United States Men’s National Soccer Team

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Soccer

      World Cup Hangs in Balance for U.S., Mexico and Cristiano Ronaldo

      by

      A week of high-stakes games will fill out the field for the winter’s World Cup. Not everyone gets to go.This is the week of final chances. The World Cup in Qatar is not quite eight months away, and more than half of the 32 places at the tournament have been taken. That number will increase over the course of the next seven days, as teams from Tunisia to Tahiti compete to join the 15 countries who have already qualified.By the time the draw for the group stage of the finals takes place in Doha on April 1, the picture will still not be complete. Delays to qualifying caused by the pandemic, as well as the compassionate break given to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, mean that the field will only be filled once the last phase of European qualifying, and the two intercontinental playoffs, are completed in June.But for the vast majority of teams, this is the week that will make or break their hopes, that will determine whether the stresses and strains of the last two years have been worthwhile.Canada stands on the verge of ending a 36-year wait to return to the tournament. The Democratic Republic of Congo is 180 minutes away from qualifying for the first time since 1974. And at least one major power, Portugal or Italy, faces the ignominy of missing out. Here’s what is at stake around the world.EuropeCristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will face Turkey on Thursday.Patricia De Melo Moreira/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAll but three of Europe’s places in Qatar have already been filled, and the vast majority of the continent’s teams likely to be in consideration to win the World Cup — the reigning champion, France, as well as Spain, Germany, Belgium and England — have long since known that they would be in the field.The exceptions are Portugal and Italy, both of whom failed to win their groups and must, therefore, endure two anxiety-inducing playoffs to join the party. Italy takes on North Macedonia and Portugal meets Turkey this week. Should both get through those games, they will play each other for a spot in Qatar, in a game that could be Cristiano Ronaldo’s final international engagement.The other two European playoff groups have been unaffected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s (belated) ban from global sport means Poland will face either Sweden or the Czech Republic in its playoff on Tuesday; all three had refused to play Russia if FIFA and UEFA did not act.Ukraine’s game with Scotland, meanwhile, has been pushed back until June, meaning Europe’s final qualifier will not be known until the summer. The winner of that game will meet either Wales or Austria.North AmericaCanada can qualify for its first World Cup since 1986 by beating Costa Rica on Thursday.Kamil Krzaczynski/Associated PressThe specter of 2017 is starting to loom large once more for the United States, with the Estadio Nacional in San José standing in for the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad, and Costa Rica playing the role of Trinidad and Tobago. Gregg Berhalter’s team will have to confront the ghosts of a previous generation if it is to vanquish them.If that seems a little exaggerated — given that the U.S. sits in second place, needing to win only two of its three games to qualify for the World Cup — it is because it is easy to see Berhalter and his young squad having to wait until the very last minute next week to be sure of qualification.The same is not true of Canada, which needs only one win to be sure of a first return to World Cup since 1986, and has the relative comfort blanket of the knowledge that a single point might just about do it. Nor is it the case for Mexico, which also needs two wins, but has a far kinder schedule over the next week than the Americans.The Americans’ problem is that they face three teams — Mexico and Costa Rica on the road, with a home meeting with Panama sandwiched in between — who all harbor their own ambitions of being in Qatar next winter. The U.S. failed, five years ago, when the situation was no less finely poised. A young, promising team must find a way to ensure things turn out different this time.South AmericaEcuador needs a single victory to book its place in Qatar.Martin Mejia/Associated PressOther than the sight of officials from the Brazilian health ministry striding onto the field to extract a handful of quarantine-busting Argentine players last summer, there has been precious little drama for either of South America’s great rivals. Neither Brazil nor Argentina has lost a game; both qualified for Qatar with months to spare.Beneath them, though, the tension is bubbling. Ecuador needs a single win from its remaining two games — either away at Paraguay or home to Argentina — to qualify for its fourth World Cup this century. The continent’s fourth definite slot at the finals, however, is very much still up for grabs.Uruguay is the team currently in possession of the final spot, but it has to face two direct rivals over the next week: fifth-place Peru in Montevideo, followed by a trip to sixth-place Chile. Either of those teams could usurp Diego Alonso’s Uruguay at the last hurdle. Automatic qualification may be just out of reach, but do not rule out Colombia — currently in a disappointing seventh place — staging a late surge for fifth place, and a chance at a side door to Qatar through an intercontinental playoff in June.AfricaSenegal beat Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations in February. Now the teams will meet again for a World Cup place.Sunday Alamba/Associated PressJürgen Klopp’s team selection offered a clear illustration of where Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané’s priorities lie. The Liverpool manager left both players out of his team’s F.A. Cup win against Nottingham Forest last weekend; it was the only way, he said, of making sure he did not inadvertently find himself embroiled in an international scandal.Africa’s final round of qualifying is always unforgiving — five home-and-away knockout ties, with the winner going to the World Cup and the loser left with no recourse and no safety net. But fate, this time, has been almost cruel: Salah’s Egypt has been drawn to face Mané’s Senegal, a replay of February’s Cup of Nations final. One of Liverpool’s forward line is having the winter off.That is not the only appetizing tie. Two of the continent’s traditional heavyweights, Ghana and Nigeria, will face one another, as will Cameroon and Algeria, regarded as the strongest of the African sides before its disappointing display in the Cup of Nations. Morocco will be expected to make it past the Democratic Republic of Congo, while Mali must beat Tunisia to qualify for its first World Cup.AsiaJapan and Saudi Arabia have eyes on two of the final places from Asia.Eugene Hoshiko/Associated PressWith two games to play, both Iran and South Korea have already booked their spots in next week’s World Cup draw, alongside Qatar, which qualified automatically as the host nation. Saudi Arabia and Japan are best-placed to join them, with each realistically needing only one more win to seal its place at the finals.Australia still has a slender hope of overhauling one or the other, but it will need to beat Japan in Sydney on Thursday and the Saudis in Jeddah next week to avoid a playoff, most likely against the United Arab Emirates, for the right to take part in another playoff, against the fifth-place team from South America, this summer.OceaniaQatar’s big moment is still months away, but it is hosting a series of qualifiers for teams from regions like Oceania this week.Noushad Thekkayil/EPA, via ShutterstockEighteen months after it was supposed to start, Oceania’s qualifying process finally got underway in Qatar last week. New Zealand, as expected, promptly secured a place in the semifinals. Papua New Guinea and Fiji will face off on Thursday to decide who joins the All Whites in the final four.Quite who they will play in the knockout rounds remains a mystery. Both Vanuatu and the Cook Islands returned a number of positive Covid tests after arriving in Qatar and have subsequently withdrawn from the tournament. That has left the Solomon Islands and Tahiti as semifinalists by default, left to play a single match to decide their seeding for the next stage.The eventual winner of the most drawn-out qualification process on the planet will still, though, not be sure of a place in the World Cup; it will have to navigate an intercontinental playoff against whoever finishes fourth in North America to get into the field for the finals. More

