Pulisic, Christian (1998- )

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      Christian Pulisic Leads U.S. Past Panama and to Brink of World Cup

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      Christian Pulisic led the way with three goals, but the Americans still must go to Costa Rica to guarantee their place in Qatar.The United States men’s soccer team is not in the World Cup, not just yet. There is still one last trip to make, one last job to do, one last game to play.It would be hard, though, for a team to keep the Americans from going to Qatar now. And it would be nearly impossible to persuade them, or anyone else, that — at last — they do not belong back on soccer’s brightest stage.That was the biggest news to emerge from the United States’ 5-1 victory over Panama on Sunday night in Orlando, Fla. Bigger than the four first-half goals they scored against the overwhelmed Panamanians. Bigger than Christian Pulisic’s hat trick and the rested legs, bigger than the padding they’ve added to their goal differential that has made Wednesday’s trip to Costa Rica far less terrifying than it might have been.What’s left to do? The Americans head to Costa Rica knowing they do not even have to win to qualify for the World Cup. Merely avoiding a heavy defeat — a loss by six goals or more — will ensure the Americans will finish with one of the automatic qualifying places from their region, North and Central America and the Caribbean.Canada became the first team from the region to qualify on Sunday, thanks to a 4-0 victory at home over Jamaica, and only Mexico and Costa Rica remain in contention for the other two. (Panama was eliminated with its loss on Sunday night.)The U.S. has a much better goal difference than both Mexico and Costa Rica, however, and that reality — in the event of a tie for the automatic places after Wednesday’s final games — was its own kind of comfort in the glow of Sunday’s rout. What it effectively means is that even a historic defeat for the Americans at Costa Rica would come with a lifeline: a playoff against the Oceania champion in June for a last-gasp place in Qatar.That back door was the least of anyone’s concerns after a performance in Orlando that ranked as the Americans’ best of the seven-month qualifying campaign.“We want to go there and win the game,” United States Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “Just like I’ve been saying in the first two games: We go into each game preparing to win.”The tension that the Americans carried into Sunday’s game — a mix of injuries, illnesses and suspensions melting together with the lingering angst from a failed qualifying run in 2017 — dissipated in a flurry of early goals.Pulisic, a veteran of that last campaign, which ended with him in tears on a muggy field in Trinidad, opened the scoring by converting a penalty kick in the 17th minute. Six minutes later, the lead was two, thanks to a Paul Arriola header, and four minutes after that it was 3-0 after a slotted finish by the surprise starter Jesús Ferreira.Pulisic made it 4-0 during first-half stoppage time, converting a second penalty, and he completed his first national team hat trick with an effortless — for him — finish in the 65th minute. Pulling down a cross with silky control in Panama’s penalty area, he spun in traffic and slipped two defenders to slot home his third goal.“Christian’s a guy who’s been through it before,” Berhalter said later, and anyone who has lived through 2017 knew what he meant. Pulisic had worn the captain’s armband on Sunday, and played like the leader Berhalter needs him to be if the Americans are to close the deal on Wednesday.His only mistake against Panama, it seemed, was an awkward attempt at breakdancing after his second penalty kick and a yellow card for arguing only moments before Berhalter subbed him off. Other key players were soon subbed off, too, the Americans resting weary legs that had delivered a tie at Mexico and a big win in the span of four days, and still had one game to go.A fat goal difference — the Americans’ is plus-13 now, compared with Costa Rica’s plus-3 — will help.Canada became the first Concacaf team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images“We knew we had to come out on the front foot and getting that goal early set the tone for the whole match,” defender Walker Zimmerman said of the lopsided victory. “Those goals add up, and they’re huge for us.”But a late consolation goal by Panama defender Aníbal Godoy, who was at fault for conceding both penalties in the first half, served as a reminder of how things can still go wrong if Zimmerman and his teammates aren’t careful.In 2017, the Americans had also thrashed Panama in Orlando in their penultimate game. All the team needed to do after that was go to Trinidad and Tobago, which had already been eliminated, and avoid a loss.Instead, the United States got it all wrong, losing by 2-1 as other results around the region went against them. In two stunning hours they went from assuredly in to definitively, and shockingly, out of the World Cup. The margin was more narrow then, but the lesson has stuck with the current team, most of whom — with the notable exception of Pulisic — were not part of the squad back then.“The goal obviously has always been to qualify for the World Cup, and this is just another step in the right direction,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “But at the end of the day we still have another game to play. We haven’t clinched yet.”It is a message he will surely repeat over the next three days, until the job is done, until the ticket is punched, until the United States is finally, officially headed back to the World Cup. More

