United States continued to dominate, cruising into the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with a comfortable 5-1 win over El Salvador in Baltimore Sunday.
The Americans have been the most impressive team in the tournament so far and they did not let up in the knockout phase of the tournament, putting five past El Salvador to fire another warning to the rest of the remaining teams in the Gold Cup.
Clarence Goodson, Joe Corona, Eddie Johnson, Landon Donovan and Mix Diskerud were the goalscorers for the U.S., with Redolfo Zelaya netting the consolation goal for El Salvador.
Donovan was again the star man, not only scoring a goal, but also notching up three assists, with coach Jurgen Klinsmann reserving special praise for the L.A. Galaxy forward.
"I think Landon proved again today how valuable he is and now he can make a difference," Klinsmann said. "This game was important for coaches to see who is a difference maker.
"Overall, we see our team clicking more and playing better and better."
The U.S. have now won nine full internationals in a row - a record for the national team - and Donovan cannot be happier with the way the team is progressing.
"We're getting more and more comfortable and the beauty of it is we can score and create chances in a lot of different ways," Donovan said. "We've done a very good job of getting chances wide and getting crosses in the box.
"Counterattacks we're getting chances so we're scoring in all different ways and I think for a team to defend against that for 90 minutes is going to be really difficult."
El Salvador coach Agustin Castillo acknowledged his side had come up against a superior outfit Sunday.
"Collectively, they're a very good team," Castillo said. "They almost play by memory. They can find the spaces.
"It almost seems like every time they pass the ball into a space it's going to nobody, then somebody appears and actually meets the ball. Good work, good movement.
"They're going through a very good time. They're the best team I've seen in this tournament. They are a candidate to win it all."
In the day's other game, Honduras eked out a 1-0 win over Costa Rica to progress to the semis, thanks to a goal from former D.C. United star Andy Najar.
