Gold Cup: U.S. Wear Down Honduras, 2-0

Adu's frustration, on the other hand, is understandable: after not getting a sniff of the pitch in South Africa, Adu played in two matches, and now, as revealed by coach Bob Badley post-game, he's going back to Portugal -- to a club, Benfica, where cracking the team has been difficult.

"You just have to keep working hard and take it one step at a time and hopefully you get there," said Adu, who is amazingly now 20 years-old. "But obviously the most important thing is playing, get some games and that keeps you sharp."

While it was nice to see folks with United connections again, who else impressed? For one, forward Charlie Davies looks like the kind of player that Adu needs to be -- fast, furious, and a threat despite his size. Upon entering the game, the 23-year-old New Hampshire native brought an immediate fire to the proceedings. This was no more evident than when he almost scored the flukiest of all hustle goals by nearly blocking a clearance by the keeper into the net. Although Davies couldn't quite will the slowly-rolling ball across the line and past Honduran keeper Donis Escober, the two American tallies came shortly after he entered the fray -- including Davies' clever layoff which gave Quaranta his shot at glory.

Honduras stuck with the States for most of the match, and their attacking trio of Walter Martínez, Marvin Chávez, and Carlos Costly looked dangerous all night. Finding success in discipline and counteroffensive longballs, Honduras looked to expose the United States offside trap. It worked a few times -- none better than in the first half, when Martinez made fools of centerbacks Michael Parkhurst and Chad Marshall to earn a clear breakaway. With only Perkins to beat, the Honduran captain shot just wide of the post, although the largely pro-Honduras crowd exploded on the optical illusion, which made it appear as if the ball had gone in. That was the loudest RFK has been for quite some time.

For all his goalkeeping skills, Perkins' best moves of the night may have been avoiding beer and water bottles, which unfortunately cascaded down in the waning moments of the match from the hands of disgruntled Honduran supporters.

After the final whistle, American coach Bob Bradley seemed pleased with the effort, although he conceded that a more consistent showing will be needed to get the national team to where he wants it to be.

"I thought the response of our team was quite good. Games like this, there's got to be a good collective effort from start to finish," said Bradley.

All in all, it's another notch in the United States' very successful history at RFK. Bradley and company move on to Boston, where they can ensure advancement to the knockout round of the Cup with a draw or better against Haiti on Saturday.