USA 2, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 0 By Ridge Mahoney in Foxboro, Mass. Thirteen points in the bag, three more to go. That was the assessment by Coach Bruce Arena after the U.S. national team duly dispatched Trinidad & Tobago, 2-0, at Foxboro Stadium Wednesday night. Goals by Ante Razov and Earnie Stewart brought the U.S. its fourth win in five Hexagonal games. At 4-0-1, the U.S. team tops the six-team group from which three qualify for the 2002 World Cup. “It was a good performance,” said Arena. “A bunch of [games] have been pretty good, but tonight in a lot of ways was pretty complete. The ball movement was good, we created good chances, and again defensively we were good.” As has been the case since the Hexagonal started, the U.S. relied on its rugged defense, which has conceded just one goal in five games. “To perform at the defensive end of the field the way we did tonight was pretty impressive,” said Arena. “I give a lot of credit to our back line and [Chris] Armas and really everybody.” The central defensive pair of Jeff Agoos and Eddie Pope neutralized T&T strikers Dwight Yorke and Stern John, and T&T playmaker Russell Latapy crumbled under midfield pressure applied by Claudio Reyna, Armas and Stewart. “[Latapy] was the main key coming into the game,” said Reyna, who again played a solid game devoid of both spectacle and mistakes. “He’s the guy who gets the ball and gets it to the forwards. He was the main player we had to stop, and they have some good players out wide as well. “We did a good job. I thought Chris was excellent today, getting around the ball, breaking up plays, and that was important.” Razov scored after just 73 seconds. Agoos lofted a ball over the T&T back line and Razov pulled away from sweeper Dennis Lawrence to bury a first-time shot. “A couple of us mentioned to Ante that between him and Jovan, he was the guy who was going to get behind,” said Reyna. “We really need a guy, now that Josh [Wolff] is injured, who can get behind the defense. He did a good job of doing that.” Stewart doubled the lead in the 20th minute by pouncing on a poor first touch by Marvin Andrews and racing into the box to drill a shot along the ground past keeper Clayton Ince and just inside the far post. The only anxious moments for the U.S. in the first half were a Steve Cherundolo tackle on Ansil Elcock that brought T&T appeals for a penalty, and a sharp-angle shot by Angus Eve that Kasey Keller dove to deflect past the post with his fingertips. Razov put the ball in the net again from point-blank range in the second half but an offside call negated the goal. T&T seldom established any rhythm in its attack. It did generate three shots on goal in the second half, two of them headers by Yorke and Eve, but Keller saved comfortably both times. The U.S. will not have Reyna for its July 1 match in Mexico City. He will serve a one-game suspension after picking up his second caution. Arena may also rest a few of his European players, many of whom have been playing regularly for nearly a year. “There are certainly going to be a couple of players left off the next roster and some new faces coming into camp,” said Arena. “We’re certainly not going to give up until we qualify. We’re real close but we have to keep pushing forward until mathematically we are there. It looks like we need to get three points in the next five games.”