Sep 11, 2008 - 1:34 AM
0 shoutsBRIDGEVIEW, Illinois (Ticker) -- Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey each scored first-half goals on Wednesday, powering the United States to a 3-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago in a qualifying match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Americans improved to a perfect 3-0-0 in Group One play. They recorded shutout wins over Guatemala on August 20 and Cuba on Saturday.
"It's always better to win 3-0 than 1-0," United States coach Bob Bradley said. "You win games in different ways and we've tried to establish within our group a mentality that on certain days, it needs to be a 1-0 victory and we'll make it a 1-0 victory.
"The best teams around the world, they win a lot of 1-0 games. Having said that - when you are playing with a 1-0 lead - the ability to open up the defense, to take certain advantages and press them forward, those are areas where we have to continue to improve."
Wednesday's win raised the United States' record to 9-0-2 in qualifying play against Trinidad & Tobago and 30-1-5 overall at home against teams from the Caribbean.
The victory was the fifth straight by the Americans and virtually assures them of making next year's six-team regional finals. The United States is atop the Group One standings with nine points, five ahead of Trinidad & Tobago.
"Whether we score one or five, a win is a win and you get the same three points," Dempsey said. "The most important thing for us was to put ourselves into a good position to advance to the next round, and we're close to doing that."
The U.S. is 25-1-7 in home qualifiers since May 1985 and has outscored opponents, 21-0, on American soil since 2004.
On a set piece from the left sideline in the ninth minute, Landon Donovan lofted a pass to the middle of the field, where Bradley easily converted it into a tally past goalkeeper Marvin Phillip for a 1-0 edge.
"The ball felt good coming off my foot, and I could tell someone got a touch on it, but I couldn't even tell who it was who got a foot on it until I saw Michael celebrating," Donovan said. "Seeing the replays, it was a good finish."
In the 18th minute, the Americans took advantage of a defense that appeared to hesitate after it expected an offsides call it never received. From near midfield, DaMarcus Beasley delivered a nice lead pass to Dempsey, who led a 2-on-none break before sending a strong right-footed kick into the left side of the net.
Brian Ching capitalized off another set piece in the 57th minute. American defender Oguchi Onyewu outjumped a number of players inside the box, leaving Ching to put an easy header into the net as Phillip was caught up in the fray in the middle of the penalty area.
"Gooch (Onyewu) made a great play on it and it just kind of fell to me," Ching said. "It was probably one of the easier goals I'll score, but I'm not going to complain about that."
Trinidad & Tobago thought it had avoided a shutout in the 60th minute, when Cornell Glenn took a hard shot from just outside the box.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard dove to his left and punched the ball away, but Anthony Wolfe collected it and quickly put it into the open net. However, the referees quickly whistled it off, and replays showed Wolfe was offsides.
The United States returns to action on October 11, when it continues Group One play with another match against Cuba.
