It's a quick turnaround for the United States men's national team as they look to carry the momentum of their dramatic penalty shootout win over Costa Rica on Sunday night into the Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinals and their midweek clash with Guatemala.
Costa Rica pushed the United States to the brink, but Matt Freese and the American penalty-takers stepped up in the shootout to ensure the USMNT will make this the team's 17th appearance in the Gold Cup Semifinals.
In this semifinal they meet a Guatemala team looking to make it back-to-back upsets of North American soccer powers after they got past Canada in a penalty-kick shootout of their own. Guatemala enter as underdogs but with confidence of a team already playing with the proverbial "house money" this deep into an unexpected Gold Cup run.
Guatemala Scouting Report
• Rubio Rubín, currently of Charleston Battery in the USL Championship and formerly of Real Salt Lake in MLS among others, leads the attack for Guatemala and has two goals and one assist during this Gold Cup. Rubín played for the United States all through the youth ranks and made seven appearances for the senior USMNT, though all in unofficial matches (international friendlies), thus leaving him eligible to switch to Guatemala.
• Rubín is joined by Óscar Santís as the top Guatemalan attackers to watch. Santís, a 26-year-old forward with Antigua GFC of Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football, has attempted the second-most shots in the Gold Cup (12, behind USMNT striker Patrick Agyemang's 13) while scoring once and assisting once, with his assist coming on Rubín's equalizing goal against Canada last round.
• When Guatemala plays here in the States, they enjoy support from La Barra de Guate, a United States-based fan group that supports the Guatemala national team and reps a banner reading Siempre con Vos — the use of "vos" is the giveaway that the group isn't backing Mexico or any other Concacaf member that would use "tú."
• This is Guatemala's first appearance in the Gold Cup Semifinals in 29 years. Their history head-to-head against the United States isn't great, managing just one win over the USMNT in their last 23 matches played. These teams have played three times before in the Gold Cup with the United States winning all three times and never conceding a goal. All-time, Guatemala holds a record vs the USMNT of 5W-6D-16L with a -28 goal differential (19 goals for, 47 goals against).
United States Scouting Report
• New York City FC goalkeeper Matt Freese went from zero to hero over the course of Sunday's win vs Costa Rica. Freese was criticized for an error leading to a goal against Haiti, and questions were then asked of his handling of a rebound that led to Alonso Martínez's late equalizer for Costa Rica. All doubts were washed away with that three-save shootout performance, though, and the USA will like its chances if they're forced to decide the semis on penalties.
• Fullback Max Arfsten is making an impact in his first competitive tournament for the USMNT, leading all players at the Gold Cup with three assists. His four goal contributions are second-most in the tournament and equal to the number produced by the USMNT's best attacking player of the tournament, Malik Tillman. He's had some issues defensively and conceded a costly PK against Costa Rica, but when getting forward, Arfsten has been a threat.
• Will Sebastian Berhalter start on the right again? The Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder somewhat surprisingly displaced both of Jack McGlynn and Quinn Sullivan as Mauricio Pochettino's preferred right-midfielder for the Quarterfinals after starting centrally (and getting an assist) in the 1-0 group win over Saudi Arabia and in the 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago. Playing a wider role, Berhalter created four chances – the most in the match – though did miss his spot-kick in the shootout. Also, he's definitely not joining FC Bayern Munich, despite what you may have heard on a recent Club World Cup broadcast.
• The United States is in a familiar place: They've reached the Gold Cup Semifinals in 17 of 18 all-time editions of the tournament, and they failed to advance to the Gold Cup Final only four times. One of those four semifinal losses, though, came during the last installment of the tournament in 2023 when BJ Callaghan and James Sands's USMNT drew Panama 1-1 but lost on penalties.