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      U.S. Ties Mexico, Extending World Cup Wait

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      Fine margins are the hallmark of World Cup qualifying. For the Americans, their rivals and a handful of other teams around the world, Thursday was no different.MEXICO CITY — As the final whistle blared late on Thursday night, Jordan Pefok fell to the grass and covered his face with his hands.Pefok, a striker for the United States men’s soccer team, was tired, to be sure. He and his teammates had just battled Mexico to a 0-0 draw at Estádio Azteca, a commendable result at an altitude that can leave even elite athletes gasping for air.But, more than that, Pefok seemed crestfallen. About 20 minutes earlier he had missed a sterling chance from point-blank range, shanking a shot so wide of an open goal that everyone in the stadium, fans of both sides, gasped in surprise.What made the blunder even harder to believe was that Christian Pulisic, in the first half, had missed a surefire opportunity of his own from an eerily similar spot, whipping his close range shot straight at Mexico’s goalkeeper, even as the whole of the net gaped before him.Either chance could have provided the winning difference in the American’s crucial, third-to-last World Cup qualifying match. How much will the miscues be rued? It will take a few more days to know for sure.But in this way, the night — at the stadium in the Mexican capitol and inside others around the world where simultaneous contests were being played on Thursday — provided more reminders of the fine margins, hidden pitfalls and cosmic plot twists that regularly conspire to make World Cup qualifying cycles so entertaining and so maddening.North Macedonia won at Italy on Thursday to keep its World Cup dream alive. The Italians? They’re out for the second straight World Cup.Carmelo Imbesi/EPA, via ShutterstockItaly produced dozens of chances in its playoff against North Macedonia, but the reigning European champions will miss the World Cup after they failed to score and their guests found a way. Sweden, likewise, is still alive after finding an extra-time winner against the Czech Republic, and Ecuador clinched its place in Qatar despite losing, 3-1 at Paraguay.Uruguay is going to the World Cup after winning at home, but Canada lost and will have to wait at least a few days. The same is now true of Mexico and the United States, too; like Canada’s team, they are close enough to touch a World Cup berth, but also aware it can still slip away.“I’m disappointed I missed a chance, and I would have loved to have won the game,” Pulisic said after his team’s draw at Mexico. “But this is the situation we’re in now, and we’re happy with it.”Luck of course has a way of evening out, and in other ways, the United States was fortunate on Thursday.All week long the players had been asked how they would manage their nerves in the hair-raising atmosphere of the Azteca, where rowdy, capacity crowds can induce claustrophobia in visiting teams. But the stadium they entered Thursday was oddly tame.Capacity in the building was drastically reduced — to 50,000 from 87,000 — as part of an ongoing effort from the Mexican federation to curb persistent offensive chanting from the home team’s fans. The traveling American fans, cloistered as a group in a corner of the upper deck, at times made more noise than their far more numerous counterparts.It was the Americans’ third consecutive draw in World Cup qualifying at the Azteca, a quietly surprising statistic that perhaps paints a picture of a team finding itself increasingly comfortable in its chief rival’s home.Just like the U.S., Hirving Lozano and Mexico were left lamenting missed chances to score.Eduardo Verdugo/Associated PressAlso working in the United States’ favor was an unexpected result in one of the other games: Panama, which began the day in fourth place, managed only a tie at home against Honduras, a team languishing in last place with little left to play for.The Americans will meet Panama in their next match, on Sunday in Orlando, Fla., and Thursday’s scores now mean a win there would put the Americans in a strong position to earn one of the three automatic qualification spots in the region. They close their World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday on the road against Costa Rica, which also notched a surprising result, a 1-0 win over first-place Canada, to leapfrog Panama into fourth.“I’m looking forward to getting home and having a good performance,” United States Coach Gregg Berhalter said.Berhalter’s biggest challenge for that game could be managing personnel in his somewhat depleted traveling party. The team was already short-handed by injuries, entering the three-game window missing four important players: right back Sergiño Dest, midfielders Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson, and goalkeeper Matt Turner.Then, before the game, the team ruled out defender Reggie Cannon, who tested positive for the coronavirus, and during it another two starters, Timothy Weah and DeAndre Yedlin, picked up yellow cards that ruled them out of the contest on Sunday night. To fill the sudden gaps, Shaq Moore, a defender who plays in Spain’s second division, was quickly called in. He will meet the team in Orlando ahead of Sunday’s game, and more than likely be in the starting lineup when it kicks off.For the available players, the Panama game could represent a punishing turnaround. Many of them, particularly those in the starting lineup against Mexico, were visibly laboring by the end of the match.Afterward, Berhalter praised his players for expending every ounce of energy and in the same breath played down the potential physical consequences for doing so.“We’ll recover,” he said. “There’s plenty of time to recover.”One factor helping the team’s cause will be the re-emergence of attacking midfielder Gio Reyna, who came on as a second-half substitute. The game marked Reyna’s first appearance for the team since September, when he sustained a leg injury that would keep him sidelined for months.Reyna was the player who had supplied the potential assist to Pefok, cushioning the ball cleverly out of midair onto his teammate’s foot, before it was squandered. Reyna became visibly agitated after the miss, holding out his hands in disbelief, staring at Pefok for several seconds after the ball had trickled out of bounds.The gesture may have come across as unseemly, but Reyna moments later delighted the crowd with a dizzying dribbling run, a meandering high-speed journey from back near the American penalty area almost all the way to the Mexican goal during which he beat a half dozen opposing players, some of them multiple times.Berhalter compared the run to the famous solo goal Argentina’s Diego Maradona had scored at the Azteca at the 1986 World Cup.“I had visions of that while Gio was dribbling,” Berhalter said. “Unfortunately he didn’t have an opportunity to finish it off.”In World Cup qualifying, after all, there is often a razor thin line between glory and disappointment. The Americans will hope, in the coming days, they land on the right side of it. More

