Pulisic, 17, was outstanding on Tuesday night as Jurgen Klinsmann’s Americans breezed past Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville to finish top in qualifying Group C and move seamlessly toward the final qualification stage for the 2018 World Cup. The Hex now awaits. Jozy Altidore broke through up the right side and sent a cross through the six yard box.
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Youth is on the rise with the USA national team and it’s not just about those three aforementioned starlets.
The game began to stretch out as the second half progressed and both teams saw counter-attacking chances go begging.
Jozy Altidore, now the leading US scorer in World Cup qualifying history, punched in two quick goals in the 59th and 62nd minute. That paid off when Sacha Kljestan opened the scoring in the 44th minute. Thus, it’s not surprising that attendance of 19,410 for a 4-0 USA victory was significantly under the 2014 World Cup sendoff match/friendly against Nigeria (52,033) or the 2012 friendly against Scotland (44,438), both held in the early summer.
Trinidad and Tobago’s will host the victor of Group B (Costa Rica or Panama) on the same date. At the other end, Kenwyne Jones flailed a shot dismally wide when clear on the right side of the penalty area.
In the 63rd minute, Altidore finished at the back post off a Pulisic cross.
It has often been lamented that the US does not produce enough world-class players and those that do come through the ranks, emerge too slowly. Altidore now has an all-time United States of America best 16 goals in World Cup qualifying.
Kljestan, who earned the start in central midfield next to Michael Bradley with a superb performance off the bench last Friday, has clearly regained some of Jurgen Klinsmann’s trust and broke the ice for the US when it appeared the game would head to halftime scoreless. All the MLS league-leader in assists had to do was push the ball into the far corner of the net, which he did easily to give the USA a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
Just moments after entering the match, second half substitute Paul Arriola increased the lead, burying a close-range rebound off of a Pulisic effort in the 71st minute.
Two years after Altidore scored twice in this stadium against Nigeria in the U.S.’s World Cup 2014 send-off game, he did the same thing against T&T on Tuesday.
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That means they will face Mexico at home in November in their first fixture of the decisive “Hex” phase, which features six teams and sees the top three qualify for Russian Federation and the fourth-placed side face a play-off against an Asian nation.
