USMNT Gold Cup semfinal in St. Louis sold out more than 24 hours before KO | OneFootball

After a tournament that saw underwhelming attendances in early U.S. men's national team matches, Concacaf Gold Cup organizers announced on Twitter late Tuesday afternoon that Wednesday's semifinal against Guatemala in St. Louis had sold out more than 24 hours before kickoff.

Despite the somewhat early 6 p.m. local kickoff time on a weekday, and perhaps a less glamorous opponent than if Canada had progressed past Guatemala as most expected, all of the 22,423 seats in St. Louis City's Energizer Park have been spoken for.

In a city that was once the de-facto home of the USMNT before it increased in popularity in the buildup to the 1994 FIFA World Cup hosted in the USA, the presumption is the Americans will benefit from a fiercely partisan crowd in their favor.

That said, Guatemala's fans typically are represented in strong numbers in games in the U.S., and this is arguably their national team's most important match in 29 years, so there's likely to be at least some fan presence for the Central Americans in the building.

Signs of improvement

The news continues a trend of better attendance for U.S. games in the last two tournament games after a concerning start. Here's the data from the first four matches:

Since the launch of St. Louis City SC and opening of Energizer Stadium, the city has become a frequent destination for the U.S. This will be the men's third visit to the venue, while the U.S. women's natonal team has also played there three times.

If the U.S. advances past Guatemala, they will face the winner of Wednesday's second semifinal between Mexico and Honduras on Sunday at Houston's NRG Stadium. If Mexico wins, the expectation would be that the match at least comes close to selling out the 72,220 capacity venue that is the home of the NFL's Houston Texans.