Jul 2, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; United States of America midfielder Diego Luna (10) celebrates after scoring a goal against Guatemala in the in the first half during a semifinal match of the 2025 Gold Cup at Energizer Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
A Diego Luna brace pushed the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) to their 13th CONCACAF Gold Cup final, surviving a late scare by Guatemala in the last 10 minutes to win their semifinal tie 2-1 at Energizer Park in St. Louis, MO.
The U.S. will play Mexico in the Gold Cup final on Sunday, July 6th at the NRG Stadium in Houston, TX. El Tri won 1-0 against Honduras in a heated tie that was separated by a Raúl Jiménez goal.
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino named an unchanged lineup against Los Chapines, and the momentum continued from their penalty shoot-out win against Costa Rica.
Luna started the move in the fourth minute, clipping the ball to the right wing for Alex Freeman. Freeman found Malik Tillman, who has been one of the standout performers at the Gold Cup, who Cruyff-turned his defender into Luca De La Torre’s path. The No. 14’s shot was parried by Kenderson Navarro into Luna’s path.
The Real Salt Lake star took his opportunistic goal on the half-volley to silence the thousands of Guatemalan fans who created an energetic atmosphere before the final whistle.
The team’s confidence after the goal showed, as players attempted flicks and showed off some neat one-touch passing to get past the Guatemalan press. In the 11th minute, Tillman won the ball back at the edge of the box and unleashed a shot inches from the post.
Four minutes later, after some tidy combinations from the U.S.’s right side, Tillman switched the ball across to Luna, who shimmied and step-overed past his defender. His rocket of a shot nestled into the bottom right corner to double the U.S.’s lead.
Guatemala shook off the early two-goal concession and started to create a few chances, but nothing that overly troubled Matthew Freese in goal. However, Freese did have to make an awkward dive in the 26th minute, needing to get to ground quickly after Óscar Santis’ free header was aimed towards the bottom right corner.
Rubio Rubin — who had spells in Sweden and the U.S. — had a goal ruled for offside in the 29th minute, when Maximilian Arfsten got his timing right and stepped up in his defensive line to just play Rubin off.
However, for the rest of the match, it was a story of how the U.S. had multiple chances to extend their lead and kill the game, but couldn’t. And it almost came back to bite them.
Before the half finished, Luna had a chance to complete a first-half hat-trick, but a mistimed Patrick Agyemang pass killed off a counter-attacking opportunity. Two minutes later, a Sebastian Berhalter free kick from 20 yards out took a heavy deflection and forced Navarro into a good save.
Agyemang had two chances in the 61st and 65th minutes, with the first a header forcing a save and the USMNT’s first corner of the match. The latter was a bigger chance, where Agyemang was played in on goal, but could not beat or lift the ball over Navarro.
Some lacklustre and passive defending gave Los Chapines and the Guatemalan fans some hope in the last 10 minutes. Former FC Cincinnati player Arquímides Ordóñez danced past Brenden Aaronson and Berhalter, then shimmied past Freeman into Chris Richards.
With Richards on a yellow card and just inside the box, he couldn’t fully commit, tapping the ball out of Ordóñez’s control and into Olger Escobar’s. Escobar released the rebounded ball into the far right corner, through a herd of bodies, past Freese in goal, sending Energizer stadium into a frenzy.
In order to regain some control, Pochettino swapped Agyemang for Damion Downs — who scored the winning penalty kick against Los Ticos, and put on an extra center back in 32-year-old Walker Zimmerman. The U.S. continued to be happy to sit back and soak up pressure, and it almost folded when Freese was forced into a diving save on 90+2 minutes.
The U.S. has a chance to win the competition for the first time since 2021, and secure Pochettino’s first trophy as USMNT manager.
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