DENVER, Colo. – If nothing else, the United States Men’s National Team is through to the Concacaf Nations League Final. It wasn’t a pretty game but in the end Jordan Siebatcheu played the hero to color a rough performance pretty.
USMNT Outlast Honduras Behind Jordan Siebatcheu Late Winner
The first half was wide open at times and hotly contested. La H had the better of the play in the opening minutes.
Gio Reyna had the first two good looks at goal. The best came 10 minutes in, cutting inside and missing the far post.
Honduras nearly took the lead on 27 minutes. Alexander López had a flick on header off a set piece. Zac Steffen came off his line but could not get to the ball. López’s header appeared to be headed for goal. Alberth Elis and Josh Sarget went for the ball a yard out from goal. It was deflected out.
Sargent almost scored himself three minutes later. He got an uncontested header in the box but goalkeeper Luis López made the save.
Anthony Lozano spoiled a golden chance in the opening minutes of the first half. He got in behind from 40 yards out, dribbled to take on Steffen 1-v-1 and was denied. Steffen read the play well and timed coming off his line a position perfectly to make the save look easy.
The game got cynical in the final half hour with Honduras time wasting. On four occasions, a player stayed down so long that a stretcher came out for them. During one of those, the player got onto the stretcher with no assistance. All but once, the Honduras player was later able to get off the stretcher and wall on the sideline unassisted.
The U.S. struggled to break down the defense with ten men behind the ball. Few shots were created.
Everything came good in the 89th minute. John Brooks played a hopeful ball into the box with numbers up. Weston McKennie headed the ball to the front of goal where Jordan Siebatcheu got an open header from point blank range. The USMNT saw the game out to win 1-0.
🇺🇸⚽🔥 ¡Goool de @USMNT!
🇺🇸⚽🔥 ¡Goool de @USMNT!
🇺🇸⚽🔥 ¡Goool de @USMNT!Siebatcheu se lanza dentro del área y por fin abre el marcador el Team USA 👏👏👏
🔴 ¡En vivo! 📲💻📺 https://t.co/75IPvFRNZ9 #FinalFourEnTUDN I #HONvUSA I #USMNT I #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/alj0BYRzsF
— TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) June 4, 2021
Three Key Takeaways:
Concacaf’d: Good lord did Honduras gum this one up. They played well and positive in the second half, but from 60 minutes, they were playing for penalties. The timewasting was Concacaf level grand master.
Siebatcheu has landed: I said on Last Word SC Radio this week that someone was going to have a standout individual performance to vault themselves up the depth chart. Sargent did a lot of good work in the first half but couldn’t finish. Siebatcheu did the most important thing in the entire game. Well done new guy.
Survive and advance: The performance had some good moments and some bad ones. It took some time for Christian Pulisic to get on the ball. The defense was not clean at the back. There was plenty of chance creation but no final product. Plenty to work on for the final on Sunday.
Photo Credit: John A. Babiak @Photog_JohnB
