The alarm bells were ringing after the U.S. national team had a dire September window, losing to Japan and drawing Saudi Arabia in two dismal performances.
In retrospect, maybe that window wasn’t quite as bad as we all thought.
Early in the 2022 World Cup there have been two major shocks, both involving the USMNT’s September opponents.
First, there was the shock of all shocks: Saudi Arabia beat pre-tournament favorite Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday in one of the more stunning results in World Cup history.
Then on Wednesday there was a slightly less surprising, but still eye-opening result in the opening match of Group E.
Germany was rampant in the first half against Japan, and got on the scoresheet through an İlkay Gündoğan penalty. The favored Europeans had a host of chances to put away the Japanese, but couldn’t capitalize.
Then, in eight dramatic second-half minutes, the game turned on its head.
Ritsu Doan equalized for Japan off a rebound in the 75th minute, before Takuma Asano won the game in the 83rd minute with an outstanding first touch and near-post finish to catch a sleeping German defense off a long free kick.
Japan went CRAZY after their go-ahead goal 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/LC6R7yOoQ2
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 23, 2022
To be clear, the USMNT did play quite poorly in September, and after a disappointing opening-game draw against Wales, it’s far from a certainty that Gregg Berhalter’s men are significantly better than it seemed two months ago.
But Japan and Saudi Arabia may, in fact, be quite a bit better than we all thought heading into those two friendlies.
If the U.S. takes nothing else from this World Cup, their draw with Saudi Arabia now means they are (judging strictly by the transitive property) better than Argentina. Now that’s progress!
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