- Ferreira's new nickname
- Striker focused on scoring goals
- U.S. face key clash with T&T
WHAT HAPPENED? The U.S. men's national team star scored three of the six goals in Wednesday's Gold Cup win over St. Kitts and Nevis, making him the fastest player to 10 goals in program history after doing so in just 20 games.
Seven of his goals, though, have come in two matches against St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada, while two came against Trinidad and Tobago in a 7-0 win. Just one of Ferreira's goals, which came in a 1-1 draw with Mexico earlier this year, has come in anything less than a five-goal win.
Because of that, social media has labeled Ferreira the 'Pirate of the Caribbean', a tongue-in-cheek nickname referencing his frequent outbursts against CONCACAF minnows. Ferreira, though, says his job is to score against whoever he plays against, whether that's a Caribbean underdog or a World Cup contender.
WHAT THEY SAID: "I try to stay off social media as much as I can," he said. "For me, as a forward, it's always my job to score goals, to come in and try to score goals against whoever's in front of us. Yeah, I've scored a lot of goals against Caribbean teams, but, like I said, my job is to score goals and I'm gonna do that no matter who's in front of us."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Running up the score could be vital in Sunday's match against Trinidad & Tobago, with the U.S. and Jamaica both competing to finish top of the group. Both teams enter Sunday's group stage finales on four points, with the U.S. holding a plus three goal difference over the Reggae Boyz.
USMNT interim coach B.J. Callaghan says that the U.S. will be keeping an eye on Jamaica's clash with St Kitts and Nevis, but he believes his side must focus scoring the goals they need.
"We do understand that there'll be an eye on the goal differential," Callaghan said, "but we're confident that, if we play our style of play and we remain aggressive pressing and dominating with the ball, we have confidence that we'll be able to score the goals and get the result that we need."
IN TWO PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT FOR USMNT? The U.S. face Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday in their group stage finale. Should they finish atop the group, they would almost certainly avoid Mexico's side of the knockout bracket.
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