Australian Ashleigh Barty will become the new world number one after beating Julia Gorges 6-3 7-5 to win the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham.

The French Open champion will replace Japan's Naomi Osaka at the top when the rankings are released on Monday.

Barty, 23, will become the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong in 1976 to be world number one.

"I'm a little bit speechless at the moment," Barty said during the on-court trophy presentation.

Barty gave up tennis in late 2014 to play cricket before returning to the sport in 2016, winning her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros earlier this month.

"It's been a whirlwind few weeks for me, a whirlwind year, but to be able to follow in the footsteps of Evonne, even to be mentioned in the same sentence as her, is incredible," she added.

"You always dream of it [being world number one] as a little kid but for it to become a reality is incredible.

"It's not something that was even in my realm, this year we were aiming for top 10 and now to be where we are is a testament to all of the people around me.

"We started from scratch three and a half years ago without a ranking and now to be where we are is not only for me, but a massive, massive achievement for them [the rest of her team]."

The victory over Gorges, with whom she plays doubles and who she described as "one of my best friends on tour", was sealed in just under an hour and a half.

German world number 19 Gorges said it had been a privilege to share the court with her.

"She served an ace when I had set point so I think that says it all," she said. "It was a high-quality match and she deserved to win. I did everything I could today but she was better."

Gregor Townsend would be making "a mistake" by leaving Richie Gray out of Scotland's Rugby World Cup training camps, former prop Ryan Grant says.

The 29-year-old Toulouse lock has missed out on selection for Townsend's 44-man squad after recovering from hip surgery to help his club win the French Top 14 title this month.

But Grant, a former British and Irish Lion, says Gray's qualities are unique.

"I think we'll see Richie in and around the World Cup squad," Grant said.

"He's a specimen. As good as the other second rows are, no-one's a 6ft 10in out-and-out athlete like Richie.

"He's finding his old form again, especially watching the last 30 minutes of the Top 14 final. I think it would be a mistake not to at least bring him in."

Townsend is likely to take four locks to the World Cup in Japan this year. Gray's younger brother Jonny is vying for one of those slots, as are Glasgow Warriors colleague Scott Cummings, Edinburgh duo Ben Toolis and Grant Gilchrist, and Exeter Chiefs' Sam Skinner, who can also play on the blind-side flank.

The elder Gray, capped 65 times and a Lion with Grant in 2013, has been hampered by injuries in recent seasons, playing only one Test in over two years.

He made his comeback from a hip operation in late January and has since played 13 club matches, six as substitute.

Gray came off the bench as Toulouse beat La Rochelle in the Top 14 semi-final and Clermont in the showpiece.

"The way the game's going now, you pick guys especially for that reason, guys that can bring a huge amount of energy off the bench," Grant told BBC Radio Scotland.

"That might be the position Richie finds himself in. His brother Jonny's more of a grafter, the type of guy that does all the unseen work, you want him in for 80 minutes.

"Richie's got a bit of flair, he's got pace, he can handle the ball well, he's got good off-loads, so he might fill that position."

ALGER, Wash. — There were three leaders, six lead changes and a list of firsts for Robbie Price in Saturday’s 48th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort at Skagit Speedway.

The driver of the Millstone Heating and Sheetmetal No. 21p landed his first $15,000 Dirt Cup paycheck and his first Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network victory to become the first Canadian to win the event.

“It’s always good to come home, and it gives me some peace of mind. I like it a lot, and I’ll be honest, we’ve sucked a lot this year so to come out here and win, it’s such a great feeling and a great accomplishment. I’m just excited,” the 21-year-old driver said.

Taking the green from the fourth spot, Price chased Jason Solwold for third as Blake Hahn took off with the top spot after an opening lap drag race with Matt Covington.

Trying to swing low on a slower car on lap 13, Hahn made contact and spun. Never coming to a stop, and inadvertent caution was thrown to bring the field single file with Hahn in lining up in fifth.

Covington gained the lead and pulled away in clean air with Price under fire from Solwold as the pair went slide for slide over the next few laps. Keeping pace at the line over the No. 18, Price began running down Covington who had started to work back into slower traffic.

Taking advantage of slower cars, Price took a shot at the lead with Covington answering the challenge. Back and forth through traffic, Covington and Price used the slower cars as picks as Jason Solwold closed with BHahn and Colton Heath in tow.

With the top five nearly under a blanket, Robbie Price took over the top spot on lap 22. Stalked by Covington, the No. 95 reclaimed the lead on lap 27, but Covington’s night would fall 10 laps shy of the $15,000 payday as the engine expired on lap 30.

