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USMNT vs. Trinidad and Tobago: Live Commentary

The U.S. Men’s National Team made easy work of Guyana in the Gold Cup opener, now they get a chance to take down a Trinidad and Tobago team that ended their World Cup hopes two years ago as they continue the Gold Cup group stage run.

The Soca Warriors are coming in off a 2-0 loss to Panama and desperately need to avoid a loss to stay alive. Joevin Jones and Kevin Molino are two MLS players to watch while Cordell Cato is another familiar face that could start this evening.

Head coach Gregg Berhalter must have liked what he saw in his first competitive match in charge, because he didn’t make a single change to the starting XI that took down Guyana 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Gyasi Zardes still leads the line up front in a 4-3-3 formation with Paul Arriola and Tyler Boyd manning the wings. Michael Bradley, Weston McKennie, and Christian Pulisic will take up midfield positions and Nick Lima, Tim Ream, Aaron Long, and Walker Zimmerman will make up the back line.

The only difference between the two sides is the captain. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen will wear the armband in tonight’s match, after Bradley took charge in the opener.

The SBI editorial staff will be providing live commentary on this evening’s match so feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions (NOT play-by-play commentary) in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Comments

  1. Thanks for the commentary, since I had to miss most of the game.
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    _Terrence_ Boyd, by the way, just played the full 90 minutes for Toronto, which he seems to have recently joined from Darmstadt. Unfortunately they lost to Dallas, 3-0, but Mr. Boyd seems very much alive and well, if not yet called up again to the USMNT. Let’s be fair to him as well as the only 4 years younger Mr. _Tyler_ Boyd. Atta Boydz, as someone recently suggested. 🙂
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    Paxton Pomykal and Matt Hedges also played the whole game for Dallas, and Ricardo Pepi made his debut with the senior Dallas team.
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    It’s good to have still more US players whom we can be positive about, after a good deal of carping that probably hasn’t exactly felt encouraging to any of them.
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    And belatedly, I agree with all those who pointed out that Omar González wasn’t the only center back who made an error during WCQ, along with the usually reliable John Brooks. Zimmermann and Miazga are also often good, and also sometimes shaky. Let’s look forward, not back, and see how we can help give them all more confidence.
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  2. I dont get the Zardes hate that man works hard every game. He even didnt get the credit he deserved in the last Copa America we played in we got 4th place in under Klinsmann. He has even performed well against top 10 comp. He scored that nice goal in that friendly against holland and put in a nice shitf against Germany.

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  3. 74′- Zardes comes off to a standing-O after scoring twice and nearly snagging the hatty. Altidore replaces him.

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  4. 73′- Goal USMNT! Pulisic with the finish this time as him and his teammates make it look easy. Jordan Morris did the dirty work, getting free and drawing the T&T defense in, allowing Pulisic to get wide open as can be.

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  5. 71′- Zardes with a hat trick of misses in search for a hat trick in goals. He bangs the post from point blank range TWICE before smashing one over the bar. Can’t complain though, it’s been a good second half for the guy.

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  6. 69′- Goal USMNT! Zardes must have been reading the negative press at halftime as he scores his second in three minutes and the USMNT are off and running. Pulisic with the assist agai, too.

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  7. 66′- Goal USMNT! Gyasi Zardes with the finish, proving the readership’s faith in him. The USMNT have been looking better as the game began to open up. Nick Lima provided the assist, and he may have been offside as he got a feed from Pulisic. Oh well, no VAR in the Gold Cup so we play on at 2-0.

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  8. 64′- Two GREAT chances for the USMNT. Heroic goalkeeping from Marvin Phillip is the only reason this game isn’t 2-0 after a well orchestrated counter attack, nice run by Pulisic, and a nearly great finish by Morris.

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  9. 62′- Morris comes on for TYLER Boyd. Not sure I agree with the sub choice, but at least I got Boyd’s first name right this time.

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  10. 60′- The USMNT got away with some poor, poor defending there. After a couple quick corners, T&T puts together a counterattack and the back line completely ignores the back door runner, but the shot goes over the goal.

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  11. 57′- Tempers flare on both sides as Zardes and Daniel Cyrus come together. McKennie also flew in late. There’s some pushing and shoving and Cyrus and McKennie each get a yellow card.

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  12. 55′- Boyd with a nice shot that sails just wide. He continues to show nice ball skills by creating space for himself yet again. Unfortunately, he couldn’t curl his shot on target or it would be 2-0.

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  13. 51′- McKennie with a beautiful low pass to pick out Paul Arriola. Arriola gets some space but his shot trickles just wide of the far post. The USMNT is close, but they just seem to be missing the final ball.

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  14. 50′- T&T are pressing hard, making it difficult for the USMNT to play out of the back. Expect more of the low percentage long balls from the first half.

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  15. 49′- T&T get forward along the right flank and win themselves a corner thanks to the efforts of Levi Garcia. Kevin Molino’s take is cleared out of the area by Zardes, but right to a T&T player who flubbs a shot wide.

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  16. 48′- USMNT with the bulk of the possession in the early portion of the second half, but they still can’t seem to find a way through the T&T defense. Zardes was allowed to get near the center of the area, but he didn’t have anything to work with, so he was forced to lay off to Weston McKennie, who also ran the ball into nothing.

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  17. Zardes played a good half, helped break lines over and over in the first half by dropping back into the hole above T&Ts CBs, made a difference that opened things up. Bradley with a nice half too, consistently recovering the ball quickly after the US turned it over to keep the us in attack in the offensive half of the field.

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  18. Halftime in Cleveland. The USMNT hasn’t had the best showing in the first half. They have a goal, but have struggled at times to get the ball through a disciplined T&T defense. Combine that with some questionable moments at the back and you have a team that didn’t look like they had changed much from two years ago. Thankfully, the one goal might be enough, because the Soca Warriors haven’t been able to do much at all with the ball and are consistently content with defending with nine men behind the ball.

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  19. 43′- USMNT with a bit of momentum here as they’ve picked up the tempo after scoring. It wasn’t looking like the USMNT was going to find much on the night, but they’ve unlocked the T&T defense once and already feel like they will be able to do so again. We’ll see if it lasts.

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  20. 41′- Goal USMNT! Aaron Long, of all people, finds himself on the doorstep to break the deadlock. The credit goes to Pulisic, though, who picked out his run with a perfect floating cross.

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  21. 36′- Alvin Jones swings in a nice free kick for T&T, but it was just too far ahead of his teammates. USMNT got lazy on set piece defending there.

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  22. 34′- Nice chance for the USMNT as Zardes gets a header from a wide angle near the goal, but it amounts to absolutely nothing in the end. Continuing to wonder why he got the start instead of Altidore.

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  23. 33′- T&T content to sit back and defend and they are doing a great job of it. The USMNT attack is struggling to find much space in the center of the park and it’s forcing them to resort to low percentage long passes.

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  24. 25′- Terrance Boyd not abandoning his defensive duties despite his forward position. T&T on a spell of possession right now and he’s back there helping Lima close down on Cordell Cato near the corner flag.

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  25. 17′- The USMNT attack is definitely working through Pulisic and Boyd as the two combine for another shot. Boyd didn’t quite gst all of it, but the setup is there and it’s only a matter of time before the punch it in.

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  26. 14′- USMNT knocking on the door again thanks to Boyd and Pulisic. Boyd finds his teammate near the top of the box and Pulisic plays a nice cross in towards Zardes, who can’t quite get to it.

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  27. 13′- Close for the USMNT! Boyd with a nice dummy allowing the ball to come to Pulisic near the touchline, his pass hits Zardes in the knee, however and it goes out harmlessly for a goal kick.

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  28. Tactically, the USMNT is in a 4-3-3, but it morphs into a 3-4-3 in the attack with how far Nick Lima is creeping up on the right.

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  29. 10′- Tyler Boyd once again flexing his muscles on the right wing, he swings in a dangerous cross that doesn’t find an attacking head. Then, after Steffen is forced to make a routine save, Boyd heads down on the other end and creates a chance for himself. The shot is stopped despite the space he created for himself.

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  30. 8′- T&T get a chance off a free kick from around 30 yards out. The attempt is ambitious, but it sails too high.

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  31. 6′- Neither side getting much going early on, but the USMNT gets the first attempt of the game when Terrance Boyd misses the target by some distance off a feed from Weston McKennie. The midfield looks a little sloppy early on as well. Bradley taking some time settling in when on the ball.

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  32. Steffen wearing the armband, 3G giving a lot of guys the chance to state their case as captain for this cycle.

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    • Berhalter is going to have to end the love affair with Zardes soon. Zardes is TERRIBLE, proven by game after game of ineffective play. I anm officially in the anybody but Zadres camp.

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      • He’s played 2 full matches for TFC but I think it’s more does he have the stamina for Berhalter’s more pressing style. Berhalter talked as if he would have come on against Guyana if not for McKennies knock.

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