USA Gets Mexico In The Gold Cup Final Everyone Wanted: 'We Owe Them'

ST. LOUIS — U.S. men’s national team defender Chris Richards didn’t hesitate when asked if he wanted to face Mexico in the Concacaf Gold Cup final. 

"Yeah," Richards said. "Yeah, I do."

It was only an hour after the U.S. had outlasted Guatemala 2-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal. But Richards was upfront about wanting to face the Americans’ historic nemesis in Sunday’s grand finale in Houston (coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on FOX).

Mexico was still locked in a scoreless battle with Honduras halfway across the country at that point. It would’ve been easy for Richards to hedge.

He didn’t.

"We owe them a little something from the October camp," Richards added, alluding to Mexico’s 2-0 win in Guadalajara last fall that snapped a seven-game winless run against the Americans. "We’ll do it by winning a trophy."

He and his USMNT teammates got their wish. Mexico went on to defeat Honduras 1-0 in Santa Clara, California, and advance to Sunday’s championship. It promises to be a sold-out crowd of more than 70,000 mostly green-clad fans at NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Houston Texans.

"Growing up seeing the USA-Mexico games, to be able to play in one would be unreal," said U.S. forward Diego Luna, a Mexican-American who scored both goals against Guatemala.

The atmosphere on Sunday will be off the charts. But Wednesday's match was the ideal dress rehearsal for coach Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, who were the home team only in name at Energizer Park. Most of the 22,000 there were rooting for the Guatemalans, who hadn’t made it to the Gold Cup semifinal round in almost three decades. The noise inside the stadium was deafening for most of the contest. It made for an unforgettable spectacle, with the emotion from the stands spurring on both