US moves to brink of World Cup with easy victory over Panama

ORLANDO, Fla. — Christian Pulisic scored his first international hat trick, leading the United States to the brink of returning to the World Cup with a 5-1 rout of Panama on Sunday night.

Pulisic converted two penalty kicks during a four-goal burst in the first half that also saw Paul Arriola and Jesús Ferreira score, then boosted the lead to 5-0 on memorable goal with two brilliant touches that evaded a pair of defenders.

With fans still fretting after the Americans’ failure to reach the 2018 World Cup, the U.S. assumed a commanding position to qualify for the November tournament in Qatar.

Only a loss of six or more goals Wednesday night in the qualifying finale at Costa Rica would cause the Americans not to finish among the top three nations in North and Central America and the Caribbean and claim an automatic berth.

Pulisic, a 23-year-old who last year with Chelsea became the first American to play and win a Champions League final, increased his total to 21 international goals, including 12 in World Cup qualifying. He scored in the 17th minute and fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, both after fouls by Aníbal Godoy, improving to 6-for-6 on penalty kicks in his U.S. career.

His 65th-minute goal was an exquisite finish. After Luca de la Torre and Antonee Robinson twice exchanged passes, Robinson crossed. With his back to the goal, a spinning Pulisic took a touch with his left leg, spun around Fidel Escobar, dummied the ball through his own legs, poked the ball with his right foot through the legs of Andrés Andrade and slotted the ball over the left leg of sliding goalkeeper of Luis Mejía.