Price led on the restart, but another yellow flag came when Justyn Cox spun on lap 33.

Price held off Hahn’s late-race charge to win by .364 seconds.

Fighting from seventh, 2018 Dirt Cup winner Seth Bergman, ran to third in the closing laps with Jason Solwold settling for fourth. Scott Bogucki finished fifth.

The finish:

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 21P-Robbie Price, [4]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [7]; 4. 18-Jason Solwold, [3]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [13]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [9]; 7. 33-Colton Heath, [6]; 8. 22X-Travis Jacobson, [14]; 9. J2-John Carney II, [5]; 10. 8-Devon Borden, [10]; 11. 8R-Justin Sanders, [18]; 12. 11-Roger Crockett, [8]; 13. 9R-Reece Goetz, [21]; 14. 96-Greg Hamilton, [17]; 15. 44W-Austen Wheatley, [12]; 16. 8C-Justyn Cox, [15]; 17. 56-Justin Youngquist, [19]; 18. 57C-Chris Schmelzle, [16]; 19. 33S-Lance Sargent, [11]; 20. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 21. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [20]; 22. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty, [22]

ORRVILLE, Ohio — Buddy Kofoid etched his name in Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 history books on Saturday night at Wayne County Speedway.

Kofoid’s first series victory came on the final night of the 37th annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal Finishing.

The victory scored Kofoid a $10,000 payday.

The 17-year-old was forced to outduel Parker Price-Miller and six-time All Star champion Dale Blaney during the closing circuits of the 35-lap event. In fact, Kofoid was third when the field received the five-to-go signal from the flagstand, eventually getting by Blaney with two laps remaining, followed by a slick move to drive under Price-Miller on the final circuit.

Price-Miller, who led the first 34 laps from the pole, held on to finish second at Wayne County Speedway, followed by Blaney, Broc Martin and Rico Abreu.

“I really don’t know what to say. This was one of my goals when I moved out here,” said Buddy Kofoid, driver of the Ed Neumeister Racing/Gill Construction/CK Plumbing/Linder’s Speed Equipment/No. 11n sprint car. “Getting that first All Star win is just unbelievable. Now I want to get an Outlaw win. I really can’t thank this team enough. Mike [Linder] and the guys gave me a great car. I’m having a lot of fun doing this.”

Although never in command until the final circuit, it was obvious that Kofoid was going to be a factor. In fact, Kofoid took command for the first time, unofficially, on lap nine with a slider over Price-Miller through turns one and two. Unfortunately, a caution, the main event’s first and only caution, halted action just as Kofoid took command, ultimately negating his move.

Racing one-two after the restart, Price-Miller and Kofoid did not encounter traffic for the first time until lap 17, causing the front-runners to bunch that now included a fast-paced Dale Blaney, who battled his way to third from fifth by the completion of lap 23. From that point forward, it was a shootout.

By lap 26, the lead trio were trapped behind a wall of slower cars. Using traffic as a pick, Blaney pounced on Kofoid for second on lap 27, actually diving below the familiar No. 11N with a move between turns three and four. Despite losing a position, Kofoid kept pace with Blaney and Price-Miller, eventually returning the favor and advancing back into second on lap 33.

Keeping Price-Miller within striking distance, Kofoid drove to the tail tank of the Indy Race Parts No. 71P as the duo were entering turn one on the final circuit. In an attempt to protect the bottom, Price-Miller dived into one, but slid too high, actually opening the door for Kofoid who was able to sneak past.

“I was running harder and harder and harder. I actually blew off the track a little bit and that let Dale [Blaney] by,” Kofoid continued. “I was still running hard, but smoother. I ended up getting a run on Dale which allowed us to get back by him. I kept doing the same thing and that allowed us to reel Parker [Price-Miller] in. I felt like I could probably do a wheelie down the backstretch, that’s how much driver I was getting off of turn two.”

Kofoid won the battle on Saturday night, but it was Blaney who won the war, using his podium run to clinch a sixth Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek title, worth $4,000.

The finish:

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 2. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [5]; 4. 83M-Broc Martin [2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [8]; 6. 16-DJ Foos [3]; 7. G1-Justin Peck [6]; 8. 71-Gio Scelzi [14]; 9. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 10. 57X-Andrew Palker [22]; 11. 49X-Tim Shaffer [11]; 12. 3-Jac Haudenschild [9]; 13. 3C-Cale Conley [12]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 15. 87-Aaron Reutzel [25]; 16. 26-Cory Eliason [26]; 17. 13-Paul McMahan [20]; 18. K4-Chad Kemenah [17]; 19. 9-Dean Jacobs [19]; 20. 8M-TJ Michael [24]; 21. 45-Trevor Baker [15]; 22. A79-Brandon Wimmer [10]; 23. 8J-Jess Stiger [23]; 24. 22B-Ryan Broughton [13]; 25. 5H-Jordan Harble [18]; 26. 19-Mitch Harble [21] Lap Leaders: Parker Price-Miller (1-34), Buddy Kofoid (35)

SARVER, Pa. — As much as Tim McCreadie likes Lernerville Speedway, he had come up empty in the track’s premier World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series Firecracker 100.

Finally, a four-lap charge to the checkered flag in front of packed grandstands on Saturday night changed all that.

McCreadie, the 2006 series champion, started 11th and methodically worked his way forward, pacing himself perfectly over 100 laps to steal the lead in the high groove with four laps remaining to pick up the $30,000 victory over Darrell Lanigan and Brandon Sheppard.

“I had been making moves up top the whole night, so I thought, ‘What have I got to lose?’” an elated McCreadie exclaimed. “There’s no reason to do all this work and then just settle for second.”

There certainly weren’t any signs of settling aboard the K&L Rumley-owned Bilstein No. 6m on Saturday night, as “T-Mac” displayed his signature determination in the closing circuits, picking up four spots in the final 13 laps. But for the first 87 laps of the race, there was a different story unfolding with the leaders.

Sheppard grabbed the lead from the pole on the first lap and was in command through the first 61 laps. But a slip-up getting around a thick patch of lapped traffic made room for Ricky Weiss to sneak past on the inside.

Weiss, in hot pursuit of his first career World of Outlaws win, opened up a sizable advantage over Sheppard and Lanigan over the next 20 laps as the race continued caution-free. Lanigan got by Sheppard with 17 circuits remaining and began his chase on Weiss, closing the gap rapidly and nearly reaching the Sweet-Bloomquist No. 7 by lap 94.

As the leaders crossed the stripe to complete lap 95, Weiss got a bit too high and kissed the wall at the flag stand. As the sparks flew, Lanigan shot to the bottom of the track and dove underneath Weiss to take the lead away in turn one.

Weiss limped his car around the track for another lap-and-a-half, but his cut-down right-rear tire hindered his ability to drive too much to continue under green.

He took his car into the work area under the ensuing yellow flag for a tire change, but the damage to his track position had already been done.

“Our car was really good. [The top groove] wasn’t really where we wanted to run on the track at the end, but it was the fastest way around,” said a disappointed Weiss. “We were just kind of maintaining and, with five laps to go, we just ran something over.”

After 95 straight laps without a caution, Lanigan assumed the lead under the yellow and found McCreadie right on his bumper. The “Bluegrass Bandit” was only able to hold off McCreadie for two corners before McCreadie found grip on the cushion and beat Lanigan into turn three for the lead.

And that was all it took for McCreadie to score his second win for K&L Rumley Racing in another 100-lap showdown, to match their Atomic 100 victory at Atomic Speedway in April.

Lanigan came home second to score the fifth Firecracker 100 runner-up of his career.

“I really didn’t want to see that caution there at the end, but that’s part of racing I guess,” he said.

The finish:

Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 6m-Tim McCreadie [11][$30,000]; 2. 29-Darrell Lanigan [3][$15,000]; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard [1][$7,000]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport [6][$6,000]; 5. 14-Josh Richards [2][$5,000]; 6. 25-Shane Clanton [12][$4,000]; 7. O2-Mike Norris [5][$3,000]; 8. 22-Chris Ferguson [14][$2,500]; 9. 2-Brandon Overton [4][$2,250]; 10. 22s-Gregg Satterlee [19][$2,000]; 11. 17M-Dale McDowell [8][$1,900]; 12. 18-Chase Junghans [23][$1,800]; 13. 8-Jacob Hawkins [10][$1,700]; 14. 9-Devin Moran [17][$1,600]; 15. 25z-Mason Zeigler [15][$1,500]; 16. 7-Ricky Weiss [7][$1,400]; 17. 28-Dennis Erb [9][$1,300]; 18. 10-Jared Miley [26][$1,200]; 19. 1x-Chub Frank [20][$1,100]; 20. 2s-Dan Stone [18][$1,000]; 21. B1-Brent Larson [21][$1,000]; 22. 97-Cade Dillard [27][$110]; 23. 99B-Boom Briggs [24][$1,000]; 24. 157-Mike Marlar [16][$1,000]; 25. 1C-Mike Pegher [13][$1,000]; 26. 6-Blake Spencer [28][$110]; 27. 29s-Ken Schaltenbrand [25][$1,000]; 28. 4s-David Scott [22][$1,000]; Hard Charger: 18-Chase Junghans[+11]

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — Brad Sweet continued his early season dominance by winning Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway and extending his point lead over Donny Schatz.

