USA 3-2 Martinique: Highlights and recap

The U.S. beat Martinique 3-2 in their second Gold Cup game in Tampa, Florida on Wednesday, July 12. Here are all the highlights from the match.

The U.S.men’s national team earned their first win of Gold Cup 2017 against Martinique Wednesday night thanks to two goals from Jordan Morris, including one relatively late on after the U.S. blew a 2-0 lead.

Bruce Arena’s side were hardly impressive, but the win more or less guarantees their place in the knockout rounds. Arena made eight changes from the side that drew against Panama tournament opener, another disappointing performance.

Martinique had the best chance of a poor first half, but the U.S. raced out to a two-goal lead at the beginning of the second half and looked to be cruising to the easy win everyone expected. But after allowing Martinique back into the game, it took an excellent finish from Morris in the 76th minute to seal the win.

It’s hard to say where many of the players stand after two matches in which many have failed to impress with spots on next summer’s World Cup roster on the line. Matt Hedges was particularly disappointing next to Omar Gonzalez at the back, and the 27-year-old may struggle to make it into a first-choice squad that has John Brooks and Geoff Cameron at the top of the depth chart.

In contrast, Eric Lichaj, the Nottingham Forest right-back made a good case that he should supplant Graham Zusi for the starting spot in this competition, and could even be an option ahead of DeAndre Yedlin going forward if Arena takes a slightly more conservative approach.

Jordan Morris and Juan Agudelo, meanwhile, have both shown enough to suggest they could partner Dom Dwyer up top for the remainder of this tournament. It’s likely both will have big roles off the bench even if Arena wants to go back to playing Dwyer by himself up front, as he did against Panama.

Arena will likely rotate his team again for the final group match against Nicaragua on Saturday, and that starting XI is likely to look closer to the one we’ll see in the knockout rounds. After two sub-par performances, there’s still plenty of room for players to move up or down in Arena’s estimation.

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Highlights

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/885326464484229120

The U.S. face Nicaragua in their final group match on Saturday.