Here’s Graham Parker’s full-time report:
Updated
Well, USA are back in the mix for Russia 2018, and they’re back in style. They absolutely blew Honduras away this evening: they were much, much better than their hapless opponents. Pulisic, Bradley and Nagbe were excellent, but it was all about Dempsey this evening: a hat-trick on his return to international football, and that’s 54 goals for USA now for the Sounders star. Bruce Arena’s team needed to win tonight, and they did, and with Mexico beating Costa Rica earlier, they look good bets for next year’s World Cup. Forget the problems under Klinsmann: this is a pretty decent team, and tonight they showed their class.
We’re going to wrap this blog up now. Thanks for reading. Goodnight.
Full-time: USA 6-0 Honduras
That’s that.
90 min Howard makes a very good stop from Maynor Figueroa’s free kick to keep his clean sheet intact. Two minutes added.
87 min Altidore combines nicely with Dempsey and almost goes through for another, but Escober does what he hasn’t managed to do for the previous 87 minutes, and makes a save.
83 min Honduras showing a bit more purpose, but Howard hasn’t really had that much to do. Beckeles had that thunderbolt that rattled the bar, and Portillo shot wide when he should have scored, but the visitors haven’t tested the keeper.
79 min Decent chance for Altidore to make it seven, but he couldn’t connect with Pulisic’s cross.
77 min Boniek Garcia, who replaced Izaguirre at half-time, shoots from range, but it’s miles over the bar.
73 min This game has just been so strange. USA have been really good, but Honduras have been absolutely appalling. And the strange thing is, they’re quite a good team. Why the capitulation? I can’t explain it!
Updated
71 min A terrific acrobatic attempt from Alberth Elis, but it’s just wide.
68 min John Brooks has a problem. He’s being stretchered from the field, and Tim Ream is on in his place.
65 min Honduras haven’t conceded for 12 minutes, which, in this second half, represents a victory of sorts.
62 min Oliver Morazon comes on for Andy Najar, in what must be one of the more futile substitute appearances.
60 min Brayan Beckeles smacks one against the bar from 30 yards! They’re 6-0 down but that would have been the goal of the night. And indeed of many nights. He just wellied it, on the volley – Howard never moved. What a fabulous effort.
58 min Second change for USA: Zusi comes on for Cameron. Honestly, USA could get eight or nine here.
55 min A free kick 25 yards from goal, on the right side. Dempsey has a pop, Escober flails, and Deuce has a hat-trick on his return. What a story! But what about Honduras?! They’ve completely fallen apart.
GOAL! USA 6-0 Honduras (Dempsey 54)
OK, this is getting silly now.
50 min This is unbelievable. Another lovely through ball from Pulisic, and Dempsey does the rest.
GOAL! USA 5-0 Honduras (Dempsey 48)
Five! Dempsey again!
47 min Oh, Honduras. USA kicked off, Bradley switched it to the right flank, Honduras won it back then gave it away, Altidore turned it on for Pulisic, and he slid it past Escober for 4-0. What a performance this is!
GOAL! USA 4-0 Honduras (Pulisic 46)
And Pulisic makes it four within 10 seconds of the second half!
46 min And we’re back. No changes, I don’t think.
Here’s Rick McGahey again: “Although USA fans need to be careful about anointing a young player too soon, Pulisic looks good. In addition to that great chip to Deuce, on Bradley’s goal he was headed goalward in case of a rebound. And his shot that set up Lletget was a very savvy play, turning left and making the defender watch him then letting the ball run into a gap to his right and racing to catch it and shoot. Very smart positional play and moves to find space very well.”
Three-nil to the home side, and a thoroughly impressive 45 minutes. They snapped into tackles, passed decisively, and scored three nice goals. Honduras have been pretty rotten, to be honest, but USA have been excellent. Bruce is working his magic already. See you shortly for the second half.
Half-time: USA 3-0 Honduras
That’s the whistle.
45 min Signs of life from Honduras, but it’s probably too late. Two minutes of stoppage time.
44 min Oh, Portillo! Izaguirre crossed low, and Portillo got free, and put his shot wide of the post from six yards! He’d barely been on the pitch a minute.
42 min As Quioto leaves for the changing room, Bedoya hurtles down the right side, and Bradley heads over! A difficult chance, since there wasn’t any pace on the ball. Erick Portillo is the new man for Honduras, by the way.
41 min We’re back, although Quioto has departed for the time being. He looked to be in some pain.
40 min We’re taking a short break while Romell Quioto receives treatment for a shoulder injury. I’m not entirely sure why he’s being treated on the pitch rather than off it, however.
38 min By contrast, USA have been excellent. And Pulisic looks to be some player.
36 min Honduras just haven’t turned up. They’ve been dreadfully disappointing.
33 min Great goal from the returning Dempsey, and that should be that. A lovely dink over the top from Pulisic, and Dempsey showed terrific strength to hold off Henry Figueroa and crash a shot into the top of the net. USA are all over Honduras here.
GOAL! USA 3-0 Honduras (Dempsey 32)
It’s three! And it’s Deuce!
Updated
28 min A goal out of nothing. Bradley was given freedom to run with it 30 yards from goal, so he did, and he beat Escober with a left-footer from 20 yards. He hit it well enough, but I think the keeper should have stopped that. Whatever: USA are cruising.
USA 2-0 Honduras (Bradley 27)
Bradley’s daisycutter beats Escober, and USA double their lead!
Updated
25 min Quioto shoots straight at Howard.
24 min Cameron is booked for stepping on Espinoza’s foot. Free-kick 30 yards from goal.
22 min Honduras look a little ragged here. USA are dominant.
