{"id":1311588,"date":"2019-06-19T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T18:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/newcomer-boyd-gets-2-goals-for-us-in-4-0-win-over-guyana\/"},"modified":"2019-06-19T12:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T18:12:00","slug":"newcomer-boyd-gets-2-goals-for-us-in-4-0-win-over-guyana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/newcomer-boyd-gets-2-goals-for-us-in-4-0-win-over-guyana\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcomer Boyd gets 2 goals for US in 4-0 win over Guyana"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
United States’ Paul Arriola (7) celebrates with teammates Gyasi Zardes, left, Tyler Boyd, center and Weston Mckennie, back right, after scoring a goal on Guyana goalie Akel Clarke during the first half of a CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer match Tuesday, June 18, 2019, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo\/Andy Clayton-King)<\/strong>
AP | FR51399 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 After newcomer Tyler Boyd scored early in the second half to give the United States a two-goal lead, the sure sign this was going to be a good night for the Americans was visible on Gyasi Zardes\u2019 face.<\/p>\n

A shot by Paul Arriola from just outside the box was headed by Guyana defender Terence Vancooten straight at Zardes\u2019 left eye. The ball ricocheted into the net as teammates celebrated around a stunned, grimacing Zardes.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Americans had some fun on the field again.<\/p>\n

Boyd scored two goals to guide the U.S. past overmatched Guyana 4-0 to start the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Tuesday, getting this much-maligned team on track in its first competitive game in 20 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first game of a tournament is always a little bit nervy,\u201d coach Gregg Berhalter said. \u201cWe told the guys, \u2018Enjoy the experience. It\u2019s competition time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd, a 24-year-old attacker, played just his second match for the U.S. after a FIFA-approved switch of affiliation from New Zealand. His parents were able to take the long flight from his native country to attend the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a dream come true,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cIt\u2019s been years and years of work to get to this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arriola had a goal and an assist, and Weston McKennie was awarded with an assist during an all-around strong performance before leaving with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury. Berhalter said it was a cramp, nothing serious.<\/p>\n

The Americans were on the attack for most of the game while generating a steady stream of prime scoring chances against a Guyana team making its Gold Cup debut, but even a decisive victory like this wasn\u2019t going to provide much insight into any progress being made under Berhalter, given Guyana\u2019s No. 177 ranking. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen made one save, in the 69th minute. With fan angst at a fever pitch and a young squad trying to find its way with a new, flashier style of play, though, there was plenty to be gained from, simply, winning . Especially after the Americans lost ugly in friendlies earlier this month to Venezuela and Jamaica .<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys know how it works. In a few weeks nobody is going to be talking about Jamaica and Venezuela,\u201d midfielder Michael Bradley said. \u201cBecause one of two things is going to happen. We\u2019re going to win the Gold Cup, and at that point we\u2019re going to have enough in the bank over the course of the next few weeks to where I think those are the last two games that I think everybody is going to be talking about, and if we don\u2019t we will have lost more important games that ultimately will be looked more closely at, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Up next for the Americans in Group D on Saturday night in Cleveland is Trinidad and Tobago, the plucky islanders who beat them on Oct. 10, 2017, in the World Cup qualifier that kept them home last summer from Russia and triggered a reexamination of the entire program. Panama beat the Soca Warriors 2-0 in the first match on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Minnesota became the 27th state \u2014 Washington, D.C., has hosted too \u2014 with a U.S. men\u2019s national team match played within its borders. This one was at sparkling Allianz Field, the just-opened home of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United. With a vintage summer sunset falling beneath the curved canopy of European-style stadium at kickoff, the colored LED lights encircling the building after nightfall, and a raucous red, white and blue capacity crowd of 19,418 into the action the whole time, the atmosphere matched the performance .<\/p>\n

The U.S. has 33 wins, one loss and four draws in the group stage of the Gold Cup, losing only to Panama in 2011.<\/p>\n

World Cup qualifying failure allowed interim coach Dave Sarachan and later Berhalter to experiment often. They used 71 different players over the 18 exhibitions. Berhalter\u2019s first competitive starting lineup featured Bradley , who was restored to the captaincy and assisted on Boyd\u2019s first goal in the 51st minute. Zardes was at forward instead of veteran Jozy Altidore, who\u2019s working his way back from leg injuries.<\/p>\n

Injuries kept likely starters Tyler Adams, John Brooks and DeAndre Yedlin off the Gold Cup roster, but McKennie and fellow 20-year-old Pulisic were on the field at kickoff with Bradley as a trio for the first time. Pulisic, the Pennsylvania star who\u2019s hoping to return the U.S. to international relevance, made his presence felt around the net despite not scoring. He was subbed out in the 62nd minute for Cristian Roldan.<\/p>\n

Arriola, the only player who has been in all of Berhalter\u2019s lineups since he took over six months ago, scored in the 28th minute . Boyd had an opportunity to immediately follow it after goalkeeper Akel Clarke pushed a shot to his right, but he wound up too hard and sent the ball sailing over the net and into the seats. The one-goal halftime lead gave Guyana some confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be competitive in that fixture for the best part of an hour, we should be proud,\u201d coach Michael Johnson said. \u201cThey worked their socks off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd\u2019s 51st minute-goal marked the 1,000th in program history, in match No. 700. Then came the goofy goal by Zardes that broke Guyana\u2019s spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see strikers, they can just smell things like that,\u201d Berhalter said, grinning.<\/p>\n

Zardes was too dazed to remember much about the celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy eye was just done for a little bit,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I was happy that at least it wasn\u2019t a concussion or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Americans had plenty to be pleased about at the end of this one.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States’ Paul Arriola (7) celebrates with teammates Gyasi Zardes, left, Tyler Boyd, center and Weston Mckennie, back right, after scoring a goal on Guyana goalie Akel Clarke during the first half of a CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer match Tuesday, June 18, 2019, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo\/Andy Clayton-King)AP | FR51399 AP ST. PAUL, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 08:23:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}