ST. LOUIS (July 2, 2025) — The U.S. Men’s National Team utilized an early brace from Diego Luna to defeat Guatemala 2-1 in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinal in front of a sellout crowd of 22,423 at Energizer Park. With the victory, the USA advances to a record 13th Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday, with the team set to face the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinal between Mexico and Honduras.
United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino emphasized matching Guatemala’s energy early and its motivation to continue its underdog run after upsetting Canada in the quarterfinal.
Pochettino kept the same starting lineup from the quarterfinal, that group — aside from Tyler Adams, who dealt with an injury at the beginning of the tournament — has played in four of the United States' five Gold Cup games.
Midfielder Luna set the tone early with a goal in the fourth minute, pouncing from just outside the six-yard box after the Guatemala ‘keeper spilled an initial attempt from Luca de la Torre.
Eleven minutes later, Luna found the back of the net again. The trio of Sebastian Berhalter, Patrick Agyemang and Malik Tillman bounded a couple of short passes to build up the attack. Tillman then sent a beautiful cross to a streaking Luna on the left side of the box. Luna crossed up a defender to create space and struck the ball into the lower left corner in the 15th minute.
The USA held Guatemala off for most of the match until Olger Escobar scored in the 80th minute. Off a short pass, Arquímidez Ordóñezpushedinto the box before Escobar ran onto the ball and slotted a low strike past goalkeeper Matt Freese and inside the lower right post. Ultimately, the Americans held off Guatemala from finding the equalizer.
Guatemala posed an intense opposition despite the U.S. gaining control early. It was a physical match that saw 30 total fouls and six yellow cards shown. Defender Chris Richards, Luna, de la Torre and Freese were all cautioned for the USA while Stheven Robles and Oscar Santis also saw yellow cards for Guatemala. Los Chapines created more in attack than what the USA had seen previously in the tournament and outshot the United States 20-12.
Coming off his impressive three-save performance in Sunday’s quarterfinal against Costa Rica, Freese saw the most action of his six USMNT appearances, recording a career-high four saves, including his stop on José Morales deep into injury time which kept the USA from a second-straight shootout.
Next, the USMNT will face the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between Mexico and Honduras in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday, July 6 at NRG Stadium in Houston at 7 p.m. ET (FOX, Univision, TUDN, Fútbol de Primera, SIRIUSXM FC).
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
USA — DIEGO LUNA, 4th minute: Defender Alex Freeman sent a cross to midfielder Luca de la Torre who launched a shot on target that bounced off the keeper’s hands. Luna, in great position, alertly collected the rebound with his right before slotting it home with his left from seven yards out. USA 1, GUA 0
USA — DIEGO LUNA (MALIK TILLMAN), 15th minute: Tillman played a long square pass to Luna on the left. The midfielder dribbled into some empty space before beating a Guatemala defender and ripping a right-footed effort from just outside the box and into the lower left corner. USA 2, GUA 0
GUA — OLGER ESCOBAR (ARQUÍMIDES ORDÓÑEZ), 80th minute: Off a short pass, Ordóñez pushed forward before Escobar ran onto the ball and slotted a low strike past goalkeeper Matt Freese inside the lower right post. USA 2, GUA 1 FINAL
Additional Notes:
- The USA advances to a confederation record 13th Concacaf Gold Cup Final.
- Diego Luna tallied his second and third career goals as well as his first career brace.Luna (21 years, 298 days) is the fourth USMNT player 21 years or younger to bag a brace in the Gold Cup, following Christian Pulisic (20 years, 294 days; July 3, 2019 vs. Jamaica) Daryl Dike (21 years, 42 days; July 15, 2021 vs. Martinique) and Landon Donovan (21 years, 137 days; July 19, 2003 vs. Cuba).
- In 2025, Luna leads the USMNT with seven goal contributions (3 goals, 4 assists),followed by Malik Tillman whose assist tonight brought him to six (3 goals, 3 assists).
- Playing in his hometown of St. Louis, Tim Ream captained the U.S. squad for the 20th time tonight, tying him with Clint Dempsey for 11th on the team’s all-time captains’ list.
- The USMNT is 17W-5L-6D all-time against Guatemala and 4W-0L-1D against Los Chapines in the Gold Cup.
- U.S. MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT -
Match: United States Men’s National Team vs. Guatemala
Date: July 2, 2025
Competition: 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup; Semifinal
Venue: Energizer Park; St. Louis, Mo.
Attendance: 22,423 (sellout)
Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. CT (7:00 p.m. ET)
Weather: 85 degrees, sunny
| Scoring Summary |
1 |
2 |
F |
| USA |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| GUA |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| USA – Diego Luna | 4th minute |
| USA – Diego Luna (Malik Tillman) | 15 |
| GUA – Olger Escobar (Arquímidez Ordóñez) | 80 |
Lineups:
USA: 25-Matt Freese; 16-Alex Freeman, 3-Chris Richards, 13-Tim Ream (Capt.), 18-Max Arfsten (5-Walker Zimmerman, 85); 4-Tyler Adams (6-Jack McGlynn 77), 14-Luca de la Torre (11-Brenden Aaronson, 58); 8-Sebastian Berhalter, 17-Malik Tillman, 10-Diego Luna (2-John Tolkin, 77); 24-Patrick Agyemang (9-Damion Downs, 85)
Substitutes not used: 1-Matt Turner, 7-Quinn Sullivan, 12-Miles Robinson, 20-Nathan Harriel, 21-Paxten Aaronson, 22-Mark McKenzie, 23-Brian White
Not Dressed: 26-Chris Brady, 15-Johnny Cardoso, 19-Haji Wright
Head coach: Mauricio Pochettino
GUA: 12-Kenderson Navarro; 7-Aaron Herrera, 4-Jose Pinto (Capt.), 3-Nicolás Samayoa, 16-José Morales; 13-Stheven Robles (22-Jonathan Franco, 65), 5-JoséRosales (17-Oscar Castellanos, 65), 11-Rudy Muñoz (20-Olger Escobar, 65); 10-Pedro Altán (19-Arquímidez Ordóñez, 70), 9-Rubio Rubín (14-Darwin Lom, 70) 18-Óscar Santis
Substitutes not used: 21-Luis Morán, 2-Jose Ardón, 6-Erick Lemus, 8-Rodrigo Saravia, 23-William Cardozo, 24-Carlos Aguilar, 25-Kevin Ramírez
Head coach: Luis Fernando Tena
| USA – Chris Richards (Caution) | 45th minute+1 |
| GUA - Stheven Robles (Caution) | 49 |
| USA – Diego Luna (Caution) | 51 |
| USA – Luca de la Torre (Caution) | 55 |
| USA – Matt Freese (Caution) | 77 |
| GUA - Óscar Santis (Caution) | 90+4 |
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Officials:
Referee: Oshane Nation (JAM)
Assistant Referee 1: Caleb Wales (TRI)
Assistant Referee 2: Ojay Duhaney (JAM)
Fourth Official: Ismael Cornejo (SLV)
Man of the Match: Diego Luna
