BALTIMORE (AP) - Clint Dempsey scored on a fourth-minute header, added a pair of second-half goals for his first international hat trick, and the United States routed Cuba 6-0 on Saturday to reach its eighth straight CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal.
Dempsey converted a penalty kick early in the second half and added a late goal to raise his tournament-leading total to six. Dempsey's 57 international goals are 10 behind Landon Donovan's American record.
Gyasi Zardes, Aron Johannsson and Omar Gonzalez also scored as the Americans built a 4-0 halftime lead against a Cuban team depleted by five absent players who may have defected.
In Wednesday's semifinal at Atlanta, the Americans will play the winner of Saturday's late game between Jamaica and Haiti, the first all-Caribbean knockout stage Gold Cup match. With its highest victory margin in the championship of soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean region, the U.S. improved to 8-1 in Gold Cup quarterfinals, the only blemish a penalty-kicks loss to Colombia in 2000.