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in Soccer

      U.S. Beats Honduras In Frigid World Cup Qualifier

      by

      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

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in Soccer

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

      by

      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

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Soccer

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

      by

      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

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Soccer

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

      by

      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

    • 100 Shares169 Views

      in Soccer

      U.S. Beats Mexico and Then Rubs It In

      by

      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

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Soccer

      Ricardo Pepi Is the USMNT's Striker of the Moment

      by

      CINCINNATI — Ricardo Pepi is young. He is unproven, unseasoned and unfinished. He could use a few more lines on his résumé and possibly a couple of more pounds on his lanky frame.But because it has become equally evident in the early days of his career that Pepi possesses in abundant quantity the intangible, invaluable and often ephemeral magic needed to do the one thing valued above all else in soccer — because, in other words, he scores goals — none of the aforementioned stuff particularly matters.Pepi, 18, may or may not become the striker of the future for the United States men’s soccer team. Many have tried to make the position — the No. 9, in soccer parlance — their own, and most have failed. But questions about Pepi’s long-term viability, his ceiling as a player, can wait. At the moment, there is a World Cup to qualify for.And there is no question that Pepi is the American striker of right now.Ricardo Pepi in action against Panama last month. His five appearances with the national team have all come in World Cup qualifiers this fall.Arnulfo Franco/Associated Press“Pressure is nothing to him — I think he relishes it, more so than his age should allow,” said Eric Quill, who coached Pepi at North Texas S.C. in 2019 and 2020. “No. 9s, when they’re in great form, it’s like, ‘Look out.’ And I think he’s as confident as they come right now.”Ready or not, Pepi is being asked to carry a heavy responsibility on his teenage shoulders. After making his debut with the United States senior national team just two months ago, he was the only pure striker that Gregg Berhalter, the team’s coach, summoned for the team’s two World Cup qualifiers this month. The first of these was a marquee match on Friday night against Mexico in Cincinnati, where the U.S. won, 2-0.The show of faith, if risky, made sense: Pepi, who plays professionally for F.C. Dallas in Major League Soccer, had collected three goals and two assists in his first four appearances with the United States. He has also been one of the most consistent bright spots in the team’s somewhat shaky start to the qualifying tournament.Pepi is the youngest player on a notably young team. (“Lose Yourself” by Eminem was the top song in the country when he was born in January 2003, and Tom Brady had only one Super Bowl ring back then.) The youth of the American squad has been at once a point of pride (when things go well) and an excuse (when things don’t go as well). But the team’s disastrous failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup has helped coaches justify turning over a new leaf — track records be damned.Pepi embodies that desire to start fresh more than anyone. He is all potential, a blank slate personified.Yet his emergence could not be more timely. In recent years, the United States’ program has seen promising players sprout up all over the field. (American attacking midfielders, for instance, seem to be multiplying like jack rabbits.) But the center forward position has long been something of a barren patch.Brian McBride, who played from 1993 to 2006, remains the gold standard for American strikers, according to Herculez Gomez, a former national team striker. Jozy Altidore came closest to filling McBride’s shoes, Gomez said. Countless others have been hyped, but few have followed through.“We could start spouting off a lot names,” Gomez, now an analyst for ESPN, said about the revolving door of strikers. “A lot of players have been put in the role, but not a lot of guys have taken the reins.”He added with a laugh: “I was one of them.”Gomez said Pepi was raw, but undoubtedly promising, showing a sharp trajectory of improvement in the last year alone.