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      U.S. Faces Mexico With Simple Goal: ‘We Just Have to Qualify’

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      The bitter sting of a missed World Cup shadows a young team nearing the end of its qualifying road. Three games will decide its fate.MEXICO CITY — There is a tendency among professional athletes and coaches, when faced with the hype of high-stakes competition, to undersell the sense of occasion.A big game, they might say, is in fact just another game. Looking ahead at a stretch of daunting contests is futile; better to go one day at a time.But when the United States men’s soccer team gathered this week in preparation for its final three qualification games for the 2022 World Cup, Coach Gregg Berhalter was uncharacteristically blunt with his staff.“This is probably the biggest week of our lives as professional coaches,” Berhalter said he told them. “That’s just honest.”On Thursday in Mexico City, Berhalter and his team embarked on a set of matches — three of them, in three countries — that will determine if they will return to the World Cup for the first time since 2014. It is unlikely the fate of either the United States or Mexico will be decided on Thursday night; results in other games could change the math, injuries and absences have complicated both teams’ plans, and two more matches remain after Thursday, offering either confirmation or a last-ditch lifeline.A place in the world’s biggest sporting event is typically motivation enough. But Berhalter and his players have been burdened with the task of redeeming the failures of their predecessors, of smudging away the memories of 2017, when the team squandered a ticket to the 2018 World Cup in stunning fashion.The current group, the great majority of whom played no role in the failure of five years ago, began the day in second place in their regional qualifying group — a strong position, given that the top three teams earn an automatic spot in the tournament and the fourth-place team gets a chance to make it through a play-in game. But the disaster of Couva, Trinidad, in 2017 means the United States long ago surrendered the privilege of tranquil optimism.After their game against Mexico on Thursday, the Americans will play Panama in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday before traveling to Costa Rica for their final qualifier on Wednesday night.“We just have to qualify — there’s just no other option,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “I think that when you’re in big games, important games, you always have to remember what motivates you and what you’re doing it for. And for us, we’re doing it for all the U.S. fans. We don’t want to let down our nation.”Christian Pulisic, right, is one of the few holdovers from the U.S. team that missed the last World Cup. “We definitely don’t want to go through that again.”Alfredo Estrella/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAll week the American players have repeated the word “responsibility,” the understanding that their fortunes in these games will ripple far outside their group, and well into the future.That remains one of the curious aspects of national soccer teams: their reputations, their standards, their expectations, how people perceive them to play, how people evaluate their characters — these things get passed through generations, even as players and coaches and other personnel change.The same could be said for their traumas. In 2017, the Americans went to Trinidad knowing that a win or a draw would guarantee them a ticket to the World Cup. Instead they lost, and a series of unlikely results in simultaneous matches on the final day left them on the outside looking in for the first time in a generation. The American players finished the night slumped on the field, some of them with tears in their eyes. A few, like the star Christian Pulisic, did not speak publicly about their disappointment for months.Time moves slowly in international soccer. The images and sensations of that night — the heartbreak and disgust and nausea — continue to stalk the program. Adams talked this week about watching that match on his couch at home. He said he spent the ensuing years wondering if he might have sneaked onto the World Cup roster if the team had qualified for Russia.“Hopefully we have all learned from the past that we need to be better,” said midfielder Paul Arriola, one of the few current players who was part of the last qualifying campaign.As the last stage of that effort began Thursday at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the United States and Mexico found themselves in the unusual, uncomfortable position of looking above in the standings and seeing someone else — Canada — in the top spot they have long claimed as their own.Goalkeeper Sean Johnson during a training session at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium on Wednesday.Eduardo Verdugo/Associated PressMexico is ranked 12th in the world by FIFA. The United States is 13th. Canada is 33rd. But Canada — which was unbeaten against the U.S. and Mexico in qualifying (2-0-2) — has looked to be the most assured, the most dangerous team in the region over these past months, while the two traditional powers have struggled more openly with the highs and lows of the grueling, monthslong competition.The Americans started the process last September with youthful bravado. Never mind that the majority of them had never experienced the stress and strain of World Cup qualifying matches in this region. Midfielder Weston McKennie declared the team would look to “dominate” the tournament. Adams trumpeted their lofty target: “Nine-point week, bottom line,” he said heading in to the team’s first three-game window.Those things did not happen. The team’s first two games were duds, and they finished the first window with five points instead of nine — no reason to panic, but a cold reminder of the challenge that lay ahead. Since then, it has been a learn-on-the-fly process of melding the team’s many raw talents into a coherent group.Berhalter, who has openly marveled at the difficulty of managing such a young team in such a tough circumstance, has gone through a learning process of his own.“When you’re at a club, it’s a building type of thing,” said Berhalter, who coached for almost a decade at the club level before being hired by U.S. Soccer in 2018. “When you’re at a national team, I think it’s a winning type of thing. My mind-set had to change to be much more about winning every game. That’s what we want. That’s obviously what the public wants. Winning also means qualifying.”The urgency of that task was felt most acutely by the people who were on the field four years ago. Pulisic, for instance, was one of the players with tears on his face after the loss in Trinidad.“I’ve been looking forward to it for years now,” he said about washing away the bad taste of that experience. “Of course we use it as motivation. We were extremely upset. And now we want to qualify. We have the opportunity now. We definitely don’t want to go through that again.” More

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      U.S. Beats Honduras In Frigid World Cup Qualifier

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      After losing to Canada, the team recorded its first set piece goal of the qualifying campaign and the star striker Christian Pulisic scored in an appearance off the bench.Perhaps no moment better exemplified the mounting pressure — and its slight alleviation — on the United States men’s national soccer team than the 67th minute on Wednesday. Christian Pulisic, the talented striker who plays for Chelsea, has sputtered and looked frustrated in his recent performances for his country.And against Honduras, on a frigid night in St. Paul, Minn., Pulisic wasn’t even in U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s starting lineup. But after he entered the game as a substitute in the 64th minute and knocked in a goal three minutes later, Pulisic calmly ran off with his arms outstretched, then pumped his fist and hugged his teammates.With a commanding 3-0 victory over Honduras to close this World Cup qualifying window, the United States stayed firmly in control of its fate and lightened some — but not all — of the load on its collective shoulders heading into the next set of games in March.By picking up three points in the standings, the United States moved into sole possession of second place — for now, pending the outcome of Mexico’s game against Panama later on Wednesday — in the eight-team qualifying group from North and Central America and the Caribbean that will determine the region’s berths in this year’s World Cup. The top three teams will receive automatic entry to the tournament in Qatar in November.Three days earlier, the United States had made matters more difficult for itself by falling 2-0 to a revived Canada squad in a showdown between the top two teams in the region. After the match, questions resurfaced about the United States’ coaching, tactics and play.But even in brutal cold on Wednesday, the United States looked much different against Honduras, which is last in the qualifying group and had already been eliminated from World Cup contention. The United States scored in ways it hadn’t before and looked more at ease.The United States played its previous two games of this qualifying window in outdoor stadiums in cold places — at home against El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio, last week and on the road against Canada in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday — but Wednesday’s game at Allianz Field had the worst conditions.The wind chill was negative 8 degrees Fahrenheit at kickoff but dropped as the game progressed, making it the coldest U.S. home game. U.S. Soccer wanted to not only limit its travel during this qualifying window but also gain an advantage over its Central American rivals.Warmers and hot beverages were provided for both teams. Some players wore balaclavas and gaiters around their necks and, at times, over their faces to keep warm. U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner wore a muff around his waist to keep his hands warm but removed it only minutes into the game after a referee ran over to talk to him.Because of performance and injuries (Tyler Adams and Chris Richards), Berhalter went with a different lineup on Wednesday, starting, for example, Jordan Morris at forward instead of Pulisic and inserting Kellyn Acosta at midfield. From the start, the United States was in control.In the eighth minute, Weston McKennie headed in an Acosta free kick — the United States’ first set piece goal of this qualifying campaign. It was also only the third time in 11 qualifying matches that the United States had scored in the first half.Then came more goals of that kind: Another free kick by Acosta was knocked in by Walker Zimmerman in the 37th minute and Pulisic scored in the 67th minute off a corner kick by Acosta.After the game, the United States’ attention turned to warming up and its next games in March. Next month, the United States is scheduled for tough road matchups against archrival Mexico (March 24) and Costa Rica (March 30), and will host Panama on March 27. Entering Wednesday, the United States was tied with Mexico, with 18 points, for second place in the qualifying group.Qatar is still very much within the United States’ reach, but not just yet. More

