The United States continued their hot run of form at the Gold Cup,, as they secured a place in this week's quarter-finals, all whilst Jesús Ferreira made his own piece of history history.
The USMNT took on Trinidad and Tobago in their final group game, and saw off their rivals 6-0 in a thumping victory. Cad Cowell, Gianluca Busio and Brandon Vazquez all got their names on the scoresheet in the second half, but the star of the show proved to be Ferreira.
In a remarkable first half showing, the 22-year-old FC Dallas striker scored a quick-fire 34-minute hat-trick to leave his team out of sight at the break. In doing so, Ferreira wrote himself into the USMNT history books.
Not only did B.J. Callaghan's team pick up back-to-back 6-0 wins - with the US winning by the same scoreline against Saint Kitts and Nevis - in-form striker Ferreira became for the first American man to score back-to-back hat-tricks for the national team.
The 22-year-old's history-making night began as he slotted in from 10-yards 14 minutes in to give his team the lead. He then added his second with just under 10 minutes on the clock via a slight deflection, before completing his hat-trick just moments before the half-time whistle when he converted from the penalty spot.
Things got even worse for Trinidad just after the hour-mark as substitute Cowell added a fourth. Busio and Vazquez then added the fifth and sixth late on, to round off an evening to remember for the USMNT.
Despite playing a starring role, record-breaking, hat-trick hero Ferreira paid tribute to his teammates afterwards. Speaking post-match he told ESPN: "I’m happy. I’m excited. Obviously, this is a team objective. I wouldn’t be able to score goals without my teammates putting me in situations where I can score goals.
“So, from the beginning, we knew that this game was going to be intense. We have to bring the intensity, we have to be the team that can set the tempo and I think we did that.” Unsurprisingly, the free-scoring No. 9 earned the praise of his manager.
"When I see his movement and his confidence in the penalty box, you can tell that the game has slowed down for him," interim coach Callaghan said. "All of the work that he's doing, leading our line defensively, dropping down, helping buildup play, for me he's having a really complete tournament."
