Pulisic had a number of nice touches prior to his postgame toe-bomb | Michael Arace
The United States men’s national soccer team defeated Morocco 3-0 in a practice game at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati Wednesday. It was the first in a series of tuneups ahead of the World Cup. Thus, the country’s soccer intelligentsia tuned in with rapt attention.
Before we get into our day-after conversation with coach Gregg Berhalter about the trivial stuff – current player pool, overall form, performance, etc. – we must first tackle the issue which is tearing the country apart.
Asked by ESPN about the reception in Cincinnati, Christian Pulisic said, “It was nice. To be honest, for whatever reason, I’m not super happy with the amount of Americans here, however that works out, if I’m being completely honest. But it’s thanks to the ones who did come, the support is always great for them.”
Maybe they should have played the game at Nippert. Heh, heh.
Pulisic’s words drew howls of protest from fans who are tired of the heavy rotation of USMNT games in Ohio, which – as everyone knows – has yet to achieve statehood, doesn’t have indoor plumbing and only knows one kind of football.
Much was made about the fact that this midweek exhibition, with tickets starting at $87, did not draw a sellout crowd (19,512 or 75% of capacity). Amid the crowd, there was a healthy contingent of Morocco fans, and this, too, seemed to shock any number of people, including Pulisic.
Let us dispatch with all of this: Pulisic’s awkward issuance was delivered minutes after he walked off the field so he gets a half-mulligan. There are, believe it or not, Americans of Moroccan ancestry, and they love soccer and have flags. Cincinnati and Columbus are in the USMNT rotation in part because they have brand-new, state-of-the-art facilities, and that dynamic will change. U.S. Soccer chooses venues for its friendlies on a TGIF (Total Gouging of International Fans) basis and tickets to these friendlies are too expensive, period.
Pulisic was, by the way, brilliant on the field. By and large, it was an excellent team performance. Morocco, ranked No. 24 in the world and also qualified for the World Cup, was without Pulisic’s Chelsea teammate, Hakim Ziyech. But they had most of their A-Team on the field.
The U.S., ranked No. 15, beat Morocco for the first time in four tries. The shutout victory had some meat on it.
“In terms of fitness, we have guys all over the place,” Berhalter said. “Some guys have been off for three weeks (since the end of their club seasons), and some guys have been playing a lot. It was a good test for us. It’s always good to play World Cup teams.”
The U.S. faces Uruguay in an exhibition in Kansas City Sunday. Then they'll play two CONCACAF Nations League games, vs. Grenada in Austin on June 10 and at El Salvador on June 14. This window is one of the last chances Berhalter has to put a team together prior to the start of the Qatar World Cup in November.
Berhalter has used a three-year filtration cycle to look at 91 players, including 56 who made their international debuts. Wednesday night, forward Haji Wright, left back Joe Scally and midfielder Malik Tillman got their first caps. Roundly speaking, Berhalter used about 75% of what might be construed as his regular roster.
“When we put our depth chart up for the World Cup, it was probably 30 deep,” Berhalter said. “We’ll have some difficult decisions, but we have a good understanding of where we’re at. We’re confident because we’ve seen a lot of players in camp. It’s now just a matter of finalizing.”
Of the striker position, Berhalter said, "At the No. 9, we don't only judge if he scores. I thought both (Jesus Ferreira and Wright) were perfectly fine. We'll look at some chances Jesus had that he could've finished better. He did a lot of work off the ball and gets up on the play. Haji's movement was good."
Of the center back position, where Miles Robinson (Achilles) is missing, Berhalter said, "We've got a pool of six or seven center backs right now ... and it's always about how you're performing at the moment."
Berhalter tweaked his formation (from a 4-3-3 to a 3-2-2-3), pushing forward against Morocco – at times – quite directly. Pulisic took a long ball over the top to set up Brenden Aaronson, who was moved from the wing to central midfield. Tim Weah finished with a rocket after a patient buildup. Pulisic drew a penalty and gave the ball to Wright, who converted.
There was a lot to like about the Americans’ performance.
That said, this was a friendly and nobody should be overly excited about the outcome. Goalkeeper Matt Turner had to make eight saves. (Did his performance put him ahead of Zack Steffen, who is not in his camp due to personal reasons?) The Atlas Lions put the Yanks in some very uncomfortable positions.
All of this will be highly scrutinized until Sunday’s game, and so on until November – when things get white-hot.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: USMNT did some good things in World Cup practice game against Morocco