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      Canada Beats U.S., Cementing a Soccer Power Shift

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      The victory in a World Cup qualifier moved Canada to the cusp of its first World Cup berth since 1986, and reasserted its sudden dominance in North America.HAMILTON, Canada — If it wasn’t already clear which country in North and Central America and the Caribbean had the best soccer team during this World Cup qualifying cycle, Canada provided another resounding argument for its primacy on Sunday.With a 2-0 win over the United States on a frigid afternoon, Canada, without its best player, extended its lead atop the eight-team qualifying group that will determine the region’s berths in this year’s World Cup. Now four points clear of its closest rival with four games remaining, Canada has put itself in pole position for one of the region’s three automatic spots in Qatar in November.And with its hardest tests behind it — Canada went unbeaten in home and away matches against the region’s two traditional heavyweights, the United States (1-0-1) and Mexico (1-0-1) — a generational achievement may be just around the corner: Should Canada qualify, its World Cup trip will be the first for its men’s team since 1986.Canada’s head coach, John Herdman, who is from England, said Sunday’s events made him feel for the first time that he was living in “a football country.” The team bus, for example, was welcomed by cheering fans, confetti and smoke.“This is what we’ve dreamed of,” he added later. “It’s absolutely what we’ve dreamed of to get people excited. And people who have always had to wear an Italian shirt or a Serbian shirt or a Greek shirt, they can put them down. That’s what we want them to do, and pull on their Canadian jersey and now be proud of us.”The defeat, in front of a raucous crowd in Hamilton, was a blow for the United States, but hardly a fatal one. The Americans moved into a tie for second place with Mexico, which tied Costa Rica, 0-0, later on Sunday.“The result hurts but the performance doesn’t,” U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter said. He insisted he wasn’t making excuses, but noted how a narrow field and “very poor field turf” made it harder for his team to create and process scoring chances. A few injuries in the game also undermined the Americans. Overall, Berhalter noted how the United States dominated possession of the ball but lacked precision at the other end of the field.“When we talked about what we needed to do to win this game, we checked almost all the boxes,” he said.The last — and only previous — time Canada played in the soccer’s showcase tournament, only one player on its current national team roster was alive: defender Atiba Hutchinson, 39. But re-energized by a talented crop of young stars, and Europe-based professionals like Cyle Larin, who scored an early opening goal on Sunday, and Sam Adekugbe, who added the late clincher, Canada has risen from years as an afterthought into a power.With its victory, Canada remained the only unbeaten team in the final round of qualifying in the region, and posted its first victory over the United States in World Cup qualifying in 42 years.“Whenever we went to the U.S., they have 50-, 60,000 people screaming at us, and we’re tired of that not respecting us,” said the Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan, adding that he didn’t want his country to be “humiliated” anymore.He added later: “But now, when they come to us or we go there, they’re scared. They’re scared the last four or five matches; they’ve been scared against us.”Canada took advantage of a sloppy start by the United States to snatch an early goal after only seven minutes, and held on the rest of the game even after the Americans began to dominate play. In front of a crowd that braved the wind chill of 18 degrees Fahrenheit at game time, Canada yielded its share of possession at times but little ground, matching the Americans’ pressure with aggressive, physical and at times pugnacious responses.The opening goal came amid a series of U.S. mistakes. Canada won Matt Turner’s short goal kick in the air and then used a quick interchange of passes to transform a turnover into a goal. Larin, after a give-and-go with Jonathan David, got a step on U.S. center back Miles Robinson, who slipped trying to keep up, and blasted a shot past a diving Turner. Canada did this all without Alphonso Davies, the Bayern Munich star who will miss this window’s games while recovering from a Covid-related heart issue.As the first half wore on, the United States slowly gained more control of both the pace and the ball. But the same issue that marked its earlier qualifying missteps returned: It failed to convert its chances.Berhalter has relied on a rotation of players, particularly at forward, as he has tried to balance his players’ fitness and exploit matchups in World Cup qualifying. On Sunday, he started Gyasi Zardes at striker over Jesús Ferreira, the surprise starter in Thursday’s win over El Salvador, and Ricardo Pepi, the teenager whose form may be the key to America’s World Cup hopes. Called upon again by Berhalter on Sunday, Zardes looked overmatched at times, and eventually was replaced in the 67th minute. Pepi offered a spark, but by then Canada had hunkered down to close out its victory.“Defensively,” Borjan said, “we played amazing.”Zardes, though, was not the only American who failed to find the back of the net. In the 36th minute, Christian Pulisic sailed a free kick from just beyond the penalty area over the goal.Tajon Buchanan, right, and Canada frustrated Sergiño Dest and the United States all game.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressWeston McKennie had a header saved off the crossbar by Borjan just before halftime. And in the 85th minute, Paul Arriola — another late substitution as Berhalter chased a goal — sent a bicycle kick just wide of the goal.When Adekugbe split the defense on a counterattack in injury time and slotted in the second goal, the Canadians on the field, on the bench and in the stands knew victory — and perhaps a World Cup spot — was theirs. It may take another game or two, but for the players, and perhaps for some of their fans, it is starting to feel like the chance of a lifetime.“We’re the only team that is undefeated and we take pride in that,” the Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio said. “This is a big win, but it’s just another three points. We want to stay atop of this region.” More

