Diego Luna, USMNT's Gold Cup hero, is ready to take on Mexico in final

ST. LOUIS -- Over an hour after Diego Luna's two goals helped lead the U.S. men's national team into the Gold Cup final with Wednesday's 2-1 win over Guatemala, not much had changed for the U.S. midfielder. Luna's tattoos still caught the eye. His blond, spiky hair was still perfectly in place. And his humility was impossible to dislodge.

"Individually, of course, it comes with the excitement and people praising you," Luna said in the post-match mixed zone about his performance. "But I think the coolest thing is that we're into the final, and the team held off that [2-1] win, and that's all that matters."

Yet when it comes to Luna's time with the USMNT, plenty has changed. From the outset of this Gold Cup, Luna has been one of the revelations for the U.S., one shorn of many first-choice players due to a combination of injury and fatigue. His two assists in the tournament-opening 5-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago got the U.S. off to a near-perfect start. His goal in the quarterfinal win over Costa Rica proved critical, coming as it did with the U.S. already a goal down.

In Wednesday's semifinal, Luna took his play to a new level -- and man, did the USMNT need his two-goal contribution.

With Guatemala playing in its first Gold Cup semifinal in almost 30 years, fans of Los Chapines swarmed Energizer Stadium, leaving the U.S. taking on the unexpected role of visitor in its own country. The ratio of Guatemala fans to U.S. fans was at least 2-to-1, maybe higher.

It was a reality this young U.S. roster had difficulty wrapping its head around, and required defender Tim Ream to give his team a crash course in Concacaf fan dynamics. Fans from Central American countries are willing to travel great distances to see their team, especially with a spot in a Gold Cup final on the line.

"It's different. It can be strange, especially for guys that it's their first time," said Ream. "They're like, 'Wait a minute, we're in the U.S. -- why are we not having the majority of our fans?' This is the way it is. You have to embrace it. You have to enjoy it. You have to walk out with a smile, and you have to take a deep breath and say, alright, this is what we're doing. And that's all there is to it."

Luna took that advance to heart, describing the atmosphere as "awesome" and adding, "every game should be like this." And it was the 21-year-old who got the U.S. off to a dream start, alternating opportunism and skill to score twice in the game's first 15 minutes.

Luna was first to pounce on a rebound when Guatemala goalkeeper Kenderson Navarro spilled Luca de la Torre's shot right in front of goal in the fourth minute. Eleven minutes later, Luna collected a cross-field pass from Malik Tillman, juked to his left, then right, and unleashed an unstoppable shot for his second. He then raced to the corner and celebrated by doing the Indonesian Boat Race Kid dance.

"I saw the guy coming in from behind me, but it was one-on-one and I work on that move and both sides I can go left, right," he said. "So it's hard for a defender to see going one-on-one with so much space on each side."

As much Luna's celebrations galvanized the pro-U.S. portion of the crowd, it belied an inner calm. Luna has gotten this far in his career by trusting his instincts and engaging in therapy to make sure his head is in the right place. That was certainly the case in this match.

He said, "I think it's just about having the mental space, the mental clearness of going into games just free, enjoying what I'm doing, having fun, making sure my family's healthy, everybody's back home is taken care of and that allows me to come out here and do what I do."

While Luna's head was serene, the same couldn't be said for some of his teammates, who showed plenty of nerves from about the 30th minute on. The U.S. labored through much of the rest of the match, its early possession edge eroding under the steady pressure of a Guatemala attack that was galvanized by the partisan crowd. And when Olger Escobar pulled a goal back for Guatemala in the 80th minute, the stadium erupted with a roar that tested the USMNT's mettle.

The U.S. was left to survive 10 nervy minutes of normal time plus another four minutes of stoppage time. That they did, but not before goalkeeper Matt Freese -- who endured his share of shaky moments in the first half, in stark contrast to his penalty shoot-out heroics vs. Costa Rica -- delivered a spectacular, two-handed save to preserve the lead.

In the end, Ream counted it as another lesson learned for this side. The U.S. could certainly have done a better job of possessing the ball in the second half, especially in the last 15 minutes. The U.S. defender admitted there's more learning to be done.

"I think you can't understate what a partisan crowd can do to young minds, guys who haven't experienced it," said Ream. "So just a little bit more calmness, more ease, understanding that, okay, the game is fast, but the game can slow down. You can slow down by taking a breath. You can slow down by taking a touch. You can slow down by understanding and knowing where the guy is next to you and understanding our positional play and where guys are going to pop up.

"It's just that sometimes the pressure comes: the fans feel like they're on top of you, the noise is deafening and you kind of lose it a little bit. But listen: again, it's a learning experience. Will it happen as quickly the next game as it did today after the second goal? Probably not. I think guys will understand better [and will think] I actually do have more time than I realized and more time than I think."

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Pochettino: USMNT 'in control' in semifinal win

Mauricio Pochettino reflects on the USMNT's performance after securing a Gold Cup final spot with a 2-1 win vs. Guatemala.

They'll need to. Thanks to Mexico's 1-0 win over Honduras in the other semifinal, the USMNT is now set to square off against its old rival in the Gold Cup final on Sunday. NRG Stadium's capacity is 72,220, not the 22,423 that Energizer Stadium holds, and you can bet that those seats will be filled mostly with El Tri fans. The noise at Houston's indoor venue will go to 11.

Those factors haven't stopped previous versions of the USMNT from coming out on top, but it's clear that this U.S. side will need to raise its level. Aside from the blowout against T&T, the U.S. has been scraping by in its other matches. It will need to play its best game of the tournament in order to prevail. But for now, the USMNT is basking in reaching a final that not that long ago seemed beyond them.

"We are onto a final that I'd say a month ago, everyone basically counted us out of. Shame on them," said Ream. "So for us it's like, yeah, great, amazing. It's knockout football, you find a way to win, you find a way to grind it out, you find a way to do it, and why shouldn't we be happy to go onto a final and play for a trophy?"

For his part, Luna is embracing that prospect. Being of Mexican-American heritage, he once entertained the idea of playing for Mexico, before firmly committing to the U.S. earlier this year. Come Sunday, he'll be a part of this storied rivalry.

"It's going to be awesome, right? I've always dreamt of it growing up, seeing the USA-Mexico games and to be able to play in one would be unreal," he said. "So that'd be an awesome experience. And then from there, it's just a fight, a battle that you're going to go into and we'll see what comes out."

It sounds like the newest American soccer hero is ready.