After starting the last two Gold Cup matches, Freddy Adu is returning to Portugal to begin pre-season preparations with Benfica.  The forward has been with the U.S. MNT since the Confederations Cup and his return before the Gold Cup run was over was planned from the start.

"(The Honduras game) will be the last game that Freddy will be here for the Gold Cup,” head coach Bob Bradley said after the match. “That was part of the arrangement from the start and I think he's going to have a few days break and then the challenge for him is to get back to Benfica and start to earn playing time.”

Adu, who has struggled to find regular playing time since making the jump to Europe, agreed with the decision.

"Obviously, it’s important to get preseason in with your team. It gives you the best chance of being a part of the team for this season so both the coaching staffs, my coaching staff here obviously and the coaching staff in Portugal thought it was important."

In his two Gold Cup appearances, Adu showed some moments of his potential but it was apparent that his lack of quality playing time was hindering his creative potential.  He was, nevertheless, pleased with how the team worked to get the victory against Honduras which should be enough to have the U.S. finish on top of Group B.

"Tough game, tough game all around for the team but we worked hard, we kept pushing, we kept them on their heels and at the end of the day we won a game. It’s important when you’re in a game like this, when things aren’t exactly going 100% the way you want it to, it’s important to do the little things right and keep pushing, pushing, pushing, and that’s what happened tonight. We were able to get the first goal and things opened up. It became a little bit different."