DEMPSEY DO!
Hat trick helps U.S. reach Gold Cup semis with rout of Cuba
BALTIMORE — One team is the favorite to win the Gold Cup for the fifth time in its last eight tries. The other has to worry about its players running away in the middle of the night.
So it was really no surprise how Saturday’s game unfolded at M&T Bank Stadium, with the United States bludgeoning Cuba, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup.
“Very nice performance,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “Got the job done.”
Clint Dempsey was the biggest beneficiary of Cuba’s defection problems, notching the first hat trick of his international career Saturday. The American striker, 32, who is settling in nicely as Landon Donovan’s successor, has recorded a tournament-high six goals.
“I didn’t know that was his first hat trick. It took him a long time,” joked Klinsmann.
As a result of its rout, the U.S. advanced to the semifinals, where it will face Jamaica in Atlanta on Wednesday. If the Americans win the Gold Cup, they automatically qualify for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. If they don’t win the tourney, they will be forced into a one-game playoff against the winner to determine the CONCACAF region’s representative in that competition.
Saturday’s match, like many others in this tournament, just seemed like a warmup for a U.S.Mexico final.
“We wanted them to take (Cuba) very seriously,” Klinsmann said. “We didn’t want to waste anything. We didn’t want to fool around or show off or anything like that. I made it very, very clear that if somebody takes it lightly, I’m going to take him off after 10 minutes.”
Dempsey struck first in the fourth minute, running into space in the box to knock home a perfectly placed header. The floodgates then opened, with the U.S. holding a 4-0 advantage at the half. Aron Johannsson, Gyasi Zardes and Omar Gonzalez also scored for the U.S., which set a team record for margin of victory in the Gold Cup. Dempsey’s three goals gave him 47 for his international career, as he creeps closer to Donovan’s American record of 57.
“He’s hungry. He’s hungry for goals. And that helps us,” Klinsmann said. “This is what a striker is keeping in his mind. It’s what drives you. The next opportunity, the next game – ‘I want to score.’ He seems happy, he seems balanced, he seems to be all right with himself.”
To be fair to Cuba, the small-island nation had already achieved the improbable by getting into the quarterfinals, shocking Guatemala, 1-0, on Wednesday to advance past the group stage despite being outscored by nine goals in its first two matches. You’d be wrong to assume the Cubans were just happy to be in Baltimore, however, because five players skipped out on the match. It’s a problem familiar to this team when it travels to the U.S..
The star of Cuba’s victory over Guatemala, Ariel Martinez, was the latest to disappear. According to Univision, Martinez got off the team bus after Wednesday’s game and “ran into darkness.” The circumstances left Cuba with just 18 available players, none of whom could keep up with Dempsey.
“It’s a difficult situation for them to have to deal with,” Dempsey said. “It’s something that we can’t control. All we can control is whoever we play against that we prepare as best we can and put in a professional performance and I thought we did that.”