San Jose, CA -Clint Dempsey (left) earned a hat trick in the USA’s 6-0 win over Honduras on Friday night. March 24,2017.
The United States Men’s National Team wasted no time getting themselves back in the hexagonal group on Friday night in San Jose, taking down visiting Honduras 6-0. Christian Pulisic, Michael Bradley, and Sebastian Lletget all scored a goal to compliment a hat trick from Clint Dempsey in his first game back with the national team after recovering from an irregular heartbeat. The Yanks put in a complete performance to earn their first three points in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and to eliminate a minus-five goal differential.
An energized crowd of 17,729 American and Honduran fans had barely settled into their seats when the US struck first. In the fifth minute of the match, Pulisic and Jozy Altidore worked a give-and-go at the top of the box to get Pulisic a shot on goal and while Honduran keeper Donis Escobar was able to make the deflection, the ball trickled to the back post for a crashing Lletget to tap home the opening goal.
San Jose, CA – US Men’s National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard made several key stops late in the first half to preserve the advantage for the home side against Honduras (photo credit: Lyndsay Radnedge/Center Line Soccer March 25, 2017)
Lletget got the start after injury forced Fabian Johnson to miss out of this round of qualifiers and the San Francisco native took the opportunity to score his first goal for the national team just an hour down the road from his hometown. Unfortunately his fantastic start was cut short after a harsh tackle by Ever Alvarado injured his left foot, forcing him to be replaced by Alejandro Bedoya in the 18th minute.
“Sebastian has some kind of issue with his foot.” said coach Bruce Arena after the match. “What it is exactly we won’t know until we get a scan… I don’t know [if he’s traveling to Panama]until we get some results tomorrow.”
The Hondurans tried to bounce back after conceding the early goal but instead conceded a second in the 27th minute when they failed to step up on Bradley who took advantage of the free space and ripped a shot to the far post, beating Escobar for a second time and putting the US up 2-0.
The rout was clearly on in the 32nd minute as Dempsey scored his first on the night in spectacular fashion. Pulisic chipped the ball over one defender to Dempsey’s chest as he held off a second Honduran and used every ounce of strength and skill to take the shot on a half-volley and smash a ball into the top corner of the net. The US, up 3-0, would take that lead into halftime.
It only took 17 seconds into the second half to see that lead grow again.
Dempsey poked the ball away from a Honduran defender right to Altidore for a one touch pass through the defense and right in stride of Pulisic. The 18 year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder slotted home his shot near post with the calm precision of a player ten years his elder.
Honduras’s night would continue to get worse just three minutes later as Pulisic found Dempsey again, this time threading a ball through two defenders to Dempsey who touched the ball wide of the keeper and coolly passed the ball into the open net.
The man known as Deuce wasn’t stopping at two though, and when the chance came to add another from a free kick after Pulisic had been fouled, Dempsey stepped up and hit a perfect ball far post to beat the keeper.
“I could see that he was cheating a little bit. Normally I go around the side to the near post,” said Dempsey, “I wasn’t even going to take the free kick to be honest with you at the beginning and Jozy’s like, ‘take it’, and I was like, ‘you know, what do I got to lose’ so I owe that goal to Jozy.”
With a comfortable six goal lead the US was able to let off the gas a bit and contain the Honduran attack to see out the game, although they had a bit of a scare when John Brooks had to be stretchered off in the 70th minute and replaced by Tim Ream. Brooks seemed to be grabbing his head although there did not seem to be contact to cause any injury and coach Bruce Arena laid most fears to rest after the match.
“John Brooks was a little bit sick this week with a sinus infection… I think he was sick when he went down, a little bit dizzy, ill, and he should be able to recover in the next couple days.”
When asked if Brooks was traveling Arena said, “Yeah he’s traveling. Whether he likes it or not he’s traveling” to chuckles from the press.
Honduras did their best to at least pull back one goal but could not get past the US goalkeeper, Tim Howard, who had a solid performance to earn a clean sheet. Alberth Elis was able to find some space in the box for an acrobatic volley but his shot was wide of the target and Brayan Beckeles smashed a shot from distance off the crossbar, the two best chances for Honduras to get on the score sheet.
With his three goals, Dempsey pulled within two of all-time Men’s team leading scorer Landon Donovan who sits at 57 international goals, but it was the play of the youngster Pulisic that Dempsey praised after the match.
“He makes players better around him. Like I said, he can beat the person on the dribble, he creates a mismatch because of that, someone else has to step to him, and make good runs he’ll find you. He’s just getting better and better and the sky’s the limit for him.”
The US now travels to Panama on Tuesday for another crucial match in the hexagonal after Panama lost to Trinidad and Tobago, dropping them from second in the group to third and putting themselves in danger of being overtaken by the US should they drop a second.
CONCACAF World Cup Qualification Table (Table courtesy of ESPN FC)
| HEXAGONAL | OVERALL | HOME | AWAY | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | ||||
| 1 | Mexico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | Costa Rica | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| 3 | Panama | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | United States | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -3 | 3 | ||||
| 6 | Honduras | ||||||||||||||||||||||
SUMMARY
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 2-Jorge Vilafaña, 3-Omar Gonzalez, 6-John Brooks (14-Tim Ream, 70’), 20-Geoff Cameron (19-Graham Zusi, 59’); 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 9-Sebastian Lletget (11-Alejandro Bedoya, 18’), 10-Christian Pulisic, 15
-Darlington Nagbe; 8-Clint Dempsey, 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs: 12-David Bingham, 22-Nick Rimando; 5-Matt Besler, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 21-Walker Zimmerman; 13-Kellyn Acosta, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 23-Dax McCarty; 18-Chris Wondolowski
HONDURAS: 22-Donis Escobar; 7-Emilio Izaguirre (14-Boniek Garcia, 46’), 3-Maynor Figueroa (capt.), 4-Henry Figueroa, 5-Ever Alvarado, 21-Brayan Beckeles; 20-Jorge Claros, 15-Roger Espinosa, 12-Romell Quioto (11-Erick Andino, 43’), 19-Alberth Elis, 17-Andy Najar (8-Oliver Morazan, 61’)
Subs: 1-Luis Lopez, 18-Ricardo Canales; 2-Felix Crisianto, 6-Allans Vargas, 23-Cesar Oseguera; 10-Mario Martinez, 16-Carlos Discua; 9-Anthony Lozano, 13-Eddie Hernandez
Goals
USA: Lletget 5’, Bradley 27’ (Bedoya), Dempsey 32’ (Pulisic), Pulisic 46’ (Altidore), Dempsey 49’ (Pulisic, Altidore), Dempsey 54’
HONDURAS: None
Discipline
USA: Cameron (Caution) 25’
HONDURAS: Alvarado (Caution) 15’
USMNT
Photo Recaps