In the words of Brad Sweet, “the more you lead, the better you get at it.”

Almost halfway through the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season, Sweet has made leading a habit and gotten better at it each race.

With more than 100 laps led already this season, the Grass Valley, Calif.-native added another 38 laps to that total after claiming his fifth victory of the season.

“I’m just happy we’re clicking them off and have a little bit of momentum on our side,” said Sweet, after claiming his 39th series victory.

His second victory at the Wisconsin track wasn’t earned without a few faults and lessons learned along the way.

The third-mile track was slick and technical for the 40-lap feature, he said. That meant finding the right line at the right time; a feat the Kasey Kahne Racing driver faults himself for not executing perfectly.

But before the track began to take rubber late in the race, forcing Sweet to contemplate the best line, he had to contest with DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash winner Shane Stewart for the lead.

On the initial start, Stewart jumped to the lead riding the high side of the track. Sweet chose the bottom. In two laps, the advantage proved to be Sweet’s. The NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 sped past Stewart, putting close to a second gap between them.

His newfound lead was cut short a few seconds later when Logan Schuchart brought out the first caution of the night by coming to a stop in turn three.

On the restart, Sweet returned to form. He shot to the lead, leaving the remaining 23 cars to content for second amongst themselves.

Stewart held on to the position for the next few laps before trying the low line and bicycling his car off turn four, giving Daryn Pittman an easy pass for second-place.

For the remaining 33 laps, third-place was traded among Stewart, David Gravel, Sheldon Haudenschild, Donny Schatz and Ian Madsen.

By the halfway point, Sweet caught lapped traffic and Pittman started to close in. However, navigating lap traffic — a situation Sweet has found himself in several times already this year while leading — only made him faster.

Pittman eventually transitioned to the high side and again began to close in on Sweet. But with 15 laps to go, Sweet also moved to the top and pulled away to the $20,000 victory.

“It was finesse. It was tricky,” Sweet said about the race. “I had to move around on the race track. I think the bottom caught a few guys off guard. I don’t know if they thought they should be on the bottom in (turns) three and four. I kind of had an idea. I did my warm up down there to see how much grip was down there.

“Luckily it was good down there early and I was able to get the lead. I made a couple of mistakes there. I probably stayed down there too long. But I didn’t want to follow lap guys. It’s just tricky sometimes leading and moving around.”

While Pittman’s second-place finish – his third podium finish in-a-row – was a momentum building performance with his Roth Motorsports team, he’s hungry for more.

“It just feels like it’s been a while since I won,” said Pittman, who last won in Florida in February. “I’ve gone from, how do we turn things around, to being consistent, to now dammit I want to win. We’ve still got to get a little bit better, but we’re close.”

The duel for third was won by the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 car of Gravel. In JJR’s return to Beaver Dam Raceway after Jason Johnson’s death there last year, Gravel kept the No. 41 car up front all night. He was the fast qualifier, won his Drydene Heat race and fought hard for a podium.

“We wanted to win tonight, but we’re happy with a podium,” Gravel said. “Third is good. We’ve been rolling pretty good here. Just have to keep it going.”

To see full results, turn to the next page.

LE CASTELLAT, France – Lewis Hamilton made winning the return of the French Grand Prix to Circuit Paul Ricard look like an effortless Sunday drive, because in effect, it was exactly that.

Hamilton started from the pole position, took the lead on the initial start and never gave it up again en route to his sixth Formula One victory in eight Grands Prix this season.

The five-time World Champion made his lone pit stop with 24 laps complete for a switch from the medium-compound Pirelli tires to the hard compound, and even that didn’t allow his rival Sebastian Vettel to get a momentary sniff of the lead.

Hamilton came out in front of Vettel and then pulled away from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas over the second half of the 53-lap race, taking the checkered flag in front by 18.056 seconds.

