The U.S. national team booked their place in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying with an emphatic 6-1 win against Cuba in the nation's capital on Saturday night, delighting a jovial crowd of 20,293 at RFK Stadium.
DaMarcus Beasley's first-half brace set the USA on their way, and an overmatched and shorthanded Cuban side had no answer for an avalanche of goals that underlined the Yanks' depth and quality.
Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu all scored second-half goals for the USA to put the game away after Jenzy Munoz shockingly pulled Cuba back to within a goal late in the first half, but shortly thereafter the stage was truly set when Cuba had a man sent off.
Arrayed in a 4-5-1 shape spearheaded by target man Ching with Donovan and Sacha Kljestan in support, the United States looked to maintain a high tempo and controlled possession throughout, finding their task much easier after the 42nd-minute ejection of Cuban midfielder Yoel Colome.
Just four minutes in, Donovan's beautifully-weighted through ball provided the hard-charging Clint Dempsey with a great look at goal from some 12 yards out, but the rangy Texan fired his shot straight at Cuban netminder Silvio Minoso.
But the home side would not be denied for long. Ten minutes in, Kljestan strode forward to corral Jose Luis Clavelo's soft header and lay a canny pass into space ahead of Beasley, and the lanky winger beat Minoso with a sharp finish into the right side of the net.
The former Chicago Fire star doubled his tally on the half-hour, beating Cuba's offsides trap to chest down Donovan's lofted cross to the far post and squeeze a right-footed effort underneath Minoso, pushing the score to 2-0 as RFK pulsed with noisy celebration.
But barely a minute later, Cuba responded with a stunning strike by Munoz to hit paydirt on one of their first real forays into the attacking third. Alain Cervantes had made space along the left flank to send a cross to the top of the 18-yard box, where Munoz slipped between two white jerseys and hit a jaw-dropping shot that flew over Tim Howard and dipped just enough to drop under the crossbar, cutting his team's deficit in half.
The goal gave the islanders a much-needed lift, but as the game wore on they struggled to sustain any meaningful possession in the face of relentless U.S. pressure. Beasley and Donovan in particular were torturing the Cubans with their speed of thought and movement, prompting several clumsy fouls, and one such occasion drastically altered the match's course a few minutes before halftime.
Colome had earned an early caution for chopping down Beasley earlier in the half and when Cuba's No. 6 sent Donovan crashing to the turf with a very late challenge in the 42nd minute, Panamanian referee Roberto Salazar had little choice but to produce a second yellow card, forcing Cuba to finish the evening a man short.
The U.S. cashed in on their numerical advantage less than three minutes into the second stanza. With his back to goal, Brian Ching found Heath Pearce sprinting into the Cubans' box and the left back quickly skipped a dangerous low cross through the goalmouth, handing Donovan a simple tap-in at the back post.
Beasley would spurn a glorious chance at a hat trick when he slammed his shot right at Minoso after being teed up by Donovan deep in the Cuba box. But the Yanks added a fourth tally soon enough, on a 63rd-minute sequence that began with Beasley's inswinging free kick from the right channel.
Kljestan drifted to the back post and nodded his teammate's service back across the face of goal, where a crowd of white jerseys was waiting to bundle home -- but Ching got the final touch, earning his fourth goal of the current qualifying round to set the festivities into high gear around RFK.
There would be several more opportunities for applause when U.S. boss Bob Bradley added several of his brightest youngsters to the fray. Texas-born midfielder Jose Francisco Torres was handed his debut cap, coming on in place of Pearce as Altidore relieved Ching up top. Both received a warm welcome from the fans -- but the biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for local boy Freddy Adu, the onetime D.C. United prodigy who clearly remains a fan favorite at the home of his former club.
It was Altidore who would make the most emphatic impression of the three, terrorizing the Cuban back line with his pace and power. The Villarreal striker grabbed a well-deserved goal in the dying moments to push the score to 5-1, taking a pass from Clint Dempsey and twisting his marker inside out before hammering a low shot just inside the near post.
The Yanks were not done, however, as two D.C.-area products combined for a sparkling sixth in injury time. Adu's slick footwork enabled him to curl a quality cross in from the left wing, finding the head of defender Oguchi Onyewu -- an Olney, Md. native with more than 100 friends and family in attendance at RFK -- for a thumping close-range header to cap the evening in style.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
