Cleveland, Ohio – First Energy Stadium in Cleveland saw a ton of action tonight as the 2017 Gold Cup arrived in town, bringing in four soccer crazed nations with it! It was Nicaragua facing Team USA in the night cap of the double header.
Unlike most games at First Energy stadium, this one gave the home fans plenty to cheer about, The raucous crowd saw a dominant 3-0 victory for Team USA. Fans started tailgating as early as 11am today in excitement for the big match, and they were not disappointed.
Team USA came into tonight’s contest with 1 in, 1 draw and 0 losses in Gold Cup Play. Team USA’s path to get here saw them tie Panama 1-1 on July 8th at Nissan Stadium and then a thrilling 3-2 victory on July 12th over Martinique at Raymond James Stadium.
Nicaragua came into the contest with 0 wins, 2 losses and 0 ties in Gold Cup Play following a 2-0 loss to Martinque on July 8th and a 2-0 loss to Panama on July 12th. Both games were part of the double headers Team USA also had played in, falling in line with Gold Cup Format.
With the 3-0 win, Team USA won the overall grouping due to point differential and now will advance to the knockout stage along with Panama who won earlier in the day 3-0 over Martinique.
The game was lopsided but could have actually been worse as Nicaragua goalkeeper Justo Lorente had two huge saves off of Team USA penalty kicks in the second half. Lorente also went down later in the second half grabbing his calf after a collision. He spent several minutes on the turf before bouncing back and finishing the matchup.
Team USA began the scoring late in the first half when Joe Corona found the back of the net in the 36th minute to make it 1-0. The game would remain that way until the half. Once again, despite some great penalty kick saves by Lorente, the Americans still managed to pour the pressure on and score twice more.
The second goal came in the 56 minute and a sharp breakaway from Kelyn Rowe and the third on a beautiful diving header by Matt Miazga. A dominant victory from start to finish.
The Nicaragua team was a feisty bunch as they compiled 4 yellow cards and 1 red card. Luis Copete took home two of those yellow cards which led to his red card. The other yellows belonged to Luis Peralta and Marlon Lopez.
The 2017 Gold Cup will resume play when the knockout round begins this Wednesday in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Play. Who they will play is still being determined.
Team USA finished the game with 3 goals on 11 shots while Team Nicaragua was shut out on just 4 shots. Both squads passed very accurately as Team Nicaragua completed 84% and Team USA converted 88% of their passes.
Head coach of Team USA Bruce Arena had his to say after tonights big 3-0 victory.
Coach Arena happy with the team's perseverance tonight.#USA #GoldCup2017@NEOSportsInside
— Eli Mooneyham (@Eli_Mooneyham) July 16, 2017
"Clearly a good result for us. A game where we wasted some opportunities and made it difficult on ourselves."#USA Coach Arena#GoldCup2017
— Eli Mooneyham (@Eli_Mooneyham) July 16, 2017
Arena surprised on how aggressive Nicaragua was tonight.#USA #GoldCup2017@NEOSportsInside
— Eli Mooneyham (@Eli_Mooneyham) July 16, 2017
Coach Duarte of Team Nicaragua was humble in defeat
"We take very good things from this tournament. I really like this game because so many things happen"- #NCA Coach Duarte#GoldCup2017
— Eli Mooneyham (@Eli_Mooneyham) July 16, 2017
"We tried to play aggressive against USA, but they are a very tough team to attack."#NCA Coach Duarte#GoldCup2017@NEOSportsInside
— Eli Mooneyham (@Eli_Mooneyham) July 16, 2017
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