USA vs. Guatemala: Michael Bradley stars as USMNT win 4-0

It wasn’t always pretty, but the United States got the win they needed heading into the Gold Cup, taking down Guatemala 4-0 thanks largely to a dominant second half that saw them score three times to put the game away.

Things started favoring the USMNT early on, with the home side using their edge in pace and athleticism to dominate the opening spell of the match, getting forward and causing regular danger. They struggled to get good shots away, though, having issues with some of Guatemala’s physical play in the final third.

Timothy Chandler is not really known as a goal-scorer, but maybe he should shoot a bit more often. This ridiculous strike put the United States up 2-0 on Guatemala, and it was his first in a USMNT shirt.

Coming off a couple of very successful friendlies, the United States men are heading into the Gold Cup confident that they can become champions of North America again. They’re likely to get a bit more of a challenge than they got from Mexico in 2011 — El Tri didn’t even make the final in that tournament — but they’re still slight favorites. On Friday, they play their lone warmup game with this squad before the group stage, against Guatemala.

The Guatemalans are a middle-of-the-road Gold Cup squad, so they should provide a good way for the U.S. to gauge where they are while also building some confidence with a likely victory.