2025 Gold Cup Recaps: USA, Mexico Advance, Meet in Eighth Final Together
The regional rivals have made a combined 23 finals previous to this and have won 16 of the previous 17 tournaments in the modern era.
It’s a pretty staggering list of accolades between the USA and Mexico in regards to the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Numerous finals, a plethora a rivalry finals, and now another chapter in a storied battle for regional supremacy.
The United States and Mexico advanced to this weekend’s Gold Cup Final with their wins in their semifinal matchups yesterday.
UNITED STATES 2, GUATEMALA 1
Very few members of this USMNT squad will likely be on next year’s World Cup roster, but Diego Luna is making a very strong case to stick around the team for the next year.
Luna scored two early first-half goals to propel the USA back into the Gold Cup final for the first time since 2021.
It was a tremendous start for the Americans when Luna switched the ball to right back Alex Freeman, who then put in a centering pass at the top of the box to Malik Tillman. Intentional or not as a key pass, Tillman did a backheel first touch that Luca de la Torre pounced on for a first time shot that was saved by Kenderson Navarro.
However, the Guatemalan keeper’s parry went straight back into the field of play, where Luna was the first to react and fire home the opener not even four minutes into the match.
Ten minutes later, it was Luna again as the USA capitalized from some good defensive pressure on the right sideline. Malik Tillman eventually switched the ball to Luna in the left channel, and Luna’s twenty-yard run saw him deftly sidestep a defender at the top of the box and smash home the second into the low corner.
While the Americans got off to a fast start, Guatemala was able to respond with a solid strategy of quantity over quality with the USA putting 7 of 12 shots on target compared to Los Chapines’ 5 of 20. While the U.S. ended with a slight xG difference (1.76-1.32 according to FotMob), it was apparent throughout the first half that the Chapines were still in the game.
Guatemala thought they had pulled one back at the half-hour mark with a strong turn and finish from Rubio Rubin, only for the offside flag to come up. Rubin did test Matt Freese just minutes later when he latched onto a ball over the top and fired at the near post which the U.S. keeper had retreated to cover. A scramble off a free header right before halftime was perhaps Guatemala’s best chance of the first half.
Even with several of Guatemala’s chances coming from outside the box, several were tremendously close to being on target. The USA never got their third, despite a Patrick Agyemang breakaway just after the hour mark.
However, the Guatemala breakthrough likely came too late, with former Revs academy player Olger Escober eventually slotting home a combination run between himself and Arquimides Ordonez. A last gasp shot from Jose Morales in stoppage time was parried away by Freese as the US held on to advance to the final.
MEXICO 1, HONDURAS 0
It was a similar story for Mexico, a dreary but dominant first half before establishing their superiority on the scoreboard early in the second half.
Scoreless coming out of the break, El Tri broke the deadlock just five minutes after the restart when Gilberto Mora had an acre of space at the top of the box to find a streaking Raul Jimenez in the right channel to slot home the opener into the first post.
A minute later, Mexico forced Edrick Menjivar into a point blank save as the Honduran keeper may not have known much about the redirected shot from Roberto Alvarado right in front of him but he got his shoulder on it none the less.
Mexico thought they had doubled their lead in the 54th minute when they bundled home a loose ball inside the six following a free kick. However, Edson Alvarez was slightly ahead at the time of the free kick, and since he was the eventual player to get a touch VAR ruled the goal out.
However, despite the scoreline staying 1-0, Honduras wasn’t able to muster much of anything on the night, registering just six shots and only one on target. A strong tournament for Honduras ended in slightly disappointing fashion for the Catrachos despite their first semifinal since 2013.
BRACKET OVERVIEW
The semifinals went as expected despite the chaos that was sown in the previous round. It might not have been the expected path for a familiar championship matchup going through the 75th and 106th ranked teams in the world in Honduras and Guatemala respectively, but Mexico and the USA can only beat the teams in front of them
The USA deserves credit for a makeshift squad running the table to another final. Mexico likewise has only rarely seen their dominance at this tournament reflected on the scoreboard but it’s no surprise to see the best team in the region still standing.
The 2025 Gold Cup Final will take place Sunday July 6 at 7 PM EDT from NRG Stadium in Houston TX on FOX.