United States Men’s Soccer Team Advances to Quarterfinals of Gold Cup With 1-0 Win

The United Sates men's national team needed at least a draw to advance out of group play in the CONCACAF

Gold Cup after Canada and Panama tied at 1-1 in the earlier game of Tuesday evening, but the USMNT came out like a team that new they had something left to prove.

It was the first meeting between Guadeloupe and the U.S. However, Guadeloupe had participated in its first CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2007, making it to the semifinals that year, while advancing to the quarterfinals in 2009.

The U.S. went with a different starting line-up for this game then its previous two matches. Tim Howard (1) still got the start in goal, but there were some differences along the back lines as Lichaj (14) got the start at left back bumping Bocanegra (3) into one of the central back positions along with Goodson (21) and Cherundolo (6) remained in his right back position. The midfield consisted of Dempsey (8) Jones (13) Bradley (4) and Donovan(4) with Altidore (17) and Wondolowski (11) starting at forward.

The U.S. lone goal of the match came in the 8th minute from Jozy Altidore off a beautiful turn and strike that found its way into the upper right back of the net. Central midfielder Bradley had possession of the ball in the midfield and just laid it off to Altidore who ripped it in from about 30 yards out. Guadeloupe keeper Grandel didn't even have a chance.

There were numerous other chances for the U.S. side as they took 19 shots (10 on goal), but just couldn't seem to finish. The most disappointing of all the chances came in the 75th minute when Dempsey had a wide open net, but tried to control the ball at his feet and roll it in which allowed enough time for a defender to sneak in from behind and clear the ball of the line.

The U.S. will now face Jamaica on June 19th at RFK stadium with a 3 p.m. ET kickoff on Sunday. That game can be seen live on FOX Soccer and Univision.