The United States is into the Gold Cup final for the fifth straight tournament, thanks to their 3-1 win over Honduras. It was a mostly dominant win, though the U.S. did have to endure a couple minutes of stress, some poor officiating and a dismissal for Jurgen Klinsmann after he reacted poorly to said poor officiating.
USA vs. Honduras: GIFs and all the goals
Miss anything from the Gold Cup semifinal between the United States and Honduras? We’ve got you covered.
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Eddie Johnson's goal, the first of the night, was absolutely gorgeous. He made a great dummy run to pull Osman Chavez out of position, then got on the end of Landon Donovan's pass before applying a finish.
Not long after that, Stuart Holden took a rather unfortunate elbow to the face. Incredibly, no one spotted it and no penalty was given.
No one stayed mad for too long, as the United States would score their second goal before the half hour mark, with Donovan scoring on this occasion.
Jurgen Klinsmann was understandably pleased with his team’s performance up to this point.
The USMNT took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break and looked to be picking up where they left off to start the second half, but they gave away a surprising goal to the Hondurans in the 52nd minute, off a free kick.
Honduras didn’t even have time to put the U.S. under pressure and play their way back into the game. USMNT fans only got to worry for a minute before Donovan struck again, netting his second goal of the night to put the United States back on top by two goals.
Honduras manager Luis Fernando Suarez was less than pleased with his team’s effort and wallowed in sadness on the bench.
The game got a bit chippy and physical after that, not that the referee seemed to notice. No foul was called when Eddie Johnson was shoved into the boards in the second half, and the Grown-Ass Man had a less than positive reaction to an attempted handshake after the incident.
At the end of the game, despite his team's lead and good performance, Klinsmann lost his patience with referee Walter Quesada. He went absolutely nuts when DaMarcus Beasley was fouled on the sideline, but Quesada called a foul against the American left back.
For that tirade, Klinsmann was sent to the stands. The United States will be thrilled that they’re in the Gold Cup final, but they’ll have to wait to see whether or not their coach will be allowed on the sideline for the game.
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