U.S. wins World Cup qualifier 3-0
This was just the performance United States soccer fans longed to see.
Safely back stateside, the Americans busted loose for a 3-0 victory Wednesday night against Trinidad and Tobago in a World Cup qualifying match in front of 11,452 fans at Toyota Park. The victory means the U.S. team almost surely will advance into next year's hexagonal.
"We were excellent tonight," midfielder Landon Donovan said. "The first half was one of the most dominating performances I've ever been a part of. We were good all over the field. We put pressure on them."
The U.S. has 9 points in the standings, including slim road wins at Guatemala and Cuba. T&T is in second (pending the outcome of Wednesday's Cuba-Guatemala match) with 4 points and three games to play. The top two teams in each of the three groups advance.
Though T&T took a defensive posture, the United States tested the visitors' defense often, scored early and dominated throughout, with the exception of a brief stretch to start the second half.
Michael Bradley, who for a year attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights while his father, Bob - now the U.S. coach - coached the Chicago Fire, scored in the ninth minute off a Donovan free kick.
"Landon played a great ball," Michael Bradley said. "On those set pieces from the side you're just trying to slip into a little seam. The ball came across and I just used the outside of my foot to push it in."
Nine minutes later the Americans struck again, with DaMarcus Beasley working his half of a give-and-go with Clint Dempsey by slipping a pass through the legs of defender Keyeno Thomas, sending Dempsey 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Marvin Phillips. His goal made it 2-0.
"The start of the game was very good for us," Bob Bradley said. "We found a good rhythm."
It became 3-0 in the 57th minute, and Beasley was in on the action again. Beasley's free kick found 6-foot-4 U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu near the T&T 6-yard box as Phillips challenged for the ball. Oguchi won the battle, heading it toward the near post, where Brian Ching finished it off with another header.
It was yet another shutout for the U.S. defense, which hasn't been scored on in 551 straight minutes.
"That part has been really good of late," Michael Bradley said of the defense. "When everybody is working together and keeping things compacted, it makes a big difference. That's one of the things I think we're good at, is being able to sort of impose our game on the other team and make it really hard for them to play."