AUSTIN (KXAN) — The United States men’s national team opened up CONCACAF Gold Cup play with a decisive 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in group play Sunday at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.
The Stars and Stripes now face Saudi Arabia, the Gold Cup’s guest team, at 8:15 p.m. CDT Thursday at Q2 Stadium in Austin. Two other tournament group stage matches are scheduled for Q2 Stadium: Panama vs. Guatemala on June 20 and Panama vs. Jamaica on June 24.
It’s a relatively inexperienced USMNT squad trying to capture the country’s eighth Gold Cup title. Standout players Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna and Tim Weah are all not playing in the tournament for various reasons. The most notable absence is that of Pulisic, who wants time to recover after playing in Italy’s Serie A with AC Milan. He’s coming off his best international season, leading the club with 17 goals and 10 assists across all competitions.
Robinson and Musah chose to sit out the tournament for similar reasons. Robinson finished his club season with Fulham of the English Premier League, and Musah is Pulisic’s teammate at AC Milan.
Reyna, McKennie and Weah are competing in the FIFA Club World Cup with their respective club teams.
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Other starters Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest decided not to play after initially being included on the roster because they are recovering from injuries.
The US dominated the first group stage game, taking a 3-0 lead at halftime with a pair of goals by Malik Tillman. Those were Tillman’s first international goals, and then Patrick Agyemang closed out the first-half scoring for the US. Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright scored in the second half. Every US starting player except for Tim Ream made their Gold Cup debuts in the match.