Arsenal
Diego Luna wasn’t pegged to be among the many high U.S. males’s nationwide crew goalscorers on the CONCACAF Gold Cup however the Actual Salt Lake midfielder has actually defied the percentages in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
Luna’s first worldwide brace sparked the USMNT previous Guatemala 2-1 in semifinal play, sending the People to their first event remaining since 2021. After registering three contributions in his first 4 Gold Cup appearances, Luna added to these totals by delivering a pair of first-half objectives in St. Louis on Wednesday night time.
Bringing a nonstop work charge and a willingness to create offensive alternatives, Luna has shortly change into one of many USMNT’s main weapons in the course of the 2025 schedule. The 21-year-old has actually impressed Pochettino and his employees this summer time, a pattern the Argentine hopes continues in opposition to Mexico within the Gold Cup Last and the later home windows this fall.
“[His] angle, starvation, need, the whole lot, after which for positive, the expertise will seem. However that’s what we count on from our athletes, that’s what we wish,” Pochettino mentioned postmatch about Luna.
“Diego was a superb instance from January [camp]how he’s determined to play for this shirt, for the nationwide crew, and that’s the reason now he’s within the degree that he confirmed,” he added.
Luna is one among a number of younger gamers which have helped the USMNT rebound from a pair of pleasant defeats in June by successful five-straight Gold Cup matches. From Trinidad & Tobago to Costa Rica to Saudi Arabia, every match has posed a brand new problem for the USMNT, however with Luna’s assist, this system has answered the decision on every event.
Nevertheless, Sunday’s upcoming showdown with Mexico would be the USMNT’s hardest problem but. It would rekindle a rivalry that squared off in Gold Cup Finals of 2019 and 2021, which have been break up by two of CONCACAF’s main packages.
Luna credited the squad’s battle to get previous a pesky Guatemalan facet on Wednesday and believes they might want to present extra in the event that they need to convey residence a primary trophy of the Pochettino-era.
“It’s the grit, it’s the willpower that we’ve been missing,” Luna mentioned postmatch on FOX about what the USMNT did to achieve the ultimate. “To be sincere, it’s preventing to the top. Each ball, each second. The sport’s about moments, and I feel that is the place we showcase it.”
