AUSTIN, Texas — Participating in their 15th Concacaf Gold Cup semifinal, the United States men’s national team are aiming for their 12th trip to the final when they play Qatar on Thursday at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.
The U.S. will face a guest nation in the semifinals for the fourth time after playing Brazil in the 1996, 1998 and 2003 editions. They advanced to the final on one of those occasions in 1998, finishing as the runners-ups.
It will mark the first time Qatar and the U.S. have faced off at the Gold Cup. Qatar are the fourth country to reach the semifinal in its first Gold Cup participation and the second to do it from the Asian continent after South Korea in 2002.
Eight times has extra time been necessary to decide a Gold Cup semifinal. The U.S. have been involved in three of those encounters - a 1-0 win over Costa Rica by golden goal (1993), a 2-1 loss to Brazil by golden goal (2003) and a 4-2 win on penalties against Canada (2002).
Across the knockout stage, the U.S. have gone to extra time and on five of those have penalty kicks been necessary. The U.S. have twice won after extra time.
Panama and the U.S. are the countries that have participated in penalty kicks the most at the Gold Cup with five. The U.S. have won three times and lost twice on spot kicks.
The record for most goals by a single player in the semifinal stage is three, shared between the U.S.’ Landon Donovan and Mexico’s Luis Salvador. Clint Dempsey and Christian Pulisic have scored twice for the U.S. in a semifinal.
Donovan and Pulisic are the only players to score a brace for the U.S. in the semifinal. Pulisic scored twice three years ago in the 3-1 win over Jamaica.