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      U.S. Beats El Salvador to Inch Closer to World Cup

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      A victory over El Salvador moved the Americans another step closer to a place in this year’s World Cup in Qatar.The goal celebration, it turned out, provided the match’s final moment of drama.Seconds after United States defender Antonee Robinson scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Americans in their 1-0 victory over El Salvador on Thursday night, he wheeled away from the goal, did a handspring and then pulled up grabbing his left hamstring. Playing through 30-degree temperatures — U.S. Soccer had scheduled the game for Columbus, Ohio, in January to try to gain a mental, if not meteorological, advantage over its Central American rivals — had suddenly seemed to backfire.Robinson, though, was only joking. He quickly turned his (faked) anguished steps into a full-blown strut, to the delight of his teammates and the immense relief of his coaches. And just like that, the United States had moved another step closer to claiming a place in this year’s World Cup in Qatar.aaaaannnndddd…. we’re flippin’🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️ @antonee_jedi 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/8tiyj37Zof— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) January 28, 2022
      The victory, combined with other results on a chilly night of qualifying matches in North and Central America and the Caribbean, kept the United States securely in contention to take control of its qualifying group in an important showdown with Canada on Sunday in Hamilton, Ontario. When the final whistle blew in Columbus, Canada was leading Honduras at halftime.United States Coach Gregg Berhalter made only one notable change to his lineup on Thursday, inserting Jesús Ferreira, a surprise starter over Ricardo Pepi, his former F.C. Dallas teammate, at striker. Ferreira offered energy, movement and some excellent connections in the first half. But he failed to convert two excellent chances in the first 20 minutes, and the Americans drifted into halftime with the majority of the possession and a near-monopoly on the frustration.The breakthrough came early in the second half, after Timothy Weah shed his defender and fired a shot at the near post that ricocheted off the goalkeeper and high in the air in the 52nd minute. A header across the goal eluded players on both teams and bounced directly in front of Robinson, who buried a one-time shot with his left foot.The goal, and the 1-0 deficit, seemed to take the life out of the Salvadorans, who now have been shut out in five of their nine qualifiers. A comeback seemed out of reach even before Robinson’s injury gag: El Salvador has yet to score two goals in any of its matches in the final round. Finding two against the United States in the cold was beyond a long shot.But the Americans seemed to ease up as well: Christian Pulisic departed just after the hour mark, presumably to bank a bit of rest before the Canada match, and Ferreira and Weah soon followed him to the bench.Jesús Ferreira made a surprise start for the U.S.Emilee Chinn/Getty ImagesWith three games scheduled in eight days in the current qualifying window, the United States has a chance to move into a commanding position to claim one of the region’s three automatic berths to the World Cup early in the final three-game window in March. (It was mathematically possible, though extremely unlikely, that the Americans could have claimed a World Cup place by next week if a complicated series of results broke their way.)Through eight of the 14 qualifiers, the United States was in second place entering Thursday’s games, one point behind Canada, the surprise group leader, one ahead of the archrival Mexico and Panama.Mexico kept pace by rallying for a 2-1 victory against Jamaica in Kingston, and Canada remained atop the group by beating Honduras, 2-0, in San Pedro Sula later in the evening.The United States can take control of the group if they can beat the Canadians — weakened by the absence of the Bayern Munich wing Alphonso Davies — on Sunday. They will then face Honduras on Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn., hoping to make it three wins in a week.“We’re in a good position,” Pulisic said earlier this week, “and by the end of this window, we could be in a great position.” More

