BRIDGEVIEW, Ill.— Clint Dempsey scored his fourth goal in four games, Michael Bradley and Brian Ching padded the margin, and the United States beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 in World Cup qualifying tonight.

The victory was the fifth straight by the Americans, and virtually assures them of making next year's six-team regional finals. The United States is atop Group One in the semifinals of the North and Central American and the Caribbean with nine points, five ahead of T&T.

"It's ideal, right?" Landon Donovan said. "We were excellent tonight. The first half was one of the most dominating performances I've ever been a part of. We were good all over the field."

The victory was hardly a surprise. The Americans are 25-1-7 in home qualifiers since May 1985, their only defeat a 3-2 loss to Honduras in September 2001, and have outscored opponents 21-0 on U.S. soil since 2004. They're also 9-0-2 in World Cup qualifying against T&T.

The Soca Warriors, forced to play without veteran midfielder Dwight Yorke after he was recalled to his club team in England, had a second-half goal waved off on an offsides call. It was the sixth straight shutout for the United States.

"It's going to be tougher" to advance with the loss, Cornell Glenn said. "We know we have to work even harder. We have a job to do and we just have to forget this game."

Though the Americans came in with a four-game winning streak, their offense has been patchy and they eked out 1-0 victories in each of the prior three games — all on the road.

No such problems against T&T, as the Americans got two quick goals in the first 18 minutes.

"That wasn't important. The most important thing was to win," Dempsey insisted. "Whether we scored one goal or five, a win is a win."

DaMarcus Beasley earned the Americans a free kick in the ninth minute when he was tripped up as he sprinted down the left sideline. Donovan lofted the kick over the scrum in front of the goal and Marvin Phillip had no chance as Bradley flicked the ball into the goal with the right side of his foot.

Donovan pumped his fist when he saw the ball go in, and the rest of the Americans mobbed Beasley. It was Bradley's third international goal, and second this year.

Nine minutes later, the Americans doubled their lead. Dempsey had the ball on the right side and fed Beasley on a give-and-go. There were four defenders in front of him, but they were lined up flat, and Beasley threaded the ball on a perfect pass to Dempsey, who put it in the far side of the net.

It was the fourth goal in as many games for Dempsey. He had two at home against Barbados, and also scored at Cuba. He did not play when the Americans traveled to Barbados.

"Their defense wasn't comfortable coming in with (Beasley and Dempsey)," Donovan said. "And if they did come, our outside backs did a good job of getting around them and making it difficult. Time after time, we found little seams, we could turn plays and be dangerous almost every time we had the ball."

After managing just one shot in the first 45 minutes, the Soca Warriors got much more aggressive in the second half and managed to create a few chances on corner kicks. Steve Cherundolo and Carlos Bocanegra cleared out two, and Oguchi Onyewu knocked another shot to safety just outside the goal.

But the Americans effectively ended the game in the 57th minute. Akile Edwards flipped Cherundolo into the air, drawing a yellow card and giving the United States a free kick. Beasley took it, and Onyewu headed it back toward the goal, only to have Phillip get his hands on it as they collided.

The rebound caromed straight to Ching, though, who was all alone in front of the goal and headed the ball into the net.

"Getting that third goal killed the game," Donovan said. "They didn't want to get embarrassed, so three goals is enough."

The Soca Warriors' thought they'd avoided the shutout in the 60th minute, when Glenn took a hard shot from just outside the box. American goalkeeper Tim Howard dove to his left and punched the ball away and second-half substitute Anthony Wolfe collected it and quickly put it into the open goal.

Referees quickly whistled it off, and replays showed he was, indeed offsides.

"We've not had a game like that in a while," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "We had a few last year, but so far this year, that's not the game we've been in. So it's good to get things going in the right way."