USA vs. Haiti, Gold Cup 2015: Clint Dempsey saves the day again

Goals: Dempsey (47’)

Haiti: Placide, Jerome, Jaggy, Bertin, Goreux (Norde 83’), Lefrance (Thuriere 71’), Guerrier, Marcelin, Alexandre, Maurice, Nazon (Louis 66’)

The United States are in good shape in the CONCACAF Gold Cup after beating Honduras in their opening match, but their performance was far from impressive. They’ll expect to win much more comfortably against Haiti on Friday night.

If you don’t keep up with CONCACAF year-round, Haiti have a middle-of-the-road side for this tournament, and might be better than you expect. They drew Panama in their first game, won a game at the last Gold Cup and their team is made up entirely of reasonably high-level professional footballers. Around half of their starters are important players for big clubs in the Americas and Europe.

Haiti gave Panama a tough game on Tuesday and snagged a point with an 86th minute equalizer by Duckens Nazon. They won’t be expecting the same performance against the USMNT, and might even contemplate resting some players ahead of a must-win game against Honduras.

Key player: Clint Dempsey