21 min Chris Taylor writes: “By my calculation, that’s five Garifunas in the starting XI: Escober, Figueroa, Figueroa, Beckeles, Quioto. Not bad for a group who make up roughly 2% of the Honduran population.”
More here!
19 min Ooh, Honduras got lucky then: Pulisic raced clear on the right flank, but the linesman said the ball had gone out of play. It clearly hadn’t, and Pulisic was livid. A let-off for the visitors.
18 min Oh, this is sad. Sebastian Lletget, the goalscorer, hobbles off. He obviously took a whack or turned something in that challenge with Alvarado. What a shame. Alejandro Bedoya is on in his place.
17 min Chance for Honduras! Izaguirre crossed from the left, and Alberth Elis got free from John Brooks, but he couldn’t beat Tim Howard with his shot on the turn. That was a decent opportunity: Brooks gave the striker far too much space.
15 min Crude foul by Ever Alvarado as Lletget looked to break on the right touchline. It’s a yellow card for the Honduran, and a deserved one.
13 min Corner for Honduras, and they take it short, but Howard comes out and claims the second ball with ease.
11 min Well, that might just bring Honduras out of their defensive shell – or at least bring them out of it earlier than expected. They can’t just defend now.
9 min It’s been a really lively start from the home side. Purposeful in the extreme.
6 min Just what the doctor ordered. Altidore, I think it was, stabbed it through to Pulisic, who got away from the last defender and tried to slip it past Escober. The goalie got a hand to it, but could only parry, Lletget reacted quickest, and from about six yards, couldn’t miss. Bruce is back, baby!
Updated
GOAL! USA 1-0 Honduras (Lletget 5)
What a start for USA! And it’s Lletget with his first international goal!
3 min It does look as though Honduras will sit deep and let USA have the bal. Honduras’s manager is Jorge Luis Pinto, the Colombia who coached Costa Rica so memorably – and defensively – in the World Cup three years ago.
1 min And we’re off! USA in their snazzy all red; Honduras in white and blue.
Not long now!
Here’s Rick McGahey on the US line-up: “Starting Nagbe, Pulisic, and Lletget is a bow to youth and speed – but also inexperience. Says to me that Arena wants to go at them early and hard. I like it hope the three newbies can cope with the usual Concacaf rough stuff.”
Yeah, Honduras don’t mind a bit of clogging. Will USA cope?
Mexico now lead 2-0, thanks to Nestor Araujo’s goal just before half-time. And Trinidad & Tobago beat Panama 1-0 earlier, which is probably quite a good result for USA.
Honduras, incidentally, look like they’re going five at the back for this evening’s game. Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto, both of the Houston Dynamo, should be the furthest forward for los Catrachos.
Mexico kicked off against Costa Rica about half an hour ago – and they lead 1-0 at the Azteca. The goalscorer? Javier Hernandez, who’s just equalled Jared Borgetti’s all-time Mexican record of 46 international goals.
Updated
A note on the kick-off time: we’ll officially start at 7.55pm. (The US federation listed the start time as 7.30pm local time, but Fifa has it at 7.55pm.) So we’ve got about half an hour to go yet.
So Clint Dempsey is back. We thought he might start from the bench, but Bruce Arena has given him the nod, and he’ll start up front with Jozy Altidore. Christian Pulisic plays in the No10 role, Sebastian Lletget gets his first start in a World Cup qualifier, and Geoff Cameron plays at right-back.
Tonight's teams
USA: 1-Tim Howard, 2-Jorge Villafaña, 3-Omar Gonzalez, 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 6-John Brooks, 8-Clint Dempsey, 9-Sebastian Lletget, 10-Christian Pulisic, 15-Darlington Nagbe, 17-Jozy Altidore, 20-Geoff Cameron. Subs: 12-David Bingham, 22-Nick Rimando, 5-Matt Besler, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 11-Alejandro Bedoya, 13-Kellyn Acosta, 14-Tim Ream, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 18-Chris Wondolowski, 19-Graham Zusi, 21-Walker Zimmerman, 23-Dax McCarty
Honduras: 22-Donis Escober, 3-Maynor Figueroa, 5-Ever Alvarado, 4-Henry Figueroa, 21-Brayan Beckeles, 7-Emilio Izaguirre, 15-Roger Espinoza, 20-Jorge Claros, 19-Alberth Elis, 12-Romell Quioto, 17-Andy Nájar. Subs: 16-Carlos Discua, 14-Boniek García, 18-Ricardo Canales, 10-Mario Martínez, 13-Eddie Hernandez, 1-Luis López, 9-Anthony Lozano, 11-Erick Portillo, 6-Allan Vargas, 8-Oliver Morazon, 23-César Oseguera, 2-Félix Crisanto.
Referee: Walter Lopez (Guatemala)
It’s Bruce Arena’s second competitive USA debut, and this is a match his team daren’t lose. Arena, back for his second spell in charge of the national team, has to do some tidying up after Jürgen Klinsmann left everything in a right mess, and has about six months to make sure USA qualify for the World Cup in Russia next year.
Tonight Arena’s team play Honduras in San Jose, and although defeat could end their hopes of another World Cup finals appearance, a win would see them firmly back in contention in a competitive hexagonal round. Another victory against Panama on Tuesday and suddenly things are looking up. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: USA need a disciplined, spirited display this evening after the abject tosh they served up in Costa Rica in November.
Clint Dempsey is back, Christian Pulisic is in great form, and Honduras aren’t always the best travellers. On the downside, Bobby Wood is out, as is Fabian Johnson, and it has been raining hard in San Jose: the pitch could be tough. Kick off’s in about 45 minutes. Join us then.
Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Graham Parker on what Bruce Arena needs from his team this week:
