The United States will debut in the Gold Cup with only one thing in mind, continue their perfect streak in 2015 and their perfection when it comes to Gold Cup openers (12-0-0). Honduras may not look so strong, but they have one of the best coaches in CONCACAF leading their bench and his name is Jorge Luis Pinto.
Jurgen Klinsmann took charge of the USMNT program after the team had failed to win in the final against Mexico in 2011. He lost four of the first six games that the team played and most people felt he had one foot out the door. Since then, the U.S. has made themselves heard in the map of world soccer with some important wins.
The team would lead the World Cup Qualifiers and even help Mexico get a shot at making it to Brazil via a playoff game. They would also win the Gold Cup in 2013 against Panama and tie with teams like Portugal in the World Cup. They lost against Belgium in the Round of 16 but still managed to leave a good impression.
Among the results that lead the United States to win their fifth Gold Cup title was a 3-1 win over Honduras in the semi-final. If what Klinsmann had accomplished up to 2104 was not impressive enough, this year he managed to go to Europe and beat both Netherlands and World Cup champions Germany on the road.
Over the course of almost four years as the manager of the USMNT, Klinsmann is known for not letting outsiders make decisions for him. Not including Landon Donovan in the World Cup roster was highly controversial but still did not play against him in Brazil.
For this tournament, he has called back some old friends like Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, who have missed quite some call-ups since the World Cup ended. They are expected to understand each other on the field and lead the team's efforts to move on in the tournament.
On the other side, there are some men that are constantly called by the German manager. Michael Bradley is one of them and he is now taking over for Dempsey as the captain. While Donovan's call was controversial, this one has been praise. Bradley will be reaching the 100 caps milestone this Tuesday in Frisco.
Pinto was the same coach that installed Costa Rica in the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the history of the small country. Today, they are the best in CONCACAF according to the FIFA World Rankings. Now, as the manager of Honduras, his best result is a scoreless draw against Mexico.
Pinto found out in that game that playing with
The manager knows there are much more limitations with this team. He does not have Bryan Ruiz, but his chances lie on what comes out of the feet of Andy Najar, a creative midfielder that plays for Anderlecht in Belgium.
Their best result in this tournament was being a runner-up in 1991. It may seem like a long shot for them to repeat or improve that performance, knowing they have a mostly young squad with 12 players under 25. Pinto would like to make a statement on how good he can be as a coach no matter who he is with.
GOLD CUP: Team sheets for USA vs Honduras
USA's lineup: Guzan; Chandler, Alvarado, Brooks, Johnson; Beckerman, Yedlin, Zardes, Bradley; Dempsey, Altidore
Honduras' lineup: Escober, Crisanto, Figueroa, Acosta, Lozano, Martínez, Mejía, Beckeles, Najar, Palacios.
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