Christian Pulisic's Brace Pushes USMNT to Qualifier Win over Trinidad & Tobago

The United States men's national soccer team secured a crucial result in 2018 World Cup Qualifying on Thursday night as Christian Pulisic netted a pair of goals to hand the Americans a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. 

Fox Soccer relayed video of Pulisic's second tally, which buried the Soca Warriors packing and bolstered the United States' World Cup hopes: 

By virtue of the win, the United States is now 2-1-2 in Hexagonal qualifying and has seven points—good for third place in the CONCACAF table as of the game's conclusion.   

The United States didn't come out with a noticeable pep in its step, but the Red, White and Blue attack took shape as the first half progressed. 

Following a tepid start, the U.S. started to poke holes in Trinidad and Tobago's defense with counterattacks led by Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Pulisic. 

That attacking triumvirate allowed the Stars and Stripes to mount a 6-1 advantage in shots on target over the first 45 minutes, but they didn't have any goals to show for the effort. 

The Soca Warriors weren't quite as active in the attacking third, as the numbers indicate, but they did carve out the best chance of the first half when a Kenwyne Jones header slammed off the crossbar. 

At that point, Goal.com's Ives Galarcep and ESPN.com's Jeff Carlisle took note of the United States' underwhelming play along the back line: 

Bruce Arena's defense remained somewhat flimsy after halftime, but Pulisic calmed nerves as he opened the scoring by capitalizing on a brilliant low cross from DeAndre Yedlin to thrust the United States in front, as Fox Soccer documented on Twitter: 

The 18-year-old followed up with his second goal 10 minutes later thanks to a nifty feed from Altidore, at which point ESPN Stats & Info and ESPN FC took note of the wunderkind's statistical ascent: 

Now breathing a sigh of relief after taking a must-win game, the United States will turn its attention to Sunday's clash with Mexico at Estadio Azteca. 

In their last meeting in November, El Tri bested the Americans 2-1 behind an 89th-minute winner from Rafael Marquez.