Gaven’s Hat Trick Leads U.S. Rout
Scoring five goals in the first 25 minutes, including three by Eddie Gaven, the United States under-20 national soccer team routed Trinidad and Tobago, 6-1, Wednesday night in the Home Depot Center.
The victory, combined with Costa Rica’s earlier 1-1 tie with Panama, left the U.S. atop the four-team qualifying group for the 11th FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands this summer.
Two teams will advance to the June 10-July 2 world championship in five Dutch cities.
Despite the lopsided result, Coach Sigi Schmid wasn’t about to claim that a trip to Holland is all but in the bag for the Americans, not with games still to come against Panama on Friday night and Costa Rica on Sunday afternoon.
“No, Holland is not in the bag,” Schmid said, nonetheless trying hard to hide his grin. “It’s just three points for us right now and it’s a good goal differential, which is something that’s important, especially if things are tight at the end of this tournament.”
The U.S. was anything but tight. The Americans came out flying and were three goals ahead inside 10 minutes.
Gaven, who plays for Major League Soccer’s MetroStars, started the rout, heading in a cross from Marvell Wynne 1 minute 46 seconds into the match. Freddy Adu made it 2-0 at the 6:47 mark when he scored on a penalty kick after defender Radhanfah Abu Bakr had upended midfielder Benny Fieldhaber.
It became 3-0 when Gaven took a cutback pass from Fieldhaber, one of four UCLA players on the field, and fired in his second goal with 9:13 gone.
The U.S. took its foot off the pedal for a while -- a breather was certainly in order -- then reapplied the pressure and caused Celse Polo to put the ball into his own net in the 17th minute to make it 4-0.
The young Socca Warriors got on the scoreboard in the 23rd minute, when Kevin Crooks scored, but two minute later Gaven completed his hat trick. Will John scored in the 53rd minute.
“We had a very strong start, got some goals early, held it tight in the back,” Gaven said. “It was just lots of fun out there.”
Especially for Schmid, whose alleged overly defensive attitude cost him his job with the Galaxy last year.
“I said to [assistant coach] Dave Dir, ‘I guess I was accused of not being an offensive coach,’ ” Schmid said.
“He said, ‘It’s a good thing. We’d be up by 10 then.’ ”
In the earlier game, Panama created the better chances in the first half, but Costa Rica lifted its game in the second half and deservedly took the lead in the 54th minute.
Influential midfielder Greivin Arce beat defender Tomas Dunn on the left flank and pulled the ball back for onrushing Jose Luis Cordero, whose shot got past sprawling goalkeeper Jose Calderon.
Panama tied the match in the 76th minute when Tomas Gun’s shot from about 16 yards found the upper left corner of the net.
On Friday, Costa Rica plays Trinidad and Tobago at 5:30 p.m. and the U.S. plays Panama at 8 p.m.
