WASHINGTON — There’s no place like home.

Playing in front of his home fans, Santino Quaranta did not disappoint the locals. His late second-half goal broke a scoreless tie against Honduras in the nation’s capital.

Along with another late goal from Brian Ching, the U.S. men’s national team was able to silence a very pro-Honduran crowd with the 2-0 Gold Cup victory.

“It was a very special night for me, personally, but to be back wearing the jersey was probably more special,” said the D.C. United midfielder, Quaranta.

The U.S. outshot Honduras in the first half, 7-2, yet only two shots were on goal.

Honduras had their best chance of the night in the 30^th minute when Walter Martinez caught the U.S. defense napping, leading to the break away. Although Martinez’s shot went just wide, hitting the side netting.

Robbie Rogers, who starred in the victory over Grenada, offered his side the best scoring opportunity but his volley sailed over the crossbar in the 38^th minute.

The teams went to half time 0-0.

“We knew this would be a good challenge tonight,” coach Bob Bradley said.

With the score still tied, Bradley brought in Benny Fielhaber and Charlie Davies for Logan Pause and Freddy Adu, respectively in the 64^th minute, looking for an offensive spark.

Davies almost gave his team the lead in the 71^st minute, hustling down a drop back pass to Honduran goalkeeper, Donis Escober, the defensive clear was block and rolled towards the goal. But Escober was able to recover the miscue in time.

“Charlie with his physical qualities, has real good ability to step on the field when things are slowing down and make a difference,” Bradley said.

Moments later, Davies received a pass atop the box and laid off a pass to Quaranta whose shot sent the American side of the announced 26,079 crowd to their feet on this calm summer night. The crowd which featured a high number of Honduran fans, sounded at times like an away match for the Americans.

In the 79^th minute, Ching, making his return to the U.S. line-up after injury, headed home a Steve Cherundolo free kick to put the Americans up 2-0.

Honduras had a good chance to reduce the American lead late, a foul from Chad Marshall, set up a Martinez free kick.  The near-post shot was well saved by Troy Perkins to preserve the shutout. 

“I thought the response of our team was quite good. Games like this there’s got to be a good collective effort,” Bradley said.

Bradley’s line-up in D.C. featured two former D.C. United players: Freddy Adu and Perkins; along with Quaranta.

After the match, coach Bradley announced that Adu will leave the team to go back to Benfica and prepare for the upcoming season.

The U.S. now lead group B and have secured their place in the quaterfinals. They will need only a tie against Haiti in their next match to win the group, meaning a lesser opponent in the next round. That match versus Haiti will be held Saturday at 7:00 P.M. (EST) in Boston.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!