Jesus Ferreira Be the first player in United States men’s national team 2 consecutive hat-tricks and 19 years old Cade Cowell scored his first international goal as the Americans rolled in 6-0 win via Trinidad and Tobago Sunday – one win is enough for USMNT to advance to CONCACAF 2023 knockout round gold Cup top of Group A.
native North Carolina Gianluca busio also scored in the match in Charlotte, with Brandon Vazquez added the final goal in extra time in the second half.
America will meet an opponent to be determined in the quarterfinals next Sunday in Cincinnati.
Here are three takeaways, along with interim coach BJ Callaghan’s reaction, after Sunday’s game.
USA vs Trinidad & Tobago Highlights
Ferreira does it again
The harsh reality is that it will take more games than one against another regional foe for most US fans to forget about Ferreira’s awful 45-minute cameo in 2022. World Cup round 16.
That doesn’t change the fact that the 22-year-old boy FC Dallas Since then, the forward has done everything in his power to show that he can be a consistent goalscorer at the highest level.
Gold Cup is not like that. However, these are still international games. Ferreira is still getting the ball into the net for his country at the same pace (and in this particular two-game period, better) some of the most prolific USMNT offensive players ever now. It’s a godsend for a show that suddenly has real competition between Ferreira, Folarin Balogun And Ricardo Pepi.
Of course, Ferreira must continue production. If he was cold in the knockout round, no one would remember anything. More importantly, Ferreira must ultimately prove that he can also score against the solid defences of the strongest teams in Europe and South America. For now, he’s definitely integrated and he should be, as his Gold Cup performances so far have shown. And according to Callaghan, it’s not just the goals he delivers.
“What he does for the team, he makes the players around him better,” the interim boss told FOX Sports’ Jenny Taft in Charlotte. “He’s a guy you can build around. He’s becoming that.”
Cade Cowell continues to impress
At every edition of the biennial Gold Cup, at least one sideline USMNT member seems to play his way to a long career, sometimes embellished with red, white, and blue. The list includes the likes of DaMarcus Beasley and Stuart Holden. In 2021, Matt Turner took advantage of his first permanent opportunity with the national team to start at last year’s World Cup.
This could be Cade Cowell’s turn. The San Jose earthquake The striker was arguably the most impressive American player at last month’s Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, where he scored three goals in five games. And he posed danger in all three of the group stage games at the Gold Cup. He shone from the bench in the 1-1 tournament opening match against Jamaicastarted 6-0 against Saint Kitts and Nevis and then won his first senior tally and a helper on Sunday:
To be sure, Cowell isn’t a finished product yet. He has a lot of competition for game time with the powerful USMNT in both the forward position and especially on the wing, where the pillars of the squad like Christian Pulisic And Tim Weah entrenched. However, Cowell brought in the energy, the ability to break through defenders, and Sunday contributed his first goal and assist for the United States – becoming the fifth teenager to do so. (The others are Pulisic, Pepi, Landon Donovan and Gio Reyna.) They won’t be his last.
“I think what you saw tonight was his strength,” Callaghan said afterward. “It’s a performance we’ve come to expect from Cade. It’s a game we want him to build on.”
The hardest games await USMNT
With Pulisic, Weah of America resting and nearly all other European regulars in the Gold Cup following their victory in the CONCACAF Nations League last month, Callaghan has lived up to the expectations of supporters. America by prioritizing first-round survival – a smart approach considering the shocking failures both T&T and Jamaica have inflicted on the US over the past decade.
But after a normal start first reggae music BoyzAmerica has come as close as possible to perfection. Sunday’s results were particularly eye-catching, even if the Americans actually beat an even more defeated opponent. Soca Warriors in the group stage of the Gold Cup 2019.
The biggest tests still stand between this USMNT and the fourth consecutive regional title. A possible Nations League final rematch with Canada looming in the zones. The Americans will almost certainly have to overcome Jamaica – perhaps the most talented and experienced team in the competition – or arch-rivals Mexicoor both to receive the trophy.
For a group that hasn’t been tested and it’s hard to get a handicap going into the tournament, we’ll soon find out exactly how good they are.
Doug McIntyre is a football writer for FOX Sports. Prior to joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was an editor for ESPN and Yahoo Sports, and he covered the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams at various FIFA World Cups. . Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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