The Flat Back Four: CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 Group B: USA 2-0 Honduras

US Men's National Team backup players, Santino Quaranta and Brian Ching scored four minutes apart late in the second half to lift the United States to a 2-0 victory over Honduras on Wednesday, putting the two-time defending champion on the verge of the Gold Cup quarterfinals.

Team List
USA
Coach: Bob Bradley
T. Perkins (GK), S. Cherundolo, C. Marshall, M. Parkhurst, H. Pearce, L. Pause (on B. Feilhaber 64'), K. Beckerman, R. Rogers, B. Ching (on K. Cooper 82'), S. Quaranta, F. Adu (on C. Davies 64')

Honduras
Coach: R. Rueda
D. Escober (GK), E. Norales, M. Acevedo, O. Chavez, N. Medina, C. Palacios, R. Espinoza (on. R. Padilla 72'), M. Valladares, C. Costly (on G. Welcome 79'), W. Martinez, M. Chavez (on A. Lalin 65')

Match Commentary

Minute		Description
90' +4		Full time and an outstanding result for the USA, that's six goals in two games and they look good for a quarter final spot.
90' +3		Free kick to Honduras, a two man wall for the USA and a Yellow for Martinez for hand ball in the area.
90' +2		Free kick to Honduras, a two man wall for the USA and a Yellow for Martinez for hand ball in the area.
90' +1		Corner to USA, results in open play. 3 minutes of added time.
90'		W. Martínez gets yellow.
90'		Free kick to the USA
89'		M. Parkhurst gets yellow.
89'		Yellow for Parkhurst for pulling the shirt of his opponent
86'		Corner kick to Honduras, results in open play. Cooper again has a good effort on goal which goes just wide of Escober's goal.
83'		The stars and stripes are flying high in the crowd, as Cooper has a snap shot in the area.
82'		K. Cooper enters the game and replaces B. Ching.
82'		Ching the goalscorer is substituted for Kenny Cooper. Two goals in four minutes and the USA are sailing away with this one, the Hondurans look a broken team.
79'		B. Ching has scored a goal for United States! Great assist by S. Cherundolo.
		G. Welcome enters the game and replaces C. Costly.
		Free kick to USA, the free kick is played square and Cherundolo crosses. Ching meets the cross with a powerful header, 2-0 to the USA.

Minute		Description
75'		S. Quaranta has scored a goal for United States! Great assist by C. Davies.
75'		Quaranta scores, and it's a beauty, some nice touches as Feilhaber finds Davies and his clinical pass into the path of Quaranta is a cracker and he unleashes an unstoppable shot to make the score 1-0.
71'		Davies almost scores as Escober makes a clearance that hits Davies, it almost rolls into the goal but Escober can pick up.
70'		R. Padilla enters the game and replaces R. Espinoza.
69'		Free kick to the USA, cross comes in and Ching heads way over.
67'		Martinez gets onto the end of a long ball but his volley is collected well by Perkins.
65'		A. Lalin enters the game and replaces M. Chávez.
65'		Corner to the USA, Bob Bradley, the USA coach, will be happy with this start to the second half, corner comes in from Rogers, results in open play.
64'		C. Davies enters the game and replaces F. Adu.
64'		B. Feilhaber enters the game and replaces L. Pause.
63'		Free kick to Honduras as the USA press forward.
60'		Corner to Honduras as Chavez comes back on. Corner results in open play.
58'		Chavez is down getting the magic sponge treatment. Meanwhile play continues with Honduras at ten men.
57'		Costly on a run into the area but Marshall does well to make the challenge and clear the danger.
55'		Rogers down the line, crosses deep and Palacios heads out for a corner. Corner kick comes in and Escober collects well.
54'		Just over a month ago these two nations met in a world cup qualifier which the USA won 2-1.
51'		Ching with a volley in the area, it's just behind him though and he doesn't get hold of it and it goes over the bar.
49'		Free kick to Honduras, Pause with a high challenge, free kick goes straight through to Perkins.
47'		Free kick to Honduras, results in open play.
46'		Honduras come out for the second half to a rousing welcome from the crowd as the USA get the second half underway. By the way your referee is Courtney Campbell from Jamaica and his assistants are Ricardo Morgan from Jamaica and Jose Luis Camargo from Mexico. Your fourth official is Walter Quesada from Costa Rica.
45' +2		Half time and a terrific first half from both teams. Honduras are just shading the possession stats and they look the more hungrier. Both countries have had good clear cut chances to open the scoring but it remains 0-0.
45'		Corner kick to USA, Adu with the kick and Ching gets called for a hand ball.
42'		Pulsating first half thus far, vocal crowd, all the ingredients for a corker of a match.
40'		H. Pearce gets yellow.
40'		Pearce with a yellow card for a tackle from behind on Chavez.
37'		N. Medina gets yellow.
37'		Free kick to the USA as Medina gets a yellow for shirt pulling. Quaranta with the cross and Rogers scuffs his kick, goal kick.
36'		Quaranta is flattened in the center of the field by Palacios, no free kick but he really took one for the USA there.
34'		Pearce with a cross and Adu with a free header in the area he heads downward but it's weak and Escober takes well. It's end to end stuff here.
33'		Free kick to Honduras in a dangerous position, cross comes in and Perkins takes with ease.
32'		Free kick to Honduras, results in open play.
31'		Corner to the USA, Adu takes and Ching was pushed off the ball, it falls to Cherundolo and he blazes over the bar.
30'		Martinez with a one on one with Perkins and he blasts his shot into the side netting. That really should have been 1-0 to Honduras.
27'		Rogers with some good work down the wing, results in a corner to the USA. Adu with the corner, results in a goal kick.
25'		The ‘Stars & Stripes' only have one disciplinary worry for tonight, Freddy Adu picked up a booking in their opening game, another one tonight and he sits out the game against Haiti.
24'		Honduras have two disciplinary worries for tonight’s encounter, defender Chavez and forward Lalin are walking the proverbial tightrope, a booking tonight and they will miss their final group game against Grenada.
22'		Beckerman with a fine through ball for Ching, he tries to chip the keeper and Honduras clear, that should have been 1-0.
21'		A clash in the USA area and Chavez is down. Honduras knocking on the door here.
19'		Martinez finds himself on the end of a perfect through ball, Perkins is quick off his line and manages to grab the ball off the feet of Martinez.
17'		A lot of shirt pulling in the area as Honduras press. The USA clear again, good game so far.
16'		Free kick to Honduras, results in open play.
14'		Rogers crosses for Quaranta, a difficult header which goes wide.
13'		Throw in to Honduras deep in the USA half, a lot of support in this stadium for 'Los Catrachos'.
12'		Free kick to the USA, Adu with the free kick and cleared by Honduras.
10'		The USA has the upper hand with the head to head statistics. These two have met three times previously in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the USA has won all three.
9'		Forward movement again by Honduras from Espinoza, Honduras look the busier of the two teams.
6'		Free kick to USA deep in their own half, results in open play. A good opening for Honduras.
3'		A beautiful day in Washington and we have game time temperatures around the 78 degree Fahrenheit mark.
2'		Martinez and Costly come close for Honduras.
1'		First half kicks off
		Welcome to live commentary of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group B encounter between USA and Honduras at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C. The USA sit proudly on top of Group B after a clinical 4-0 win over Grenada, Honduras could only manage a slim 1-0 victory over Haiti, a victory tonight for either team will almost certainly cement their quarter final place.