Dempsey hattrick routs Cuba

CLINT DEMPSEY’S first international hattrick sparked defending champion United States over Cuba 6-0 yesterday, propelling the Americans to the semifinals of the Gold Cup football tournament.

The 32-year-old former Fulham striker nodded in the opening goal in the fourth minute, tucked in a penalty kick in the 64th minute and scored on a sliding right-footed flick in the 78th to seize the scoring lead in the biennial North American championship.

“It feels good. I have gotten them for my club before. Obviously, I’m fortunate. I wouldn’t be able to put the ball in the back of the net without my teammates,” said Dempsey.

“You always want to score as many goals as you can. But the main thing is we won the game.”

By routing their long-time Cold War political rivals before 37,994 fans at the home of the NFL Baltimore Ravens, the Americans advanced to a Wednesday matchup in Atlanta against Jamaica, a 1-0 winner over Haiti in a later quarterfinal.

“We are definitely the underdog,” Jamaica’s German coach Winfried Schaefer said of the clash with a US squad coached by German Jurgen Klinsmann. “This is difficult.”

Dempsey’s six Gold Cup goals make him the man to catch for the Golden Boot scoring award. The Seattle Sounders forward’s 47 career goals put him second on the all-time US list, 10 shy of Landon Donovan’s record.

“He’s hungry for goals and he has two more meals,” Klinsmann said of Dempsey, adding with a laugh of the player’s first US hattrick, “It took him long enough.”

Striker Gyasi Zardes scored in the 14th minute, Aron Johannsson chipped in over Cuban goalkeeper Diosvelis Guerra in the 32nd minute and Omar Gonzalez netted another goal in the 45th minute as the US took it’s most lopsided Gold Cup triumph ever against a Cuban side depleted by defections.

“The players who were not here for us, they do not mean anything to us. They have chosen another path,” said Cuban coach Raul Gonzalez.

“Our players were ready but in the end they couldn’t keep up the pace.” – AFP

(Dempsey 4, 64-pen, 78, Zardes 14, Johannsson 32, Gonzalez 45)