Landon Donovan is set to start his second consecutive match on the bench, US Soccer has confirmed, via the organization's Twitter feed.
The man with more goals than anytbody else in US history was surprisingly benched for the team's Gold Cup quarterfinal match with Jamaica only for it to emmerge shortly after kickoff that the Los Angeles Galaxy attacker had not arrived in Washington, D.C. until 7.a.m. the morning of the game.
Donovan was returning from California, where he had attended to wedding of his twin sister. Donovan had also been suffering from a cold in the days before the tournament started.
Against Jamaica, US head coach Bob Bradley substituted Donovan on in the second half, replacing Alejandro Bedoya.
Tonight - their Gold Cup semifinal against Panama - the US will start the same team that began Sunday's match against Jamaica. Both Bedoya and Sacha Kljestan will make their second starts of the tournament.
Neither player started the tournament's first meeting between the US and Panama, a match that saw the US handed their first loss ever in Gold Cup group play.
The United States-Panama winner moves into Saturday's Gold Cup final in Pasadena. There they will face the winner of Mexico-Honduras, the second match of Wednesday's doubleheader at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
