USA put seven past Trinidad and Tobago as MLS-based players shine

Jesus Ferreira scored his first two international goals and had three assists, and Paul Arriola and Jonathan Lewis scored twice each to power the United States over a rusty Trinidad and Tobago 7-0 in an exhibition on Sunday night.

Lewis scored his first international goal, as did Miles Robinson.

Coming off a 6-2 win over Panama in November with top American players, followed by a 6-0 rout of El Salvador last month with a group mostly from Major League Soccer, the US scored five goals in three straight games for the first time.

Ferreira, a 20-year-old Dallas midfielder, gained US citizenship in December 2019, made his US debut last February and is a son of former Colombia midfielder David Ferreira. Arriola scored twice as the US took a 4-0 halftime lead to give him three goals in his last two international matches.

Goalkeeper Matt Turner and right-back Aaron Herrera started in their debuts as the US went again without Europe-based players, and 20-year-old midfielder Andres Perea entered at the start of the second-half in his debut then conceded a penalty, which Turner saved.

The 22nd-ranked Americans played just four matches last year, their fewest since 1987, but figure to have a far busier 2021. Two friendlies in Europe are likely in March, when players under 24 will go to Guadalajara, Mexico, and try to qualify the US men for their first Olympics since 2008. The US meet Honduras in June in a semi-final of the first Concacaf Nations League, with the winner playing Mexico or Costa Rica.

The Americans then travel to Trinidad in early September for the start of World Cup qualifying delayed by the novel coronavirus pandemic. the beginning of a compacted stretch of eight qualifiers in 11 weeks.