The United States had a nightmare start, conceding an early goal to Guatemala, but recovered well with a goal from Carlos Bocanegra and a brace by Clint Dempsey to take a 3-1 lead in to the locker room.
USA vs. Guatemala: Halftime score 3-1, Dempsey’s brace has the US ahead
The US opened the match with a massive communication breakdown that allowed Guatemala to take an early lead. Geoff Cameron pushed up high along with Carlos Bocanegra, creating space behind between themselves and Tim Howard. Expecting Howard to come out to play the long ball, Bocanegra didn't break back quickly and Carlos Ruiz ran right in to the space, tapped the ball around Howard and finished from a bit of a tough angle to make it 1-0 in the 5th minute.
Four nervous minutes later, Bocanegra made up for the mistake, putting home a ball cleverly headed on by Clint Dempsey from a Graham Zusi corner kick.
Dempsey was involved again in the 18th minute, putting home a great pass from Eddie Johnson who had switched over to the right side off a defensive restart. Johnson's pass got through the Honduras defense to a charging Dempsey who went to ground and pushed his shot past Ricardo Jerez. Dempsey decided to go ahead and get another goal, tapping in a fantastic pass in the box from Michael Bradley to extend the US lead to 3-1.
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