The win was the 79th of Hamilton’s F-1 career, moving him just a dozen victories behind Michael Schumacher for the most all-time in the history of the sport.

“It just never gets old,” said Hamilton of winning races. “It’s always really tough out there and I love trying to find the edge. It’s all about bridging the gap and being on top of this machine. I couldn’t do it without an incredible team and all these guys at the race track and back at the factory. We’re creating history together and I’m so proud to be a part of that.”

Hamilton may have made his win look simple, but he attested that it was far from as easy as it looked.

“It’s a beautiful day in South France, but I was still sweating a huge amount out there,” noted Hamilton. “It’s warm still in the car, as well as very, very bumpy. This is an awesome track to drive in the race – there’s some technical areas that you can manage – but it wasn’t an easy day.

“There’s always things happening. Everything is on the edge. We had to manage a lot of things today.”

Though Bottas chased Hamilton all day, he could do nothing with his teammate even after starting on the front row. The Finn was left to settle for a distant second in the end.

“There wasn’t really that much happening from my side today,” said Bottas. “The start was really the best bet for me (to pass Hamilton), but Lewis had a really good start as well. Ultimately, he was quicker today. I couldn’t really match his pace. We’ll need to have a look at that before the next one, but I’m proud of the team and proud of our effort. He’s not unbeatable; I just have to work hard.”

Sunday’s performance was Mercedes’ 50th sweep of the top-two positions in F-1 competition, as well as their 10th consecutive race win dating back to last year.

Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari, followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the second Ferrari of Vettel, who came in with high hopes but had lackluster pace during the race.

However, Vettel did prevent Hamilton from completing a Grand Slam by stealing the fastest lap of the race at the checkered flag with a clip of 1:32.740, earning a valuable bonus point in the process.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz crossed sixth, the final car on the lead lap, with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo ending up seventh ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The sister Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris’ ailing McLaren closed the points-scoring finishers in the top 10.

Norris was running seventh inside of five to go but fell back with a hydraulic issue on the final lap.

Hamilton’s points lead now sits at 36 over Bottas heading into the Austrian Grand Prix.

The finish:

Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat, Alexander Albon, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kevin Magnussen, Robert Kubica, George Russell, Romain Grosjean.

Nigeria's women ended their protest over unpaid bonuses on Sunday and left their hotel in France following their elimination from the World Cup.

The players demanded payment of outstanding allowances from the Nigerian Football Federation. They told ESPN FC they were owed bonuses from two games, against Gambia and Senegal, from as far back as two years ago, amounting to 2 million Nigerian naira (about $5,600 U.S.).

- FIFA Women's World Cup: All you need to know
- Full Women's World Cup fixtures schedule

But a resolution was found after meetings with officials, where they received explanations about the payments and assurances the money would be paid.

FIFA stepped in on Sunday morning after the players missed their transport to Paris and subsequently their flights, and the NFF were advised that any further expenses incurred by the team's continued stay would be deducted from their participation fee.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick told ESPN FC the issue came down to a misunderstanding.

"As far as we are concerned that is a non-issue as the bonuses they are asking for have been paid," he said. "The problem is that the players wanted to be paid the bonuses for home matches in US dollars, but that is no longer the rule under this government.

"All transactions for home games must be paid in naira."

Nigeria reached the knockout stage of the Women's World Cup in France before losing 3-0 to Germany in the round of 16 on Saturday in Grenoble.

The players are expected to arrive in Abuja on Monday after they told ESPN they had accepted the explanation and were on their way home.

CLEVELAND -- Christian Pulisic couldn't stop smiling.

Given that the U.S. thrashed Trinidad and Tobago 6-0 in its second group-stage match at the Gold Cup, this wouldn't seem to be that unusual. But Pulisic's postgame demeanor usually shifts between stoic, if the team wins, and scowl, if the team loses.

This time, Pulisic was practically buoyant, happy to discuss all manner of topics, though the team's performance pleased him most of all.

- CONCACAF Gold Cup: All you need to know
- Full Gold Cup fixtures schedule

"We enjoyed every moment of it," he said. "Obviously the goals and everything flowed really nicely, so it looks good. We're going to have some bigger challenges ahead and we're more excited for those."

Pulisic even found time to expound on the energy levels of teammate and long-term friend, Weston McKennie.

"Besides at 8 in the morning, he has more energy than any guy I've ever met," Pulisic said of McKennie. "In the morning, don't talk to him. But after that, he's on 'go' all the time.

