US National Team

Gold Cup | Turner's Man of the Match performance sends USMNT into Final showdown with Mexico

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Matt Turner continues to stake his claim to the No. 1 shirt with the U.S. Men's National Team, putting together a Man of the Match performance on Thursday night to lift the U.S. to a 1-0 win over Qatar and set up a meeting with bitter rival Mexico in the Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday night in Las Vegas (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, TUDN).

Turner was officially credited with three saves in the shutout victory, and he made a pair of game-changing stops in a two-minute span midway through the first half. In the 19th minute he went low to his right to tip a potential James Sands own goal around the post, and in the 21st minute he made an unreal reaction save with his left hand, denying Abdelaziz Hatim from close range.

Qatar also had a prime chance to break through in the second half when the guest nation was awarded a penalty kick, but as Hasan Al Haydos stepped up, Turner held his ground, forcing the Qatar captain to clip his effort over the crossbar. Gyasi Zardes ultimately broke through for the U.S. in the 86th minute, finishing off a pass from Nicolas Gioacchini.

Revolution teammate Henry Kessler was an unused substitute.

Turner is now 5-0-0 with four clean sheets in the Gold Cup, conceding just a single goal from the penalty spot. Including his friendly debut back in late January, the New England Revolution goalkeeper is 6-0-0 at the international level with five shutouts and a goals against average of 0.17.

Turner wasn't the only Revolution player to star on Thursday night as Tajon Buchanan continued his meteoric rise with his first senior international goal, a stunning individual effort to pull the Canadians level with Mexico in the second half. Racing onto a ball down the left wing, Buchanan isolated his defender, used a stepover to create a bit of space, then fired a shot inside the far post.

Unfortunately a goal deep into second-half stoppage time spelled heartbreak for Canada in a 2-1 loss to Mexico, but Buchanan started all five of Canada's games in the competition and helped set up three goals prior to Thursday night as he was consistently one of his country's most dangerous attacking threats.

While both Turner and Kessler head to Nevada for Sunday night's title match, the Revs - currently on a three-game winning streak and atop the Supporters' Shield standings - will be back in action on Saturday evening when they'll visit the New York Red Bulls (6 p.m. ET, TV38, myRITV).