A young team moulded by a seasoned manager in Luis Fernando Tena, they have been backed by a Guatemalan fan base in the US that has impressively roared them on every step of the way.
Both teams qualified for the semi-finals with penalty shoot-out wins in the quarter finals.
The US beat Costa Rica with a battling performance and three penalty shoot-out saves by Matt Freese. Guatemala out-fought and out-thought Canada, ultimately blowing them away in a shoot-out they never looked like winning.
The US started the fastest and in the 4th minute had the lead.
Diego Luna from the left passed the ball across goal and followed it. A pass back across the top of the box was helped on by a flick from Malik Tillman to Luca de la Torre who shot. Kenderson Navarro palmed out to his left only for the effervescent Luna, who had tracked across the goal, to pounce, deftly shifting the ball from his right to left foot and fire in.
On 10 minutes Tillman could have made it two but Navarro saved.
Five minutes later the US were two up and Luna had his second with a superb shot from the top left of the box. If Pochettino had been looking for someone to step up with the joy and commitment for the game and the US shirt they had found one in Luna who has surely booked his place in the 2026 World Cup squad.
This was by no means one-way traffic though, with Guatemala ending the half with 15 shots to the USA’s six, though only three were on target compared to four from US.
Guatemala should have pulled one back through Rubio Rubin who angled in on goal but couldn’t beat the semi-final penalty saving hero for the US Matt Freese
The US had edged possession with 51%.
The second half began at pace with Guatemala pressing for a goal to get them back in the game but the US defence holding its shape. The US looked comfortable and composed on the ball with Chris Richards and Tyler Adams in particular mopping up anything loose and pushing their midfield forward.
Guatemala brought an urgent edge to their game but couldn’t find that final ball to unlock space in front of goal. At the other end the US were wasteful.
In the 61st minute Patrick Agyemang had a free header 5m out that Navarro palmed over. Three minutes later Agyemang was put through on a counter attack but agonisingly couldn’t get contact to lift the ball over Navarro – it was a horrible miss. Two minutes later he missed again.
If you don’t take your chances football has a habit of biting you back and in the 80th minute the US were bitten.
Arquimidez Ordonez dribbled across the box from the left, 18-year-old Olger Escobar took it off his foot and fired the ball into the right hand corner of Freese’s goal.
The Guatemalan fans erupted. Could Guatemala force a late equaliser as they did against Canada in the quarter final?
Mauricio Pochettino worked his bench and went to five at the back. Guatemala went to five up front – game on.
In the second of four minutes of added time Gautemala’s Jose Morales fired from outside the box. Freese dived low to his right with the ball coming off his hand and then the post for a corner.
Navarro left his goal and entered the US box. He was joined by 18,000 baying Guatemalans in the 22,500 capacity crowd.
A second Guatemalan fairy tale within a week wasn’t to be. The US held on for a place in their 14th Gold Cup final in Houston this Sunday. The US are a work in progress but this is progress. Guatemala head home but their contribution to this Gold Cup has been immeasurable and a reminder of what is good about football and its wider social context.
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