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      After Mexico Win. U.S. Falls Flat in Draw Against Jamaica

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      Before a sparse Kingston crowd limited by pandemic regulations, the United States could not sustain the momentum from its victory against Mexico last week in front of raucous home fans.How do you keep your buzz going after an electrifying win over your fiercest rival in front of a raucous home crowd? How do you keep that momentum alive days later in a nearly empty stadium, on a pockmarked field, a thousand miles from home? Those were the questions for the United States men’s national soccer team on Tuesday night as it lined up to face Jamaica in its eighth qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup, four days after a thrilling, emotionally draining victory over Mexico.And for 90 or so minutes in Kingston, the Americans never really came up with answers, looking mostly spiritless in a 1-1 draw. “That was a rough game, not the result that we wanted,” said Timothy Weah, whose first-half goal was a bright spot in the team’s otherwise lackluster night. “Coming into the game, we wanted to win.”U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter characterized the result as a good one: a hard-earned point in a tough environment on the road. But he acknowledged the outcome might have fallen short of some of the players’ expectations. Heading into the match, he had warned them about letting their energy dip after their big win over Mexico. “In the coaching world you talk about trap games,” he had said. “You talk about putting that last game behind you, and the next game is the most important game.” He called this meeting against Jamaica a “massive game.”But neither the team’s play nor the atmosphere reflected that premise.The stands were mostly empty as a result of pandemic restrictions, and the match played out on a dry, tattered field that grew increasingly shredded as the minutes progressed. On the ragged grass, each team was at least able to each create one moment of beauty. In the 11th minute, a give-and-go with Ricardo Pepi sent Weah skipping dangerously into the penalty area, where a crowd of Jamaicans awaited. But Weah kept going, dancing through a pair of defenders, keeping his balance while tiptoeing around a last-gasp challenge, before flicking the ball with his left foot off the far post and into the net. Weah said the game had special meaning for him: His mother’s side of the family is Jamaican, and his aunt was at the game. “My parents, they talked to me about it,” Weah said before the game. “They said don’t go too hard on their country. But obviously business is business.” Jamaica meant business, too. Michail Antonio, the third-leading scorer in the English Premier League, evened the score in thrilling fashion only 11 minutes later when he dribbled into a cubbyhole of a space more than 30 yards from the goal and decided to blast a speculative shot toward the net. The ball scudded over the outstretched arms of American goalkeeper Zack Steffen and under the crossbar, sparking cheers from the sparse, happily stunned crowd. “It’s one of those goals where you just turn around and clap your hands and say, ‘Amazing goal, amazing individual effort,’” Berhalter said.Jamaica had been flat through the first seven games of World Cup qualifying, accumulating just six points. But the United States has historically struggled to make an impact in Kingston, having compiled just one win, one loss and four draws in its previous six World Cup qualifying games in Jamaica before Tuesday. The Jamaicans lacked ambition and ideas at times on offense, but they made up for it with a level of physicality bordering on roughness. They appeared to take the lead in the dying minutes of the game when Damion Lowe scored on a header. But he was whistled for a foul (which replays showed to be questionable) that negated the goal.The United States looked pedestrian too, particularly in the midfield, where the presence of Weston McKennie, who missed the game because of yellow card accumulation, seemed to be missed.“It was a great experience for our team to go through that,” said Berhalter, who noted that the field conditions had disrupted some of his team’s passing efforts, “but you can see the guys are disappointed.” Christian Pulisic, who is still working his way back to fitness from a high ankle sprain, entered the game as a substitute with about half an hour to go. Coming into the game in a similar situation on Friday, he headed in the go-ahead goal. But he failed to conjure any salve for the Americans’ problems on Tuesday night, leaving the United States wondering where all the energy and urgency went. More

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      U.S. Beats Mexico and Then Rubs It In

