The US men's national team enjoyed a 6-1 romp past Martinique in Kansas City to secure their customary place in the Concacaf Gold Cup knockouts.
Despite the scoreline, the USMNT were more patiently controlling than dominating. The home side were content to use the three-man back line as a possession base and have everyone else try to find open lanes. When they were able to do so, Daryl Dike and the rest of the US attackers basically overpowered Martinique.
United States Men's National Team Player Ratings
The New England netminder had next to nothing to do in the first half. Turner was little busier after the break, but was only called into strenuous duty when forced into an excellent stoppage time save.
The headline is Robinson buried the United States' third goal from a broken restart. Without it, his grade would have suffered a bit more due to some loose passes that forced the defense to scramble.
The New York City FC youngster ticked every box working as the back line organizer in his first US start. He distributed cleanly out of the back, including the pass that kicked off the team's fifth goal play. And when Sands had to step in to steal possession, he managed that, as well.
The Nashville SC back line ace performed more clean-up duties than his backline mates combined, and as usual was powerful in the air.
Shifted into a wingback role, the Tenerife right-sider wasn't nearly as effective at punching holes in the opposing defense as he was against Haiti. Moore picked up that game in the second half, though, to set up a couple of chances.
When pointed in the right direction, Williamson was very effective. He pushed the team forward on the dribble and set up Robinson's goal with a pinpoint cross. There were, however, a few turnover hiccups when the Timbers man was caught facing his own net.
The Sporting KC midfielder didn't create all that much offense in the run of play until he assisted on the capping tap-in. Busio did routinely guide the team through the middle third of the field and served up several tempting corner kicks.
The guy who steered the team into the attack positions on this night was Roldan. The Seattle Sounders mainstay faithfully poked and prodded to key several rushes throughout the night.
The Atlanta United teenager was able to get himself into some of those good attack positions, but always seemed to get the ball stuck in his feet when it came time to complete plays.
The debutant shined by showing a lot more utility than we usually have seen in his Schalke outings. Hoppe drove play, often from deep, and set up Dike's first with a confident cross. He could have notched another helper with a nifty area backheel, but faded after intermission and was lifted near the hour.
Okay, so there were a few clumsy hold-up moments... who cares? The Orlando City power forward coolly buried a header for the opener and forced an own goal on the US second with another. Finally, Dike toyed with Martinique's back line to waltz through for an impressive not-quite-a-hat-trick strike. On that play, he demonstrated why Concacaf defenses are going to have precious little luck dealing with him physically in the coming years.
To put it succinctly, the US manager's game plan worked precisely as it should have. The team grabbed the ball, waited for openings and then attacked them with enough precision to crack open a six-pack.
Substitutes
The away side had a real headache trying to track the substitute forward's runs. Gioacchini sliced through lanes to earn himself a few chances in just 32 minutes, the last of which he finished.
Playing out of position as a right wingback, Acosta got his feet all wrong to surrender a spot kick almost immediately after entering the game. He then went directly about trying to atone for that mistake by jumping into attack to good effect.
The Columbus veteran got loose late to pot a well-taken goal, and nearly grabbed a second.
For all but a few seconds of his debut, the D.C. United defender looked rather solid. Unfortunately, in the waning moments, he was also caught flat-footed to gift Martinique's best open play chance of the night by a mile.
There wasn't a whole lot to Yueill's short shift as the US mostly kept the ball to the outside.
