After a thrilling 5-1 win over El Salvador, the United States would advance to the Gold Cup semifinals to play Honduras, for the third time this year, in the Cowboys—recently renamed AT&T—Stadium.
The winner of this game will meet the winner of Mexico and Panama for the Gold Cup title at Soldier Field in Chicago. The USMNT won the last game against Honduras but suffered a surprise loss in the opening round of World Cup Qualifiers.
This upcoming match will be as evenly matched as the last two extremely close games.
The Red White and Blue will be expecting their first challenge of the Gold Cup for this game. The Yanks should have expected a challenge the last two games but Costa Rica sat back and defended the entire game, while El Salvador was tamed quite easily in the 5-1 victory.
Honduras is lacking some of their quality starters but will still be an extremely tough opponent to break down and handle for the USMNT. To win, The Americans must be much more efficient in front of goal against Los Catrachosto come out on top.
The missed chances the U.S. had against Costa Rica and El Salvador will come back to hurt them this game if they are not converted against this Honduras teams who looks very likely to score.
The Yanks defense will have to play their best game of the tournament for the USMNT to have a shot at winning. The Hondurans will field the most powerful attack the USMNT have faced in the Gold Cup so far.
Keeping a clean sheet this game will offer a major boost in confidence for the USMNT defense and for Coach Jurgen Klinsmen.
Playing against the midfield for Honduras will be a major step up in difficulty from the rest of the games in the Gold Cup. The midfielders for Honduras will make the USMNT midfielders have a tougher time holding the ball and keeping possession while on the attack while, also making them have an important role in the defensive shape and winning the ball.
This game will be the most challenging by far in the Gold Cup for the midfield players of the U.S. Attacking players for the USMNT such as, Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, and Chris Wondolowski, will face heir toughest test against a stout Honduran attack.
These players will have to work harder to get open runs and to get on the ball. Attacking play will be focused on these attacking players, as they will be looked at to play the last ball for a goal or to make the decisive strike against the Hondurans.
This game will be the hardest match up by far for the U.S in the Gold Cup but the USMNT strength, speed of play, and reserve play should lead to a U.S. win.
(Editor’s Note: due to technical issues, this article was not published before game time, the United States would defeat Honduras 3-1 and advance to the Gold Cup Final against Panama)
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