2013 Gold Cup: With Win Over Honduras and Mexico Loss, Pressure Is on United States to Finish the Job

COMMENTARY | And then there was one.



One more road trip. One more match. One Gold Cup Final that could be

the cherry on top of the sundae that is the best stretch of play in

the 100-year history of US Men's Soccer. Jurgen Klinsmann is 90+

minutes of action away from putting any and all critics on mute for

one entire year, and the fact of the matter is that the US coach and

his Waldo-striped army should absolutely be hoisting a trophy come

July 28.



Anything but a win on Sunday will be unacceptable in the eyes of

American supporters.



United States 3-1 Honduras: Order restored



Remember when Landon Donovan went on a hiatus and subsequently found

himself in Klinsmann's doghouse? It seems like ages ago. Donovan

announced his return to US Soccer in a big way in the July 5 friendly

against Guatemala, and his star has merely gotten brighter and

brighter since. In the past three weeks, Donovan went from being a

fringe player who had to prove himself to his coach to a definite

member of the 2014 World Cup squad to someone who has guaranteed

himself a spot in the starting XI for what will likely be the final

World Cup Qualifiers of his career.



Donovan was again the engine of the US attack on Wednesday, having a

hand in all three of the team's tallies (two goals and a brilliant

through ball that set up the Eddie Johnson strike). It's possible that

the biggest highlight of the night that involved the LA Galaxy star

came when he was subbed off 18 minutes from time. The first person to

meet Donovan was his coach, who almost immediately embraced who will,

regardless of what occurs on Sunday, be his team's MVP of this

tournament.



Welcome home, Landon. We missed you, maybe even more than we could

have imagined.



United States 3-1 Honduras: Up top



It took literally a handful of seconds during a US attack on Wednesday

to remember what the previously mentioned Johnson brings to the table

that Chris Wondolowski, try as he might, cannot routinely produce.

Johnson used his pace and strength to beat a defender to a Donovan

through ball and then hold his man off as he fired off a hit from 17

yards out that swooped around goalkeeper Donis Escobar for the

match-opener. Wondo finds the back of the net through his positioning

and by doing the so-called "dirty work" inside the penalty area.



Johnson is a true forward and a finisher, and the type of player you

want starting up top in a Final.



It would be overly harsh to suggest that Donovan and Wondolowski

didn't mesh in previous Gold Cup matches; rather, they were two

different guys who were fighting for the same cause. In Donovan and

Johnson, Klinsmann has himself a true partnership, one in which

Donovan can contribute both up front and in the midfield as a

distributor for the Seattle Sounders forward. Donovan and Johnson make

up the competition's top one-two punch as the Final draws near, and

thus don't be shocked if the duo is responsible for the goal that wins

the Gold Cup.



United States 3-1 Honduras: Mexico losing is nice and all, but...



Now it's all on Team USA to finish the job. That Panama, not Mexico,

has been the second-best team in the tournament and deserves to play

for the trophy will not matter at all if the Americans stumble. The

United States will enter Sunday as the favorite, a team that will have

a noticeable home-field advantage unless thousands of Mexican football

supporters descend on the Windy City with the sole purpose of rooting

against the US.



Two things worry me about Panama: They're good on attacking set

pieces, plays in which the US have leaked goals throughout this

tournament, and they've also been playing like a confident side that

knows it has nothing to lose. Who expected Panama to beat Mexico TWICE

in under three weeks? Who expected that they, not Mexico, would be

standing in the way of US and Gold Cup glory?



There have always been excuses whenever the US have struggled under

Klinsmann. New philosophies were being preached, and players were

trying to adjust to a new system. The manager hadn't yet had enough

time for find his first-choice lineup. CONCACAF has gotten much, much

better in a brief amount of time.



All of that goes out the window on Sunday, the first actual "must-win"

game of the Klinsmann era. Win, and it's job done, the result that had

been coming since that 6-1 drubbing of Belize. Fall short, and July

2013 will forever be labeled as nothing more than yet another failure

for US Soccer.



No pressure.

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