The USA laid a good foundation for a semi-final berth in the CONCACAF Nations League with a 3-0 home win over Trinidad & Tobago. A Dortmund player also got on the scoresheet
The fans in Austin, Texas, had to wait until the 82nd minute before the spell was broken. Ex-Augsburg man Ricardo Pepi, who came on for Malik Tillman in the 66th minute, scored the 1:0 in the Nations League quarter-final first leg against Trinidad & Tobago, who were decimated early on. Noah Powder had been shown the yellow card in the 37th minute.
More goals followed: Antonee Robinson from Fulham FC netted from the second row (86th), before BVB professional Giovanni Reyna (89th) extended the lead with a left-footed shot from ten meters and caused great jubilation in Austin.
The Nations League in the CONCACAF group is all about the starting places for the Copa America. The US team, coached by Gregg Berhalter, still have to travel to Trinidad for the second leg in order to secure a ticket to the preliminary round. The quarter-final winners automatically qualify for the Copa.
“It was a tricky game, really difficult to break down this physically strong opponent, but we didn’t panic,” said Berhalter afterwards, who was without the injured Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Tim Weah. However, his young side got the job done in the end