"A switch hits at 9:15 a.m. and he's ready. Then the whole day is just nonstop. I'm a morning person, so that time is good for me because Wes isn't always in my ear."

Pulisic also opened a bit of a window into what this game meant to him. All week, the U.S. team had insisted that revenge for the World Cup qualifying defeat to the Soca Warriors back in 2017, one that prevented them from reaching the 2018 World Cup, wasn't on its mind. The focus was on the task at hand. That went from players who played in the World Cup qualifier, like Paul Arriola, to those who didn't, like Wil Trapp.

Pulisic was different, even going so far as to say in one postgame interview that he had a chip on his shoulder regarding the match. His outlook hadn't changed by the time he made his way through the postmatch mixed zone.

"You guys know what happened against Trinidad," he said. "Obviously I wanted to win real bad today. That was it."

It showed. Pulisic and the rest of his teammates struggled to break T&T down in the first half, though that was due in part to the fact that the Soca Warriors were content to sit back, soak up pressure and try to hit the U.S. on the counter. That said, the U.S. also wasn't entirely sharp either.

But it was the Chelsea midfielder who helped break the ice with a bit of quality that came in the form of a perfectly weighted cross that Aaron Long headed home for the first of his two goals. Pulisic later set up Gyasi Zardes' second goal of the night, and was overall an attacking menace as the game opened up. After that tally, the rout was officially on, including a Pulisic goal set up by substitute Jordan Morris.

"They were very man-oriented and it was tough to break the lines, but we said you have to keep moving and finding the right spaces and we did a good job of that in the second half," he said. "Obviously when you do that the whole game and press them every time you lose the ball, it's tough for them.

"They got tired -- you could see it and we did that really well tonight."

Pulisic even drew praise from manager Gregg Berhalter for the work he put in defensively, and the midfielder could be seen sprinting back in the second half to help win the ball.

"It's not my biggest strength, but I think it's really important for me coming into this team, if we're going to play this pressing style, I'm going to try to help the team the best I can," Pulisic said. "If it means I have to work really hard, I'm going to understand how we're going to press and how we're going to do things. I worked hard tonight."

Everything about Pulisic, from his performance to his postgame mood, could be reflected in his U.S. teammates. The much-maligned Zardes scored twice and came within inches of getting a hat trick. McKennie thrived in a midfield role that saw him play a little deeper in support of Michael Bradley while also finding some of his trademark energy to get forward.

While the defense had a couple of scary moments in dealing with some T&T counterattacks -- including one in the 61st minute that ended with Levi Garcia missing the target -- it largely held up well.

Certainly there are better teams in this tournament than T&T, who finds itself eliminated after two games with a goal differential of minus-8. But prior to the tournament the Americans had difficulty looking good against just about everybody. It's worth noting that Pulisic didn't play in either of those matches, but now at least the U.S. looks like it's beginning to build some chemistry.

Arriola, scorer of the U.S. team's fifth goal, and Tyler Boyd are creating some havoc on the flanks. Bradley and McKennie looked to be in sync with their roles. The sight of Jozy Altidore making it onto the field for a 16-minute appearance was welcome.

While it no doubt helps when players around Pulisic are performing well, he remains the vital piece if the U.S. is going to actually win the tournament. For a player of Pulisic's talent, that isn't news. But there have been moments when Pulisic looked weighed down by the responsibility placed on him. The fact that the U.S. attacker is looking more comfortable in his national team skin bodes well.

"I think what we're doing is trying to put him in a position where he can [take a game over]," Berhalter said about Pulisic. "The structure around him accommodates him being flexible. He can go wide, he can come inside, he can create space for himself, we can use the striker to get him the ball bouncing it back to him. That's what we're trying to do, and the reason we're trying to do that is he has these game-changing abilities."

It is premature to say the U.S. men's national team has made a full recovery. Panama, its final group-stage opponent on Wednesday, has a habit of making life difficult for the U.S. at the Gold Cup. After all, the Canaleros are responsible for handing the U.S. its only group-stage defeat in the history of the tournament.

But with both the U.S. and Panama already through to the quarterfinals, it remains to be seen what level of intensity there will be in a game which has little riding on it.

"The first two games have been good, but it's just a start," Bradley added. "We understand that as the tournament goes on, games get harder, things get more competitive and the level from everybody has to go up."

True. But for the first time in what seems like ages, the possibility that a higher ceiling exists for this U.S. team feels more real. For a program that has been weighed down by a World Cup qualifying hangover, that is a welcome step forward.

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