ORLANDO, March 28: American players unfurled a red-and-blue banner with “QUALIFIED” in bold, white letters, when Christian Pulisic realized what was going on.
“The guys didn’t know at all what it said. It was just hand handed to them,” the US star said. “Once we realized – there’s no need to show that off because we still have a job to do.”
Pulisic’s first international hat trick led the U.S. over Panama 5-1 on Sunday night and moved the Americans to the brink of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 2014.
Only a loss of six or more goals in Wednesday night’s finale at Costa Rica would cause the Americans not to get one of three automatic berths from North and Central America and the Caribbean. They can finish no worse than fourth, which earns a June playoff, likely against New Zealand.
Pulisic converted two penalty kicks during a four-goal burst in the first half that also saw Paul Arriola and Jesús Ferreira score, then boosted the lead to 5-0 on a memorable goal with two brilliant touches that evaded a pair of defenders.
Canada (28 points) secured its first berth since 1986 with a 4-0 win over Jamaica. The US (25) is second ahead of Mexico on goal difference and Costa Rica (22) is fourth.
While the US has never won at Costa Rica, goal difference is the first tiebreaker, and the Americans are plus-13 to the Ticos’ plus-three. The US also has the second tiebreaker of total goals, 21 to 11.
Pulisic’s 21 international goals include 12 in World Cup qualifying.
Wearing the captain’s armband, he scored in the 17th minute and fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, both after fouls by Aníbal Godoy. Pulisic is 6-for-6 on penalty kicks in his US career.
After reaching the World Cup for the first time in 2018, Panama was eliminated. Godoy scored Panama’s goal in the 86th with a header from Éric Davis’ free kick that beat Zack Steffen. The US scored four goals in the opening half of a qualifier for the first time since a 5-2 win over Cuba in 1949. (AP)
