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With the Premier League season finally over, we now enter into a couple months of national team competition. Just about everything was paused last year due to the pandemic, so this year we will get plenty of international action, including Euro 2020, the 2021 Gold Cup and Copa América, and the conclusion of the first cycle of the Concacaf Nations League.
Since this is an American-based Tottenham Hotspur blog, we will (at least) be providing match threads for all competitive European and United States fixtures. First up is the Nations League semifinals against Honduras, which is the United States’ first meaningful match since November 2019! The winner will face either Mexico or Costa Rica on Sunday, with all matches being played in Denver.
The United States advanced to the 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League A semifinals by winning Group A (yes, League A Group A) over Canada and Cuba. Both the Americans and Canadians ended with nine points and a 3-0-1 record, so goal difference decided the group winner.
- USA 7-0 Cuba (Oct 2019)
- Canada 2-0 USA (Oct 2019)
- USA 4-1 Canada (Nov 2019)
- Cuba 0-4 USA (Nov 2019)
Nine points was the third-best total for a group winner, setting up a date with second-seed Honduras, who finished ahead of Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago with a 3-1-0 record. The last time the United States faced Honduras was during the Hex ahead of the 2018 World Cup; a 6-0 home win was followed up by a 1-1 draw in Central America, with both matches occurring in 2017.
This team looks much different than the one that fell short of that World Cup, though. Led by Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, Sergiño Dest, Tyler Adams, and Zack Steffen, this is a squad full of young Americans playing for some of the top clubs across Europe. With two competitions up for grabs this summer, the expectation is to bring home at least one trophy.