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      Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie scored and the Americans, fueled by a perceived slight, reveled in their third win over their rival this year.CINCINNATI — Michael Jackson’s 1988 song “Man in the Mirror” — a classic tune, but no one’s idea of a rousing sports arena jam — was blaring over the stadium speakers late on Friday night as the U.S. men’s soccer team rollicked and embraced happily on the field.A bit less than half an hour earlier, Christian Pulisic had charged toward the sideline to celebrate the first of the Americans’ goals in their 2-0 victory against Mexico, lifting the front of his No. 10 jersey to reveal the same phrase, “Man in the Mirror,” scrawled in permanent marker on his white undershirt.At that moment, even reasonably well-informed American soccer fans might have been left scratching their heads at the references, struggling to understand what, exactly, was afoot.if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself then make the change… pic.twitter.com/ST7fa1e3hr— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) November 13, 2021
      Welcome to the ferociously competitive, wonderfully petty and endlessly amusing rabbit hole of a rivalry between the soccer teams of the United States and Mexico.The feuding neighbors’ World Cup qualifying match on Friday night — an important one, with three points and first place in the group standings up for grabs — had all the hallmarks of a classic: two scintillating goals, two physical altercations, one red card and multiple instances of borderline inscrutable taunting wrapped inside layers of allusion.“We fiercely dislike Mexico’s soccer team,” U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter said afterward, “and we’re fierce competitors, and we want to win every time we’re on the field.”To understand the Michael Jackson song and the homemade shirt and the Americans’ generally self-satisfied air after the game, one must go back to Tuesday, when Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico’s goalkeeper, suggested in an interview that the United States looked in the mirror and hoped to see Mexico, seemingly implying that the Americans’ wanted to mold themselves as a team in their rivals’ image.On the Richter scale of sports trash talk, the comments barely registered. But the young American team, which has had mixed success in building an identity through the first half of the 14-game qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup, seemed happy to run with them anyway, to use them as extra fuel.First came an unprompted response from Berhalter in his news conference the day before the game. He quipped that the Americans’ two wins over Mexico earlier this year had not done enough to win Mexico’s respect. His team would have to do more on Friday, he said. (The American fans had their say, too, booing Ochoa every time he touched the ball on Friday night.)Then came the players’ response on the field. The teams battled through a nervy first half, with goalkeeper Zack Steffen making two athletic saves to keep the Americans even. Then everything — the teams’ attacks, the players’ emotions — bubbled over in the second.Hard fouls and frequent skirmishes revealed the distaste the teams have for one another.Jeff Dean/Associated PressIn the latter of two on-field kerfuffles in the game, Mexico defender Luis Rodriguez menacingly grabbed wing Brendan Aaronson’s face from behind, prompting a long, ugly sequence of arguing among players from both teams. As the teams pushed and shoved, and as three yellow cards were shown, Pulisic was preparing to enter the field as a substitute. When he did, the rough gave way to the sublime.In the 74th minute, forward Timothy Weah received the ball on the right wing and calculated a sequence of dribbles down the edge of the penalty area, measuring out a pocket of space. Upon creating it, he thwacked an inch-perfect cross toward the mouth of the goal, where Pulisic flew in to head it past Ochoa to give the United States a 1-0 lead.It was Pulisic’s first touch of the ball in a competitive match for the United States since September, when he sustained a high ankle sprain during a qualifier in Honduras. As the sellout crowd of 26,000 roared, Pulisic paused to display his “Man in the Mirror” shirt before being mobbed by his teammates.Afterward, he sheepishly batted aside questions about his shirt, framing the episode as a little joke.“I think you guys know the message,” he said. “I don’t need to speak on it too much. It’s not a big thing.”Weston McKennie, center, with Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic after McKennie’s goal doubled the Americans’ lead in the 85th minute.Julio Cortez/Associated PressWeah was much happier to elucidate. The night before the game, he said, he and defender DeAndre Yedlin asked one of the team’s staff members to draw the shirt for Pulisic to wear during the match.He painted the prank as a matter of pride.“Before the game Mexico was talking a lot of smack, and beating them shuts them up,” Weah said. “We have to continue to win games and continue to beat them, and that’s the only way we’re going to earn their respect.”After Pulisic’s goal, the Americans pressed for a second. When Weston McKennie delivered it in the 85th minute he prompted chants of “Dos a Cero!” — a reference to a famously recurring score line between the teams — from the stands.And after the final whistle, the team’s staff conspired to play “Man in the Mirror” over the loudspeakers to accompany the team’s postgame celebrations as a final, cheeky send-off.It was a comprehensive win for the Americans, who outshot Mexico by 18-8, and it pulled the United States into a tie on points with their archrival at the top of the standings with seven matches to go. The top three finishers in the group qualify automatically for the World Cup next year in Qatar.But more than the points, the young and inexperienced American players may cull more intangible benefits from the experience: a petty slight, a few impish inside jokes, a night of joy and perceived revenge — sports teams have bonded together over far less.“We talked about how we thought they didn’t think they gave us enough respect, and we had to go out and earn it,” Berhalter said. “And I think we went out and earned it today.” More