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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS — Jesus Ferreira scored a hat trick and the United States beat St. Kitts and Nevis 6-0 to equal their biggest-ever margin of victory in the Gold Cup.
The Americans were decisive favorites coming in against the tiny Caribbean nation – making its first-ever appearance in the Gold Cup — and wasted little time putting the game away. Djordje Mihailovic‘s first international goal since 2019 opened the scoring in the 12th minute before the lead grew to 3-0 less than four minutes later on goals from Bryan Reynolds and Ferreira.
Ferreira’s second gave the U.S. a commanding 4-0 half-time lead, but with a goal-differential tiebreaker against Jamaica likely to determine the group winner, the team had more to play for. He completed the hat trick with a tidy finish in the 50th minute — becoming the fastest U.S. player to reach 10 international goals (20 games) — before being replaced by Brandon Vazquez shortly after.
On the heels of his four-goal game against Grenada in the Nations League last year, Ferreira joins Clint Dempsey as the second player in USMNT history with multiple three-plus goal games in competitive matches. He’s the fifth USMNT player to ever have two or more career hat tricks, joining Landon Donovan (3), Jozy Altidore (2) Peter Millar (2) and Dempsey (2).
Mihailovic’s second goal rounded out the scoring in the 79th minute and he nearly added another in the game’s closing minutes.
The win leaves the U.S. tied with Jamaica atop Group A with four points, but ahead by three on goal differential. Jamaica beat Trinidad and Tobago, 4-1, prior to the U.S. win in St. Louis.
The U.S. wraps group play Sunday against Trinidad and Tobago in Charlotte.