The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated El Salvador 2-0 on Wednesday to book a spot in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals. Both goals came in the final moments of the first half as Omar Gonzalez headed the Americans ahead before Eric Lichaj bagged his first international goal to the delight of a strong crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Sporting Kansas City defenders Matt Besler and Graham Zusi were unused substitutes on Wednesday and will now travel with the U.S. MNT to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where it will face Costa Rica in Saturday’s Gold Cup semifinals at 9 p.m. CT on FS1, UniMas and UDN.
The early stages were action-packed as both sides traded major scoring opportunities shortly after kickoff. Paul Arriola broke into the attacking third in the third minute and forced a block from El Salvador defender Bryan Tamacas on the edge of the box. The U.S. would breathe a massive sigh of relief at the opposite end just 30 seconds later when Lichaj’s errant back-pass rolled to the feet of Rodolfo Zelaya with just Tim Howard to beat, but the veteran goalkeeper rushed off his line to smother the ball and extinguish the danger.
El Salvador enjoyed a strong spell during the opening 15 minutes, but a U.S. corner kick resulted in the clearest chance as Michael Bradley’s in-swinging corner kick pinged around the penalty area and was nearly finished on the doorstep by Clint Dempsey.
Not long later, El Salvador goalkeeper Derby Carrillo saved shots from Dempsey and Jozy Altidore before Gyasi Zardes was incorrectly ruled offside after penetrating the final line of defense.
The U.S. would seize complete control with a barnstorming end to the first half, taking the lead in the 41st minute. Bradley’s tantalizing set piece delivery from the left flank was nodded into the back of the net by Gonzalez, who tallied his second goal in as many Gold Cup matches and the third goal of his international career.
Carrillo produced a fine save to deny Altidore in the first minute of first-half added time, but failed to thwart Lichaj following a devastating attack downfield that culminated with the U.S. defender slotting between Carrillo’s legs to double the advantage on the stroke of intermission. Dempsey notched the assist on the scoring play, doing wonderfully to spin around his defender and slip an inch-perfect through ball into the box for Lichaj to finish.
The pendulum swung back in El Salvador’s favor early in the second period. Zelaya hammered high from long range off a Matt Hedges giveaway, then Dennis Pineda fired low and narrowly wide of Howard’s right-hand post. La Selecta threatened again in the 73rd minute when Howard snuffed out a close-range attempt from Oscar Ceren and Lichaj slid clear on the rebound to prevent Zelaya from poking home.
Dempsey, seeking a 57th international goal which would tie Landon Donovan’s all-time U.S. record, saw an excellent bending effort tipped away by Carrillo in the 76th minute. It would be the final significant moment of the night as the U.S. improved its exemplary record against El Salvador to 17-1-5, with the lone loss coming in 1992.
