It wasn’t always pretty, it was flashy, but the United States did the job and defeataed Guatemala 3-1 in Kansas City to book their place in the CONCACAF hexagonal, one step from qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
USA vs. Guatemala: Final score 3-1, USA move on to the CONCACAF hexagonal round
After falling behind early, the USA responded with three goals to secure their place in to the CONCACF hexagonal, the final round of World Cup qualifying.
Jamie Squire - Getty Images
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 at halftime.
Eddie Johnson had the best chance of the second half but executed a grown ass miss after Graham Zusi made a great run and put the ball on a silver platter with a great cross.
Beyond that there really wasn’t much to discuss from the second half. Guatemala had a couple decent chances thanks to some shaky goalkeeping by Tim Howard while the US was more than happy to control possession and limit Guatemala’s opportunities. It didn’t produce the most entertaining soccer, but it got the US the result they needed to move on to the CONCACAF hexagonal.
Guatemala on the other hand will not be moving on, losing second place in the group to Jamaica on goal differential.
See More:
