The U.S. men’s national team struggled to get on the front foot in its Gold Cup opener against Jamaica on Saturday, but rebounded in a big way against Saint Kitts and Nevis to earn its first victory of this summer’s competition.
Djordje Mihailovic and Bryan Reynolds set the tone with first-half goals before Jesus Ferreira added a hat trick in a 6-0 romp over the Sugar Boyz, moving the USMNT to four points through two matches. Mihailovic finished with two goals and two assists while Gianluca Busio also registered two assists of his own.
The USMNT needed 13 minutes to break the deadlock after Busio’s cut back pass was roofed by Mihailovic for a 1-0 lead. Busio’s one-time pass rolled through the Saint Kitts and Nevis box before the onrushing Mihailovic delivered a powerful shot into the top corner.
Reynolds extended the USMNT’s lead to 2-0 not long after the Americans delivered the opening goal. A corner kick from Cade Cowell was cleared by the Saint Kitts and Nevis backline, but Reynolds’ long-range volley nestled into the bottom-right corner.
It was Reynolds’ first senior USMNT goal.
The USMNT made it 3-0 in the 16th minute as Ferreira finished off a Busio through ball pass. Ferreira raced behind the Saint Kitts and Nevis backline before drilling a right-footed shot into the bottom-left corner.
Ferreira added his second goal of the half in the 25th minute, sneaking behind the Saint Kitts backline again before slotting home Mihailovic’s assist.
The FC Dallas forward capped off his hat trick in the 50th minute, this time connecting once again with Mihailovic before drilling home his 11th international goal. Ferreira was replaced in the 57th minute, finishing with three goals on six shots on target.
Reynolds and Alan Sonora both came close to extending the Americans lead later in the half, but were unable to do so thanks to impressive saves from Julani Archibald.
Mihailovic added the USMNT’s final goal of the night, finishing off Cristian Roldan’s pass into an empty net. Archibald raced off his line and it backfired for the Saint Kitts goalkeeper who watched Mihailovic score his second of the match.
Sean Johnson registered his first clean sheet since the USMNT’s 0-0 draw with Colombia in January.
The USMNT closes out Group A play on Sunday against Trinidad & Tobago.
Zendejas has looked good other times. agree with Bac, trying to hard to stand out instead of just playing and doing his job. frankly, hard AF to determine much vs. that competition imo
Apparently Mourinho turned down 30 million euros a season from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. I guess we couldn’t just throw crazy money at big name coaches. Also he’s suspended for talking negatively about Serie A officials, he’d love Concacaf refs.
re the tiebreaker, personally i think that will boil down more to our approach than anything else. if they show up possession obsessed, 2 DM, clunky, we won’t make much more margin and it’ll be up to jamaica how many they can put in. we tend to get goals in bunches and to me it’s when this is more direct, aggressive, throughballs instead of sideways passing, square backs instead of lofted crosses, in behind the backline. either that or take long shots. we need to be aggressive.
i thought mihailovic, ferreira, and sands came out of the first 2 games well. the first two are technical guys and the last guy was doing a solid job mopping up things and keeping the ball moving. turner also but that was going to come under the heading duh.
vazquez didn’t thrive yesterday and looks to me like a situational guy. i kind of think it should have been him vs. jamaica — who would let us cross — and ferreira last night. but anyhow, it doesn’t help vazquez overall if he comes off like “put him in on weaker aerial teams” or “teams you can poach on.”
zendejas i was underwhelmed at his first january outing and am basically back to that spot. it’s about consistency. both he and cowell just seemed to freelance and try to force things. busio and roldan did the odd nice thing in one 6-0 game which is faint praise.
reynolds didn’t have to do much but this brain trust seems to grab on to isolated nuggets and that shot would be one. most of the rest of the defense underwhelms which probably helps the status quo plus whether i like it or not ream.
sonora i didn’t even understand coming in.
Since Couvo the US has beaten TnT 7-0 and 6-0. I think it might take that to top the group on goal difference. Chelsea teenager Richards deflected goal in stoppage time could be huge. Jamaica didn’t rotate much against TnT. They also travel to the west coast for the match so hopefully they rest their stars. It’s early but, 2nd place would likely mean Mexico in the semis and a replay with Jamaica in the final. 1st place looking like Panama in semi and Jam vs Mexico winner in final.
7 points and a goal differential of +7 might get 2nd place. Jamaica’s strategy will be interesting to see in the last game. Although, I expect Jamaica’s reserves cpuld put a lot of goals in against St Kitts. Probably more than 6.
Jamaica should have had 3 or 4 more last night too. Their finishing was equally poor to ours in the second half. A tougher route for this group might actually be better. Winning is less important that facing the best possible competition and seeing who is quality enough to be a backup going forward.
Well, one good thing is that 3 of the early goals were real quality, whatever the opponent, so there is that. As for individual performances, it really are only those who didn’t do well who stood out. Zendejas being a very prominent example. Sonora continues to show next to nothing positive. I keep expecting him to do better, but he doesn’t. Cowell is still very raw. On to T&T.
How old is Sonora? He looks like he’s 12.
I like him but what is wrong with him is that his shooting, speed and overall physicality are consistent with being 12 years old.
Once he grows up he should be fine because he has good movement and his instincts seem to be okay.
He’s 24 so in like 12 more years so in like 12 more years he might be something.
Wasn’t it Peter Pan that never grew up?
After the first half I thought zendejas was trying too hard to make the spectacular play… Just pressing too much.
After the 2nd half I don’t know whether he’s bad or jinxed
i thought both zendejas and cowell were pressing. archibald was a decent keeper (how is he like spanish nth division?) and what seemed to be rewarded was precision or knocking the cover off the ball, not trying to work rate half st. kitts’ bunker.
Every time I’ve seen Cowell in a US jersey – any level – he’s pressing. He reminds me so much of Brek Shea in his early days. I don’t watch San Jose much so I simply think he’s overrated.
MoObvious
Brek was more direct than Cowell and had a higher ceiling but it’s a decent comparison.
i don’t think we’d care how cowell goes about it if you got a weah-type final ball. and that to me is a mix of practice and then being able to flip the switch from athletic burst to calmed composure in the separation. he also needs some other ideas than trying to hit that high far post shot.
i was gonna say, is what it is, but while i think weah and pulisic are locking things down, i don’t know if their subs are settled, and this doesn’t help either zendejas or cowell. the more technical options are instead offering themselves.
Not sure 6 will end up being enough to win the group. Hard to imagine Jamaica not getting more than 6.
Still have another game to play. No doubt I see the U.S. putting up three or more against T&T. Jamaica has to make up more ground.
Even this US side should have had at least had 3 more. Zendejas, my word, put at least one in.