USMNT win 6-0, Pulisic scores brace and Besler scores on his daughter’s birth

Posted by on Sep 2, 2016 17:58

As the away team who is also a heavy favorite in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, you can never really tell if you’re going to win until the final whistle. For the United States, they were the heavy favorite and took care of business winning 6-0 against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the tiny island nation.

The USMNT were in full control and while they didn’t immediately score, they dominated possession and it was really just a matter of time. After missing a 1v1 chance earlier, Bobby Wood scored this beauty from the top of the box after a very nice one touch pass from Fabian Johnson.

Then, on the day he becomes a father, Matt Besler was fortunate to be on the end of a wayward St. Vincent header and scored his first international goal to make it 2-0 just four minutes after taking the lead. Besler then celebrated rocking his arms like a cradle, welcoming his daughter Parker, who was born earlier that day.

Right before halftime, Bobby Wood was going in on goal for a possible brace until he got a flying kick from Roy Richards to win a penalty. While it should’ve been a straight red, Richards received a yellow card. Despite the referees doing an overall great job, particularly disallowing two St. Vincent goals on correct offside calls, not giving a red here was a bit strange. Jozy Altidore converted the penalty to make it 3-0 at the half.

After St. Vincent had their two disallowed goals, they really were looking like the better team at the start of the half. Still mostly keeping things in control, manager Jurgen Klinsmann brought on Sacha Kljestan and Christian Pulisic and they put this game out of reach.

After a terrific assist from Kljestan, Pulisic got things started by scoring five minutes after he was subbed on, becoming the youngest USMNT goalscorer in a World Cup Qualifying game.

Then Pulisic returned the favor and assisted on Kljestan’s goal just six minutes later to make it 5-0.

And to put the icing on the cake, Kljestan assisted on Pulisic’s second goal of the game deep into stoppage time to end in a 6-0 victory.

With the win, the USMNT has all but advanced to the Hex, the final round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. Trinidad and Tobago play Guatemala tonight at 7 PM ET on beIN Sports and the following scenarios can take place for Tuesday’s final game.

-If T&T defeat Guatemala, the USMNT will advance and Tuesday’s game will simply be for bragging rights on who wins the group as both USA and T&T would both advance.

-A T&T/Guatemala draw wouldn’t guarantee advancement but it would mean the USMNT would have to lose on Tuesday and Guatemala would need to make up at least 12 goals against St. Vincent for the USA to not qualify.

-If Guatemala defeat T&T, that would set up a final day where the USA and Trinidad and Tobago would be tied for first while Guatemala would be a point behind. Assuming Guatemala defeat St. Vincent, the USMNT would need to win or draw T&T on Tuesday to advance. This would be the only scenario that would realistically cause the USMNT to not advance to the Hex.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

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