USA taking care business at home on November 16 by downing Trinidad & Tobago with a 3 x 0 win at Q2 Stadium in Austin , Texas , saved themselves a big disappointment .
The Hosts stood their ground and won the 2nd Leg by 1 x 2 .
Trinidad pinned back in their own defensive third early in the second leg . Their goalkeeper guarded their citadel as early as three minutes of game when an early spinning shot from midfielder Brenden Aaronson from close range . And was followed a minute later by another good effort from forward Folarin Balogun , both of which forced T & T goalkeeper Denzil Smith into awkward saves .
Those chances were a hint of things to come as the USMNT took a lead in the 25th minute via the head of defender Antonee Robinson who scored in back-to-back games for the first time in a USA shirt .
Defender Antonee Robinson 1x0
ANTONEE ROBINSON ( Sergiño Dest ), on the 25th minute : Sergiño Dest collected the ball on the right side after a sequence of sharp U . S . passes carved open a gap in the hosts ’ midfield . Antonee Robinson lurking at the back post , slipped in front of his marker to meet Dest ’ s accurate cross with a diving header from eight yards out to Inside of Denzil Smith ’ s near post . TRI 0 x 1 USA .
SERGIÑO DEST
With a 4x0 lead on the aggregate , it should have been clear sailing for the U . S ., but a self-inflicted wound in the 39th minute complicated matters . SERGIÑO DEST , who assisted Robinson to score the opening goal , picked up the ball and punted it away after the referee blew his whistle to call a throw-in for the T & T ( hosts ). That earned the U . S . defender a yellow card . His continued arguments earned him a second yellow , and automatically a red card , from Guatemalan REFEREE WALTER LOPEZ . The U . S . were reduced to 10 men for the rest of the game , 56 + minutes . The red card demands a game suspension , Dest won ’ t play the CNL Semifinal in March .
ANTONEE ROBINSON
A reversed replay of the 1st Leg game in which at 37-minute , T & T lost Powder when he downed MacKennie for the 2 nd time , and played the rest + 58 minutes of the game with 10 men .
With confidence bolstered by the man advantage , Trinidad & Tobago pulled level just before halftime , in the 43rd minute , when Domestic-based defender Alvin Jones hit a long , searching ball up to the right side from deep in the Trinidad & Tobago defensive third . It picked out REAN MOORE – an unused sub in the first leg – who muscled the inside track on U . S . center back Cameron Carter-Vickers before hitting his shot from the right side of the penalty area to inside the near post , out of reach from U . S . goalkeeper Matt Turner . It was Moore eighth goal in 25 caps and the host side ’ s first shot on goal . TRI 1 x 1 USA .
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