Clint Dempsey, USA Soccer Hammer Cuba At M&T Bank Stadium
By Joe Serpico
Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick for the United States men’s national team as they manhandled Cuba in their quarterfinal match with a 6-0 victory at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Aron Johannsson, Gyasi Zardes and Omar Gonzalez also scored, while goalkeeper Brad Guzan earned his second shutout of the tournament as USA Soccer advances to the CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinals hoping to defend their title.
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The goals started quickly for the U.S. as Dempsey led off the scoring with a header from a Timothy Chandler cross in the fourth minute. The Cuban defenders were caught ball watching as Dempsey slipped right past the defense to beat Cuban goalkeeper Diosvelis Guerra.
Zardes would find the back of the net for the second goal on volley from a Fabian Johnson cross to make it a 2-0 game after 15 minutes. Johannsson had a beautiful finish for the club’s third strike, chipping the Cuban goalkeeper who was off his line. Johannsson was making the start for Jozy Altidore, who was sent home by Jurgen Klinsmann following the Panama game.
Gonzalez, the University of Maryland alum, buried a loose ball following a Michael Bradley cross for his first international goal and the fourth goal of the game all before the halftime break.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for it. I’m very happy that I got my goal, especially in a town where it’s very important to me,” said Gonzalez. “To come back here and get my first goal is incredible. I just wish I had more energy to celebrate it more.”
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Dempsey would score his second goal on a penalty kick in the 64th minute after Johannsson was pulled down in the box by a Cuban defender. His final goal came in the 78th minute and was the result of lackadaisical defense and a nice ball played by Bradley. Dempsey leads the tournament with six goals scored and joins Brian McBride, Landon Donovan and Chris Wondolowski as the only U.S. players to score a hat trick in a Gold Cup match.
“He’s always been a striker mentality,” Bradley said of Dempsey after the game. “He’s a guy who is hungry and determined to make big plays, hungry and determined to score goals. And that’s always been him.”
The Cubans were no match for the U.S. and are now winless in six games against the Red, White and Blue in Gold Cup action. Three players did not show up for their previous matchup against Guatemala and many are believed to be defecting from their home country.
It was another fantastic showing for area soccer fans as 37,994 were in attendance on a day with temperatures well over the 90s in Charm City. That is a drop off from the over 70,000 that came out for the 2013 game in Baltimore, but that is largely in part of the competing teams. The U.S. does not have a large Cuban, Haitian or Jamaican population compared to the other Central American nations that were in attendance that summer. The tension between the U.S. and Cuba has only recently simmered down to a point in which travel is allowed between the two countries.
“I would hope and expect that 10 years from now, if we hosted the U.S. versus Cuba, we’d have thousands of Cuban fans here,” said Ravens president Dick Cass, who is in charge of the soccer events taking place at the stadium.
Next up for Klinsmann’s squad is a semifinal matchup against Jamaica at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 22. The Jamaicans advanced after defeating Haiti, 1-0, in the second game hosted by M&T Bank Stadium. A win would put the Americans in position to defend their Gold Cup title in the July 26 final in Philadelphia.