The U.S. men's national team continues its journey through the Gold Cup group stages with a Group B matchup against Martinique on Thursday night. The U.S. won on Sunday night over Haiti by just a 1-0 margin, and will be looking to see how they can improve their goal differential against a team that scored the opening goal but then gave up four straight against Canada.
Should the U.S. and Canada both win, that'll set up a showdown with Les Rouges on Sunday afternoon to determine the Americans' pathway to the quarterfinals.
But, of course, first things first, as the U.S. will need to get past an upset-minded opponent who showed they can get on the scoreboard.
When
- Thursday, July 15 | 9:30 pm ET
Where
- Children's Mercy Park | Kansas City, Kansas
How to watch and stream
- FS1, TUDN
What to know: United States
While the 1-0 result was closer than a lot of people might have expected, there were some positives to take away from the USMNT's opening match. Fullback play was particularly positive, with left back Sam Vines scoring the match's lone goal, and right back Shaq Moore making the most of his start after expected starter Reggie Cannon was a late scratch.
Perhaps even more significant than what the U.S. did on the field, in the grand scheme of Project Qualify for the World Cup Again, was cap-tying Gianluca Busio (who made a sizable impact in his limited time on the field Sunday) and Daryl Dike (who could be the best striker in the entire U.S. pool).
However, the U.S. will need stronger overall performances on both sides of the equation if they want to win the Gold Cup. Thursday night's an opportunity to show that.
What to know: Martinique
The good news for Martinique is it showed it can score and score early, even if it only happened once against Canada on Sunday night. Emmanuel Riviere ensured that Les Matinino wouldn't register a string of zeroes in the tournament. While a goal differential of -3 doesn't seem like a good place to be after a first match, they'll at least be a factor in the fortunes of the group.
But Martinique are such an underdog in this tournament that they aren't even an official FIFA member, and their match against Canada was only their first competitive match in two years. And being without their leading striker Mickaël Biron means that goals might be hard to come by going forward.
