The United States were outplayed during the second-half by 79th-ranked Curacao but managed to advance to the Gold Cup semi-finals with a 1-0 win on Sunday night behind Weston McKennie’s 25th-minute goal.
The defending champions extended their Gold Cup winning streak to nine and will play Jamaica in Wednesday’s semi-final in Nashville. The US reached the semi-finals for the 10th straight Gold Cup. Mexico and Haiti play in the other semi-final.
Christian Pulisic captained the US for the second time and provided an exquisite pass for McKennie’s goal. The 20-year-old cut in from the flank and delivered a perfect cross for McKennie, who headed in the ball from close range for his second goal in 12 international appearances.
Playing near his hometown of Hershey, Pulisic shot just wide in the second minute and was denied in the fourth when goalkeeper Eloy Room tipped the Chelsea midfielder’s shot over the crossbar. Curacao had 60% of the possession in the second half, and USA goalkeeper Zack Steffen had to be at his best to deny Leandro Bacuna in the 84th minute.
The Americans have outscored opponents 12-0 in the tournament, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean, and have held opponents scoreless for 405 minutes overall.
This will be the third straight Gold Cup in which the US and Jamaica have met in the knockout stage. The Reggae Boyz upset the US in the 2015 semi-finals, and the Americans defeated Jamaica in the 2017 final.
Pulisic’s only previous game as captain was in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Italy last November under interim coach Dave Sarachan. New coach Gregg Berhalter has had nine different captains in 10 games. Berhalter returned to the same starting line-up he used for the initial group stage matches against Guyana and then Trinidad & Tobago. With the US assured of advancing, Berhalter changed all 11 starters for the group stage finale against Panama.