BALTIMORE (AP) — Clint Dempsey walked away with the game ball for one of the few times in his career. With his first international hat trick, he boosted the United States to a 6-0 rout over Cuba on Saturday and into its eighth straight CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal.

Dempsey put the Americans ahead with a fourthminute header, converted a penalty kick in the 64th and added the final goal in the 78th.

In Wednesday’s semifinal at Atlanta, the Americans play Jamaica, which beat Haiti 1-0 in the second game of the doubleheader.

Dempsey has scored a tournament-high six times, and his 47 international goals are 10 behind Landon Donovan’s American record.

Gyasi Zardes (15th minute), Aron Johannsson (32nd) and Omar Gonzalez (45th) also scored as the Americans built a 4-0 halftime lead against a Cuban team depleted by five absent players who may have defected. Before a pro-U.S. crowd of 37,994, the Americans outshot the Cubans 24- 7.

It was more than 90 degrees on the field and sunny for the 5 p.m. kickoff, causing Costa Rican referee Henry Bejarano to call for a water break after the third goal. With its highest victory margin in the championship of soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean region, the U.S. improved to 8- 1 in Gold Cup quarterfinals.