“I think his mentality is the strongest trait he has,” Gomez said. “He’s just so hungry. He’s got this arrogance about him. Borderline cocky. A swagger to him.”That may be the case in the penalty area, but in most other circumstances Pepi is known as an introvert. In conversations with the news media, for example, he has a tendency to meander cautiously through the early beats of a response before settling on phrasing he has used before. (The problem with playing well, for some athletes, is that people want to speak with you.)Pepi scored two goals in his first game for the U.S. and then added two more in a win over Jamaica in his native Texas.Chuck Burton/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThis type of shyness might be concerning for a coach, were it not so easily, and so ferociously, shed on the field.“In the dressing room he was always kind of in the corner by himself,” said Francisco Molina, the former scouting director for F.C. Dallas, who met Pepi when he was playing in the team’s youth system. “On the field, he was a loud, screaming, rebellious kid.”The first thing Molina noticed about Pepi was his spindly frame. (“Like a baby deer, he said.”) The second was his steady stream of goals: He could score them with his right foot or his left, with his head, with his knees and shoulders and shins. He can find almost any way to nudge the ball into the net.“He has that instinct,” Molina said. “He’s a pure 9.”These skills have drawn interest from the top clubs in Europe. Among those tracking Pepi’s development, there seems to be agreement that his next step should be a careful, conscientious one — a spot on a good team in a medium-profile league, perhaps, or one on a medium-profile team in a top league.“You have to go somewhere where you play right away,” his U.S. teammate Chris Richards, who made a similar move to Europe from F.C. Dallas at age 18, said in an interview with the website Transfermarkt last week. “Sometimes you get caught up in the big names, but it might not be the perfect situation.”There appears to be consensus, too, on the one area where he could improve the most: playing with his back to the goal. In those situations, Pepi prefers laying the ball off quickly to a teammate to get himself moving again. He does not yet look as comfortable holding the ball and withstanding a physical challenge from a defender, the kind of pause that top strikers must master in order to give their teammates time to build an attack around them.For Pepi, the key may be as simple as putting on some muscle.“At the higher levels, the center backs, most of them are athletic beasts,” said Quill, Pepi’s former youth coach. “He’s got a slim frame. He’s going to have to do a lot of work in the gym.”Molina concurred. “His body hasn’t caught up to his brain yet,” he said.Already adept at finding spaces and converting scoring chance, Pepi will need to get stronger if he hopes to replicate his success in Major League Soccer in a European league.Tim Heitman/USA Today Sports, via ReutersPepi’s soccer brain and body will continue to develop, but his heart was already put to the test this past summer when he was forced to choose between representing the United States, where he was born, or Mexico, the home of his parents.Pepi grew up in San Elizario, Texas, a working-class town just outside El Paso. He spoke Spanish at home, followed Club América of the Mexican league, rooted for Mexico’s national team and idolized its stars. Moving seamlessly between cultures was natural for him, the way it can be for countless children of immigrants around the world.In the end, Pepi chose the United States because of the comfort he had developed with the federation, and because of the opportunities the team offered to help him to thrive.“Follow your own path,” Pepi said when asked what advice he might give to another Mexican American player facing the same choice. “Make your decision with your heart.”Michael Orozco, a fellow Mexican American who played 29 games for the U.S. national team, was happy with Pepi’s choice. But he warned that Pepi could expect criticism, even vitriol, from Mexican fans moving forward, perhaps as soon as Friday night.In 2012, Orozco scored for the United States in a friendly at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, helping to lead the Americans to their first-ever win on Mexican soil. Orozco, who was playing in the Mexican league at the time and now plays for the U.S.L.’s Orange County S.C., said he was criticized by his club teammates for scoring and, worse, for celebrating. Orozco said he had no regrets, and he hoped Pepi wouldn’t have any either.“He’s starting to prove himself,” he said. “Now, he has to live up to the potential.” More

