Diego Luna’s first-half brace against Guatemala led the U.S. men’s national team to the Gold Cup final.
The USMNT started fast against Guatemala in the Gold Cup semifinals, going up 2–0 within the span of 15 minutes. Luna buried a close-range rebound just four minutes in the fixture and then followed up his opener with a spectacular solo-goal, beating out one defender with a clever stepover before rifling home a right-footed strike from the top of the box.
The Stars and Stripes held onto their two-goal lead until the 80th minute when Olger Escobar pulled one back for Guatemala. What was a lopsided affair suddenly turned into a nervy ending for the USMNT, who was on the backfoot as the visitors tried to complete their comeback.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men stood tall, though, and denied Guatemala an equalizer in the final moments of the game. It was not a perfect team performance by any means from the U.S., but it was enough to get the Stars and Stripes to the Gold Cup final.
Check out three takeaways from the USMNT’s 2–1 victory below.
