USMNT scrapes by Honduras 1-0

It sure wasn’t pretty but the United States will be playing in the Final of the CONCACAF Nations League after defeating Honduras 1-0 on Thursday night.

For a United States Men’s National Team who had Christian Pulisic and Zack Steffen returning from a UEFA Champions League Final, the USMNT failed to show their dominance.

For a majority of the first half, the Americans failed to get anything going on the attack. Honduras was on the front foot and had some quality scoring chances. If it wasn’t for a big save or a great defensive play from an attacker off a set piece, the USMNT could have gone down a goal and possibly walked away from international play empty handed.

The only goal of the game would come in the 89th minute when John Brooks sent a ball into the box for Weston McKennie, the Juventus midfielder headed the ball to Jordan Siebatcheu who slotted the header home and scored his first international goal for the United States.

Brooks was one of the best players on the field for the stars and stripes. The center back brought a tenacity to the game that was needed and showed that the USMNT wasn’t going to mess around.

The VFL Wolfsburg defender was also great distributing the ball and made some passes that were absolutely stunning. It’s not surprising that he ended up being a part of the only goal of the game.

Both Gio Reyna and Josh Sargent also had solid performances, but fans were hoping that they would be more clinical in the final third. To Reyna’s credit, he also had a solid all-around performance making some great plays and earning free kicks.

The performance that New England Revolution fans will have an eye on is without a doubt the play of Zack Steffen. With Matt Turner competing for national team time and joining the No.1 goalkeeper conversation for the USMNT, Steffen needs to prove he is the clear starter.

Overall it was an average performance from Steffen. While he made a great save that kept the game tied, he also nearly gave up a goal with poor positioning off of a set play.

With it appearing that Matt Turner will get the call for the Gold Cup, that will be his chance to show the USMNT that he deserves more looks. Hopefully, he takes advantage of the likely opportunity.

So while the United States was able to get the win, they need to play much better in their next game if they want to get the victory.