CHICAGO: Honduras and the United States meet for the third time in less than two months in the Gold Cup semifinals on Thursday.
Most times, that would mean Honduras would know the American lineup as well as its own. But the Americans have shuffled their personnel so much; the Hondurans are virtually facing a third different lineup.
Costa Rica and Mexico play in the second semifinal, with the winners meeting in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
It is Costa Rica’s first trip to the semis since 2003, while Mexico hopes to reach a second straight final.
Mexico midfielder Israel Martinez was out after hurting his left knee in training this week. Martinez, who played in two games, was the only player who won’t be available, coach Javier Aguirre said.
The US beat Honduras in a World Cup qualifier, also at Soldier Field, 2-1 on June 6, then won again 2-0 in Gold Cup group play on July 8. Now the Americans, overhauled after the Confederations Cup, are playing for a chance to get back to the final and win their third successive title in this CONCACAF championship.
The Americans will likely be without one of their few veterans, defender Jimmy Conrad, still recovering from a concussion sustained in Saturday’s quarterfinal victory over Panama. Michael Parkhurst, who had gone back to his Danish club after the first round, was recalled to help shore up the defense.
Honduras finished behind the US in group play, and beat Canada to advance to the semifinals. Honduras is also third in World Cup qualifying in the North and Central America and the Caribbean region, with the top three teams advancing and No. 4 going to a playoff.
Mexico has had more drama than a telenovela lately, with coaches coming and going, losses mounting and a shockingly poor start in World Cup qualifying. But the players have worked hard this last month, Aguirre said, and he’d like to see them rewarded for it.
El Tri was in disarray when Aguirre was brought back in April. Mexico had just lost its fifth straight World Cup qualifier away from home, a humiliating 3-1 loss to Honduras that dropped it to fourth in the six-team CONCACAF finals — out of the automatic World Cup spots. It had tried big-name coaches from Mexico (Hugo Sanchez) and overseas (Sven-Goran Eriksson) to no avail.
Mexico finished atop its group in the Gold Cup, then routed Haiti 4-0 to reach the semifinals. El Tri has allowed just one goal in four games while scoring nine. Miguel Sabah leads all scorers with four goals.
Costa Rica is no pushover, though. The Ticos are the World Cup group leader, two points in front of the United States.
