In their tournament opener, the U.S. men, who had lost four in a row, routed overmatched Trinidad and Tobago, 5-0.

On the heels of a four-match losing streak and contentious dialogue involving its star player, the USMNT really needed a dominant result

In recent years, the Gold Cup has been relegated to a developmental tournament with U.S. Soccer opting to instead send its best team to the CONCACAF Nations League or last year's Copa America. But this summer's Gold Cup could have been different with it being the final competitive tournament for the USMNT before next year's World Cup.