The U.S. Men’s National Team went into Tuesday’s World Cup Qualifier with sizable pressure as they took on Guatemala in Columbus’ MAPFRE Stadium after losing to La Azul y Blanco 2-0 in the away match last Friday.
The USMNT made sure to give the necessary response, topping Guatemala 4-0.
“It was the perfect way to respond to the disappointment a couple days ago,” Jurgen Klinsmann said following the match.
Clint Dempsey quickly erased last Friday’s “disappointment” with a 12th minute goal. Geoff Cameron sent a long ball into the box towards Gyasi Zardes, who was able to win the challenge and head it down to a lurking Dempsey who wasted no time and blasted a low, curling shot into the bottom right corner. The goal makes Dempsey the U.S.’ leader in World Cup Qualifying goals, surpassing Landon Donovan with 14.
Dempsey also joined Michael Bradley as the only two current players to score in MAPFRE Stadium. The former quickly added another name to the list as Bradley sent a free kick into the box and Geoff Cameron headed it past Guatemalan keeper Paulo Motta, making it 2-0 in favor of the U.S.
The tally led to the near inevitable “Dos a Cero” chant, referring to the USMNT’s multiple 2-0 victories over Mexico in Columbus. The U.S. would take the iconic score line into halftime and the second half would bring more domination from the home side.
The domination started right from the opening sequence of the second. Zardes mishandled the ball in, bouncing it off the back of his leg, but the ball fell right to a charging Graham Zusi who quickly delivered the ball into the bottom right corner to put the Yanks up by an even more comfortable 3-0 lead.
The next big splash was made when Ethan Finlay appeared in his home stadium for the USMNT, coming on as a sub in the 69th minute. Right away Finlay made an impact, making a run and leaving the ball of to Yedlin, whose cross narrowly missed Clint Dempsey.
The next sub brought on was somehow even more significant, as Klinsmann elected to bring on Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic, a 17 year-old Hershey, Pennsylvania native. The appearance cap-ties the youngster with the U.S. as Pulisic was also eligible to play for Croatia.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play for my country,” Pulisic said after the match.
Klinsmann said making that dream come true was part of the plan from the beginning, saying “we wanted to make sure (Pulisic) is part of our future.”
Shortly after Pulisic came on, the second sub put the MAPFRE Stadium crowd on their feet, as Ethan Finlay danced around Motta and placed the shot in the bottom corner. Finlay made it all the way to the Nordecke and through his sliding celebration before realizing the offside flag was up, much to the chagrin of Crew SC and U.S. supporters alike.
The U.S. would get their fourth however as Clint Dempsey would get the ball one-on-one with the keeper, but unlike Finlay, Dempsey had to leave it off to Altidore, who took his chance and roofed the shot into the empty net, making it 4-0 in the 89th.
The U.S. would hold the lead and moved to second in their group with the 4-0 result. Trinidad & Tobago leads the group with 10 points, followed by the U.S. with 7.
