The U.S. men’s national team put in an outstanding performance against England, proving they can go toe-to-toe against one of the tournament favorites on the biggest stage.
And yet, after a 0-0 draw, the U.S. faces a stark reality: They’ll be going home after the group stage if they don’t beat Iran on Tuesday.
Gregg Berhalter’s men will be able to take plenty from their performance though, as they made an England side that looked unstoppable in its opener look pedestrian.
After a shaky opening 10 minutes or so, which saw Walker Zimmerman save a sure goal with a crucial block on Harry Kane, the USMNT grew into the game against its vaunted opponent.
Berhalter changed his setup from the opening draw against Wales, shifting to a 4-4-2 that reduced the team’s central midfield presence but gave them an additional attacker up top that seemed to work to their benefit.
As the match entered the break scoreless, the USMNT would have felt it should have been in front. McKennie was the guiltiest party, wasting an open look off a half-volley that he could only sky over Jordan Pickford’s goal.
But McKennie was still one of the standout performers for the U.S., driving forward with confidence and helping set up a chance that Christian Pulisic drove off the crossbar 32 minutes in.
The U.S continued to pressure England in the second half, but was unable to make Jordan Pickford work much. Matt Turner had similarly few difficult saves to make.
Both Berhalter and Gareth Southgate were reluctant to ring the changes, with the latter knowing his side was almost certainly through despite a draw that would earn plenty of criticism back home.
Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish did eventually enter for England, while Berhalter was a bit slower to bring on the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Gio Reyna and Josh Sargent as the U.S. looked for a winner.
But in truth, neither side came close to scoring in the second half. With one goal and three good halves out of four at this World Cup so far, the USMNT will need to convert their displays into more goals against Iran.
If not, their strong performance against England will be just another example of what could have been.
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