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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Let the real tournament begin.
As much as the United States men’s national team might not have wanted to disrespect their Gold Cup Group A partners, there was never any real concern from the team it would fail to advance to the knockout round. Sunday’s thoroughly dominant 6-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago showed why.
For the U.S., the group stage was all about integrating players, building rapport and setting the team up to win its fourth-straight Concacaf trophy.
“I think right from the beginning the message is sure that we give as many players opportunities to experience this group stage,” interim coach B.J. Callaghan said on Saturday. “We know with that experience it’ll only pay dividends in the short term, but also when we get to the long term.”
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Jesus Ferreira is the best example of that. In the short term, the striker’s back-to-back hat tricks in the last two games were what allowed the U.S. win the goal differential tiebreaker with Jamaica to top Group A. Those performances are a positive sign for the USMNT’s improving long-term depth at the position.
During the last World Cup cycle, striker was a glaring problem for the U.S. No one grasped the starting role during qualifying and it was the team’s most obvious weakness at the tournament in Qatar.
Ferreira, of course, was part of that equation. It’s not that he played his way on to the 26-man World Cup roster as much as other options played their way off. Even so, his inclusion was subject to great debate and when he finally saw the field — as a starter in the Round of 16 against the Netherlands — the stage proved too big.
Given the circumstances, his performance wasn’t surprising. Calling on a 21-year-old MLS striker to make his World Cup debut against one of the most talented back-lines at the tournament…
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