Midfielder Diego Luna scored twice in the first 15 minutes, and the United States hung on to beat Guatemala 2-1 in St. Louis on Wednesday night to reach its first CONCACAF Gold Cup final since 2021.

The U.S. plays defending champion Mexico for the title Sunday at Houston, the Americans’ last competitive match before their World Cup opener next June.

El Tri has won nine Gold Cups, the U.S. seven and Canada one.

The 16th-ranked Americans advanced to the Gold Cup final for the 13th time. All five of their losses (5-2) in the final have been to Mexico.

Luna put the U.S. ahead with a left-footed shot in the fourth minute, then scored with his right in the 15th for his third goal in two games.

Luna got his first goal after Alex Freeman crossed for Malik Tillman. He touched the ball to Luca de la Torre, whose shot was spilled by goalkeeper Kenderson Navarro. Luna reacted quickly and switched the ball from his right foot to his left, then shot over Navarro’s outstretched right hand.

Eleven minutes later, Luna received cross-field pass from Tillman about 40 yards out, dribbled in, got by defender José Carlos Pinto with a stepover and put the ball inside the near post from the edge of the penalty area.

No. 106-ranked Guatemala, which has never reached the final, outshot the U.S. 13-1 in the last 30 minutes of the first half.

The Guatemalans thought they scored in the 29th minute, but Rubio Rubin’s goal was disallowed for offside. Freese made a kick save on Rubin, who played for the U.S. before going to Guatemala, in the 34th minute.

Guatemala finally broke through in the 80th minute.

Olger Escobar, an 18-year who was born in Massachusetts, cut inside and slid a shot from inside the area between U.S. keeper Matt Freese and the far post for his second goal of the tournament.

Freese made a game-saving stop in the second minute of stoppage time, parring José Morales’ attempt toward the far post.

The U.S. was able to run out the clock from there.

Mexico 1, Honduras 0: In Santa Clara, Raúl Jiménez scored in the 50th minute off an assist from 16-year-old Gilberto Mora and Mexico advanced to its 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup final

El Tri moved on to play the United States in the final Sunday night in Houston.

Mexico broke through early in the second half on a play started by Alexis Vega with a pass to Mora near the top of the box. Mora slid a pass to Jiménez, who beat Edrick Menjívar with a right-footed shot for his 42nd career international goal.

No. 17-ranked Mexico appeared to add to that lead a few minutes later when Edson Álvarez tapped in a goal off a set piece, but that was negated when video review ruled he was offside.

But El Tri managed to hold onto that lead as 75th-ranked Honduras was unable to generate an equalizer.

Honduras reached this stage for the first time since 2013 despite losing the opener of the tournament 6-0 to Canada. The Hondurans haven’t made the final since the inaugural tournament in 1991, when they lost in penalty kicks to the U.S.

There was a chippy moment in the 11th minute when a ball was played into the Mexico bench area. Romell Quioto aggressively tried to get the ball for Honduras and Mexican reserve Guillermo Ochoa took exception, leading to players on both teams getting heated and a yellow card for Ochoa.