Three Keys For USMNT vs. Honduras Gold Cup Opening Match
By Joe Sudberg
After a few days of outpouring support for the United States Women’s World Cup victory, it’s time for the USMNT to begin their run Gold Cup run. The men’s team plays tonight at 9:30 pm ET and the game will be televised on FoxSports 1.
The Gold Cup is made up of the United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Cuba and Honduras. The USMNT, who are looking to win their second consecutive Gold Cup, is in Group A with Panama, Haiti and Honduras. The tournament is played in 14 venues across the United States and Canada.
Their opponent tonight—defensive stalwart Honduras who has only allowed one goal in their past two contests against quality competition in Mexico and Brazil. Before kickoff, below we analyze three things to look out for during tonight’s opening match.
Going Streaking: The USMNT are in the midst of a four-match winning streak dating back to April 15th. After defeating Mexico 2-0, the United States had an incredible comeback performance against the Netherlands in Amsterdam Arena to steal a 4-3 victory and one-upped that performance by defeating the No. 1 FIFA-ranked Germany five days later in Germany. More recently, the USMNT flexed their muscle in their Gold Cup tune up against Guatemala, winning 4-0. Funny things happen in sports, when a team can look like it’s playing their best; a dud performance comes out of nowhere. Are the USMNT due for a slip up or will they continue their positive play and extend their winning streak to five?
Stats Don’t Lie: The stats about the success of the USMNT in the Gold Cup are startling. See for yourself, with highlighted stats and information taken from this article from USSoccer.com.
- The USMNT are perfect in Gold Cup opening games, going 12-0-0 since the inaugural tournament in 1991.
- In those 12 games, the USMNT have outscored opponents 33-6 and recorded shutouts in seven of them.
- The USMNT is 5-0-1 against Honduras all-time in Gold Cup matches and are a perfect 5-0-0 when playing in the Dallas-metro area (tonight’s game is at Toyota Stadium in Frisco Stadium, the home of FC Dallas).
Again, nearly everything tonight leans in favor of the Americans.
Honduras Attack: In this USA vs. Honduras preview on MLSSoccer.com, it’s noted that Honduras went with a five-man backline when playing Mexico to a scoreless draw last week. Honduras is being coached by the same coach who led Costa Rica to a surprising quarterfinals run that ended abruptly in a penalty shootout against the Netherlands. Jorge Luis Pinto’s strategy has been successful on the largest of stages, picking up wins over Uruguay, Italy and Greece (in PKs) during the World Cup. With Honduras being a defensive-minded unit, Michael Bradley—who is earning his 100th cap tonight—will have the ultra-important job of not giving away the ball in the midfield area.
Honduras isn’t likely to score from a long combination of short passes and will look to take advantage of any giveaways with counter attacks. There will be times will Bradley will be pressed into forcing the ball into tight quarters, but he may have to take some more cautious passing routes in tonight’s match.