Omar Gonzalez scored his first career international goal, and Gyasi Zardes bagged his second as the United States trounced Cuba to advance to the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals with a 6-0 win at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday.
Clint Dempsey led the way with his first career international hat trick as the Americans earned their widest margin of victory in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and tied the fifth largest in federation history. The United States will face the winner of the Jamaica/Haiti quarterfinal match at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, July 22.
Dempsey opened the scoring in the fourth minute when the forward found himself in plenty of space to nod in a Timmy Chandler cross into the back of the Cuban. Zardes added to the scoring in the 15th minute when the LA Galaxy forward ghosted past the Cuban backline and calmly placed a Fabian Johnson pass into the goal with a right-footed finish.
Aron Johannsson stretched the lead to three in the 32nd minute with a clever chip of Cuban goalkeeper Diosvely Guerra from the top of the box. Johannsson turned from goal scorer to distributor in the 45th minute by knocking down a Michael Bradley corner into the penalty area that Gonzalez finished from close range for his first career USMNT goal.
Johannsson was involved once again on the Americans’ fifth of the afternoon when he was pulled down by a Cuban defender in the 63rd minute. Moments later, Dempsey stepped up to the spot and buried his chance past Guerra for his second of the afternoon. Dempsey completed the rout—and his hat trick— in the 78th minute when a turnover deep in the Cuban final third set up a run by Bradley who fired a centering pass to Dempsey far post.
The Seattle Sounders FC forward finished the job by rounding the Cuban defense, and scoring his tournament leading sixth goal of the Gold Cup. Dempsey’s hat trick was the first by an American player since Jozy Altidore bagged three goals for the USMNT in Aug. 2013, and the fourth by a U.S. player in the Gold Cup.
Galaxy forward Alan Gordon was an unused substitute in the match after being named as one of the team’s three replacement players following the conclusion of the group stages.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com