    • 100 Shares129 Views

      in Soccer

      The Hidden Gem of Sports Travel: USMNT Away

      by

      One of the essential, and unsung, experiences in American sports fandom requires you to leave American soil altogether.Every four years, the United States men’s soccer team embarks on a monthslong journey to qualify for the World Cup, bouncing around North and Central America and the Caribbean for an excruciatingly tense series of high-stakes matches against regional rivals. That these games need to be experienced in person to be truly understood has become a well-worn trope for the team’s players, who often struggle at first to adapt to the surroundings.Fans, it turns out, have been saying the same among themselves for years. These traveling supporters — a small group of American fans afflicted at once with a borderline irrational sense of team loyalty and an insatiable wanderlust — are the road warriors of Concacaf, the regional confederation that includes the United States and its hemispheric neighbors. They are, in some way, a breed apart as fans: reveling in the opportunities for international exchange, seeing beauty in cultural and competitive differences, brushing aside warnings (warranted or not) about personal safety and absorbing the often considerable expense associated with following their national team.“Soccer is the catalyst to get us to visit these places, but we dive into the full experience, and we leave with a better understanding of a country, and often an affinity for it,” said Donald Wine, 38, of Washington, who is one of the half dozen or so fans planning to attend all 14 games in the final round of the 2022 World Cup qualification cycle: seven in the U.S., and seven outside it.The quest, though, has taken on a new level of urgency in the current qualifying cycle because the beloved rite, in its current form, has an expiration date. Qualifying for the World Cup will look vastly different heading into the 2026 tournament, when the field expands to 48 teams from 32, and the United States is expected to qualify automatically as a host. After that, the Concacaf region will receive about twice as many berths in the tournament as it does now: Given its comparative strength against its regional rivals, that could grant the United States a relatively suspense-free path through qualifying for generations.Ray Noriega, top left, has been hit with a battery in Costa Rica and a coin in Mexico. Donald Wine plans to attend 14 road qualifiers in this cycle. On Thursday, he and thousands of U.S. fans were in Texas to see the United States beat Jamaica. The return match is in Kingston next month.That means the journey — for the players and the fans — will never be the same.“I’ve told everybody going into this qualifying cycle, ‘If you weren’t able to do the other ones, do this one, because this is the last time we’re going to feel this pressure,’” said Ray Noriega, of Tustin, Calif., who attended every game of the U.S. team’s past three World Cup qualifying cycles and plans to do the same this time around. “It does feel like the last hurrah.”It is that pressure, fans say, that gives everything else meaning, that has for years inflated the underlying tension and the atmosphere at stadiums. Each game, each trip to another country, offers another chance to be surprised. It happened last month, for instance, when the team began its qualifying campaign in El Salvador.Only a couple of dozen Americans made the trip. Before kickoff, they were corralled at the stadium by the local police and shepherded to their seats against a wall behind one goal. To the Americans’ surprise, as they took their seats, the local fans around them began to clap. People in the next section over noticed and began to applaud, too. Soon, much of the packed stadium rose to their feet to give the visiting spectators a loud standing ovation. The Americans were dumbfounded.“I’ve never seen that before,” said Dale Houdek, 49, of Phoenix, who has attended more than 100 U.S. national team games (both men’s and women’s), “and I don’t know if I’ll ever see that again.”The warmth can be a pleasant surprise because, inside the stadiums at least, there is always potential for hostility.