It's here, folks: The FIFA World Cup kicks off this week, and the U.S. men's national soccer team is ready for its Friday opener in Los Angeles, the players say.
A pair of international friendlies over the past two weekends has given the Americans and their fans plenty of reasons to dream big. Star forward Christian Pulisic broke his monthslong goal drought against Senegal, and defender Antonee Robinson wowed with his offensive playmaking. And above all, the U.S. showed they are unwilling to be intimidated by quality opponents with their own serious aspirations for the World Cup.
"We're really starting to hit our stride," said midfielder Tyler Adams after Saturday's game against Germany.
Gone are the anxieties about scoring chances
In the 2022 World Cup, the Americans only managed to score three goals in their four games. That was enough for a win and two draws in the group stage, but their road ended in the Round of 16 when the Netherlands easily outscored them 3-1.
Now, any anxiety over the U.S. scoring capability feels like a distant memory. The team is flush with options on the attack, and not only Pulisic, who has scored 33 goals for the U.S. in his career. Forwards Folarin Balogun, who found the net against Senegal, and Ricardo Pepi, who was instrumental in two goals against Senegal, have looked excellent these past two weeks.
In other words, the team is consistently creating chances and converting enough to compete. "It's definitely encouraging," said Pulisic Saturday. "We have a lot of talent on the team, a lot of guys that can create and be dangerous to score goals."
But defense is still a liability…
Both Germany and Senegal picked up easy goals on defensive lapses. Great World Cup teams, like the kind the U.S. hopes to face in the Round of 16 and beyond, will do that.
Compared to a relatively deep bench of forwards and midfielders, the U.S. have fewer full-package defenders. On one hand, there's Tim Ream, whose soccer IQ and positioning are excellent, but who is 38 and can no longer win a footrace. Next to him is the promising 21-year-old Alex Freeman, the son of a former NFL wide receiver whose athleticism is off the charts but feel for the game is still a work in progress. Backups Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie and Auston Trusty have their moments but are prone to mistakes.
"There's been a lot of combinations worked on in training and, there were moments when we can be better connected as a group on the defensive side," Ream said after the game.
… so getting defender Chris Richards back from injury will be key
The U.S. badly needs the return of defender Chris Richards, who hurt his ankle in a game with his club Crystal Palace in May. He sat out both friendlies. His status for Friday's game against Paraguay is still in limbo.
"If this was the final of the World Cup, maybe he can play. But the advice of the medical [team] is not to play," coach Mauricio Pochettino said the day before the Germany game. He added that they would assess Richards' health in the days that followed.
"He's an important piece of the group [with] his energy, his leadership on and off the field. So obviously we're just all behind him and can't wait to have him back," midfielder Weston McKennie said Friday.
These guys aren't afraid of adversity
A meeker U.S. team might have folded when Germany scored in the second minute of Saturday's game. But this version of the USMNT righted the ship within minutes and began pressing Germany hard, producing chance after chance before finally connecting on Robinson's extraordinary goal before the halftime break.
After the game, Pochettino told reporters he came to see Germany's early goal as "lucky" for his squad. "[It was] an amazing challenge for us to see how we react, how is your character, how we show togetherness, how we start to play under pressure," he said.
And the toughness showed up in the physicality, too. Players didn't back down from challenges. When Germany fouled hard, an American delivered a hard foul right back. The message, Adams said, was "have each other's backs."
"We can tune up passing, final plays, finishing, all those kinds of things. But to see that mentality, I think from everyone, and it's not just the guys that started, everyone that came off the bench as well — that's what you need," he said.
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