The United States men’s soccer team advanced to the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals following Tuesday’s win over Cuba in the Cayman Islands.
Josh Sargent scored in the first minute to get the Americans off and running in their 4-0 win. Sargent scored the USMNT’s first and final goal. Winger Jordan Morris added a brace to give him a program-leading eight goals this calendar year.
“One of the challenges before the game was to Josh,” said USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter. “It was ‘they have physical center backs.’ We want him to be aggressive. He started out fantastic, scoring 34 seconds into the game. But, overall, you can tell he was hungry to score goals and that’s what I liked. He had a very good mentality in this match.”
The U.S. ends calendar 2019 with a 10-5-2 record. It’s a mark that includes two losses to Mexico, the program’s first loss to Canada in 34 years as well as losses to Venezuela and Jamaica.
When the CONCACAF Nations League resumes in June, the USMNT will host Honduras in a semifinal. Mexico will face Costa Rica in the other Nations League semifinal.
Historically, Cuba has provided little resistance to the U.S. men’s soccer team. Tuesday’s win helped the Americans improve to 12-1-1 all-time against Cuba, the last four of those victories coming via shut out.