“I’ve been hit with a battery in Costa Rica,” Noriega said. “I’ve been hit with a coin in Mexico. I’ve been hit with a baseball in Panama — I guess they say they’re a baseball country.”But the frequent travelers insist such incidents are rare. The huge majority of people they meet, they said, are more interested in taking pictures, trading stories, swapping shirts and scarves, and offering advice on local attractions.Given some of the complexities of travel for these games, particularly now amid a global pandemic, the traveling fans coordinate with the team before most trips. A security specialist who works for the United States Soccer Federation connects with the American Outlaws, the team’s largest organized fan group, to help orchestrate movements on match day, arranging police escorts (if necessary), finding secure lodging and choreographing their entrances and exits from the stands.Attending matches with organized groups in the U.S. offers the familiarity of friendly crowds. For Dale Houdek and Kelly Johnson, top left, years of trips abroad yielded a different kind of close encounter with one American player.“We’re always a phone call away if they need anything,” said Neil Buethe, the federation’s chief spokesman.The fans who travel around Concacaf have come to feel like a subculture within a subculture — one with a certain level of disposable income and flexibility with work and family. Travel and expenses for a typical three-game window can run a few thousand dollars.“My dad says this is my Grateful Dead,” Max Croes, 37, of Helena, Mont., said of following the team around the world. A handful are so devoted to the cause that they plan to fly next month to Kingston, Jamaica, for a game that seems likely to take place behind closed doors, without fans, on the off chance the rules change at the last minute and they can attend.“And if not, it’s Jamaica — there are worse places to not see a soccer game,” said Jeremiah Brown of Austin, Texas, who is trying to see the full set of qualifiers this cycle with his wife, April Green.For the pure magnitude of the occasion, though, one destination stands apart from the rest.“Mexico,” said Ivan Licon, of Austin, “is its own beast.”Games at Mexico City’s enormous Estadio Azteca — where visiting fans are caged in fencing, ostensibly for their own protection — can inspire fans to break out a multiplication table to describe its appeal:“It’s college football times 10,” said Licon, a die-hard Texas A&M fan who plans to attend every road qualifier this cycle.“It’s the Red Sox and Yankees times 20,” said Boris Tapia, of Edison, N.J.More Americans are getting the memo. Before the 2014 World Cup, a few hundred fans attended the Americans’ qualifier in Mexico. Before the 2018 tournament, the U.S. contingent, the fans estimate, was closer to 1,000. The teams will renew their rivalry at the Azteca in March, when the teams are in the final stretches of qualification.Soccer, though, is just part of the appeal of these trips. Fans happily listed side quests that had made the travel extra special: surfing at dawn in Costa Rica; hiking in the mountains in Honduras; witnessing one of the world’s largest Easter celebrations in Guatemala; spontaneously carrying baby turtles to the sea in Trinidad; adopting a donkey on the island of Antigua.“His name is Stevie,” Wine said. “We still get updates on him.”Devotion to the U.S. team can take unique forms. The explosion of joy in seeing it score, though, is more of a shared experience.The smaller countries, and the more modest venues, have their own appeal. At the Estadio Olimpico in Honduras last month, about two dozen American fans were tucked into one corner of the packed stadium, a freckle of red in a sea of blue. Honduran fans offered them bags of plantain chips doused in hot sauce. When the American team mounted a comeback, the Honduran fans, in a surprise development, began pelting their own players with bags of drinking water that were being sold outside the stadium.There was not a single digital screen in the stadium, not another source of light in the surrounding sky, giving the night a timeless quality.“The experience is so pure,” Houdek said.The lower-profile trips also have a way of breaking the fourth wall that typically separates fans from the team.Kelly Johnson, 44, of Phoenix, recalled getting to know the former national team defender Geoff Cameron after she and Houdek, who is her boyfriend, kept crossing paths with him in hotels and airports over the years.A few years ago, Johnson messaged Cameron on Facebook as she and Houdek prepared for a vacation in England, where Cameron was playing professionally. She didn’t expect a response, but Cameron surprised her not only by getting them tickets to a game, but also inviting them to his home and taking them out for lunch.That, she said, symbolized the serendipity of national team travel.“Random things happen,” she said. More