The Guatemalan national team had a forgettable opening fifteen minutes of the Gold Cup semi-final match against the United States and thus ended up paying a high price by being eliminated 2-1, despite the fact that the North American team finished the match begging for time.

Unfortunately, the goals by Mexican-American Diego Luna at minutes 4 and 15 were decisive in the final result, because even though the Guatemalan team put all their spice against a North American team with serious doubts in its performance, they could not overcome the cost of such a hesitant start.

Because if in soccer courage and style of play were rewarded, then the Guatemalans would have taken the ticket to the final against Mexico at the hands of a coach of the same nationality as their rival in the final game of the Gold Cup, Luis Fernando Tena.

But the end was more powerful than the power of the Americans' punches led by Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, who continues to show serious doubts about his performance, especially because he felt the absence of several starters like Christian Pulisic who preferred to take his vacation than attend the CONCACAF tournament.

The reality is that Olger Escobar's goal in the 80th minute only served as fuel to launch a desperate barrage of attacks against the goal defended by Matt Freese who had to work hard to preserve the advantage that his teammate Diego Luna had achieved in the first minutes of the match.

The North American annotations

Diego Luna's first goal in the fourth minute, after a rebound from goalkeeper Kénderson Alessandro Navarro that allowed the American forward to reach the six-yard box to finish without problems, was only a reflection of that inconsistency of Guatemala that could not be remedied until after the 15th minute when Luna made it 2-0 and then they had to row against the current.

It is true that there was evidence of an offensive game by Guatemala,respecting a style and leaving behind that rudimentary style of strength and courage, for intelligence and offensive proposals that until almost the end of the game allowed to reduce the disadvantage with the 2-1 scored by Olger Escobar in the 80th minute.

After that the score could not be moved, despite the agonizing arrivals on the goal of Uncle Sam's team, who ended up asking for the time to advance to the grand final of the Gold Cup with their archrival Mexico in the so-called classic of the north in a rivalry that began in 1991 under the command of Bora Milutinovic for the Americans.