Only five minutes into the match and the U.S. trailed by an early goal. Not again? Could it be?

After a lackluster and embarrassing performance versus Costa Rica on Wednesday, the U.S. team found itself in what appeared to be a must-win game.

But after Carlos Costly put Honduras up in the 5^th minute, the U.S. responded with the passion and energy that they so lacked only three days prior.

Landon Donovan converted a late first-half penalty kick and Carlos Bocanegra headed in a cross in the 68^th minute to give the U.S. a much-needed 2-1 victory over a challenging Honduras team.

“Crap, here we go again,” Bocanegra thought to himself after the early goal. (ussoccer.com)

After a Clint Dempsey turnover near midfield, the Hondurans countered quickly and Costly struck his shot into the side netting past a diving Tim Howard.

The American offense, which featured recent call-up Conor Casey, in for the injured Brian Ching, could only produce a few sub-par chances. It was that early goal that seemed to ignite the Americans, demonstrating a pace and skill unseen in Costa Rica.

“We have a lot of fight in our team and we showed that tonight,” Dempsey said of his team’s ability to come back from the early deficit. (ussoccer.com)

In the 43^rd minute, a pass from Oguchi Onyewu into the box was handled by Honduran defender Mario Beata, resulting in a penalty kick.

Just like he had done against Costa Rica, Landon Donovan stepped up and converted the penalty kick; tying the game as his shot beat Noel Valladares to the upper right corner of the goal.

Coach Bob Bradley started the second half by replacing Pablo Mastroeni with Benny Feilhaber, who filled in nicely setting up his teammates with plenty of good passes.

He created a great scoring opportunity for Dempsey, dropping a pass from outside the box to the far post, although the pass could not be finished. Feilhaber, who has been trying to regain his form after an injury this season, showed that he is deserving of more time in future matches.

Dempsey would make up for his earlier mistake. Off a Donovan corner kick, Dempsey rose above his defender to head a ball, keeping the play alive. Bocanegra followed the Dempsey settling with a diving header amidst the traffic in front of the goal to give the U.S. the 2-1 lead.

Bocanegra would later leave the game with tightness in his hamstring and was replaced by Jay DeMerit. Bradley also removed Casey for DeMarcus Beasley in an effort to strengthen his defense in the later stages of the game.

The defense which played poorly versus Costa Rica was noticeably improved with starts from Jonathan Spector and Jonathan Bornstein in the left and right back spots respectively. Both held up defensively while still offering some attacking help on the flanks.

With World Cup CONCACAF qualifying matches half way finished, the U.S. currently sits in second place, two points behind Costa Rica. They have a five-point lead over third place El Salvador. The top three teams in the CONCACAF qualifying table will advance to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The U.S. now begins preparation for the FIFA Confederations Cups; they will begin play June 15 versus Italy.

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