The United States is heading to the Gold Cup final for the fifth straight time. A 3-1 semifinal win over Honduras, a surprisingly easy one at that, booked the Americans' spot in Sunday's final where they will play either Mexico or Panama.
USA vs. Honduras: Final score 3-1, Americans heading to the Gold Cup final
The U.S. is heading to their fifth consecutive Gold Cup final.
USA TODAY Sports
Landon Donovan led the way for the U.S. with two goals and an assist to push his total to five goals and seven assists in five matches this tournament. He's been the engine for the Americans, who have now won 10 straight matches.
No other country has ever been to four consecutive Gold Cup finals, but the Americans made advancing to their fifth straight look easy. They played directly, often bypassing the midfield that Honduras tried to close down quickly and sometimes with dirty tackles to punish the Catrachos from the start.
Eddie Johnson put the U.S. in front after 11 minutes on a brilliant interchange with Donovan. Johnson dummied a ball to Donovan and took off up-field. When the defense stepped to Donovan, Johnson was able to slip in behind and Donovan found him. From there, it was a simple finish and the Americans were in front.
Another direct play doubled the U.S. lead in the 27th minute as a quick attack sprung Alejandro Bedoya down the right. He chased the ball down and flicked it over to Donovan in the center, where the Americans' all-time leading goalscorer added to his record by bringing the ball down with his chest and tapping the ball home.
Things got dicey for the U.S. when their vulnerable set piece defending gifted Honduras a goal. Nery Medina was left unmarked so he was able to easy rise and head come from close range to cut the Americans' lead in half.
But Donovan answered before the Hondurans could blink. Once again, it was Bedoya who got the helper as he raced down the right yet again and crossed for Donovan to finish with ease less than a minute after the U.S. conceded.
From there, the U.S. had no problem seeing out the match. Honduras tried to frustrate them with a series of violent tackles, but the only person who was fazed was Jurgen Klinsmann. He was sent off just before fulltime for arguing a Honduras tackle, but the players had no problem knocking the ball around with ease until the final whistle. With that, the U.S. was final-bound yet again.
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