Match report
Pablo Iglesias Maurer’s report is in from the United States’ 5-2 loss to Belgium, which will create plenty of questions ahead of Tuesday’s friendly v Portugal and the months to come ahead of his naming of the World Cup squad.
Read below:
Key events
And we’re off to the mixed zone. Thanks for following along! More to come.
Pochettino on the mandatory hydration breaks: “To be honest, I don’t like them.” Feels they break up the rhythm of the game.
“It’s annoying me a little bit,” he adds.
Pochettino says the half-time sub of Johnny Cardoso was planned – he had been feeling discomfort earlier in the week and the plan was always to only give him 45 minutes.
Pochettino on the goalkeeping:
We all know that [Matt Turner] has experience in the national team and the previous World Cup, which we can use, whether in the starting eleven or not.
Pochettino says the US “dropped a little bit in our intensity.” Points out that for Belgium’s equalizer the US had 10 players in the penalty box but still couldn’t prevent the goal.
“It’s only one game,” he says.
Pochettino: “The first half was really good, I thought we played better than Belgium.”
He disagrees with the PK call.
Rudi Garcia calls Jérémy Doku “the detonator” of the match. What a quote, and hard to argue otherwise.
Tim Weah speaks to TNT after the match:
Definitely a difficult experience. You come into the game hungry and wanting to win. Obviously today that didn’t work for us. We just have to get back into the lab and work and continue working, work on our game and our mentality. Right now is the best time for this to happen. We have a World Cup to think about. We want to perform and we want to get better.
Rudi Garcia comes out in support of the mandatory hydration breaks we’ll see in the World Cup:
I like that because this is an opportunity for us to speak to the team about strategy. We had a plan tonight [to go more defensive]. It was not necessary to put it on the pitch. We play as we know with our 4-3-3, and it was a good decision. [The breaks were] very good, very interesting for me.
We’re here for the coaches’ post-match press conferences. Belgium’s Rudi Garcia is up first:
“This team [the US] is better than the result,” he says.
Match report
Pablo Iglesias Maurer’s report is in from the United States’ 5-2 loss to Belgium, which will create plenty of questions ahead of Tuesday’s friendly v Portugal and the months to come ahead of his naming of the World Cup squad.
Read below:
The US World Cup preparations hit a snag
The United States scored first via Weston McKennie, but completely fell apart afterwards in surrendering five straight goals to a fine-tuned Belgian squad.
Stay tuned here for postmatch reaction from our team on the ground.
FINAL: USA 2-5 Belgium
Welp. That was not the tune-up the US was hoping for.
90+5min: Patrick Agyemang attempts an acrobatic effort at the death. It sails over the bar.
89min: “THAT’S TERRIBLE” says an attendee just above the press box. Hard to argue.
Goal! USA 2-5 Belgium (Agyemang, 87)
The US gets one back thanks to some especially bad playing out of the back by Belgium. Ricardo Pepi strips Youri Tielemans in possession at the top of his own box and feeds Agyemang, who applies an easy finish. It’s a consolation goal, but it’s something.
85min: There are boos at Mercedes-Benz Stadium as Belgium nearly adds a sixth but for a nice save by Matt Turner, who has been in the firing line today.
Goal! USA 1-5 Belgium (Lukebakio, 81)
And now it’s ugly for the US. Very ugly indeed. Once again, Max Arfted is beaten by a Belgian run into the box, Sebastian Berhalter gets the ball stuck under his feet, and Lukebakio pops up to finish well for his second of the match.
You can file this one under “embarrassment” for the US, I think.
Reader Scott gets back in touch …
Is it too much to call this a witless managerial performance? From the 10th minute forward, Doku has torn the US right side apart and Pochettino did … nothing. I understand the goal of giving a final test to some players to decide if they make the squad. But surely that must be balanced with preserving some sense of what the team can and should do in the actual World Cup games. It seems to me that Pochettino has done very little of that during his tenure. While I think he is an upgrade on Berhalter in many ways, I’m not sure the results will be much better given the evidence we have so far.
The results have been up and down under Pochettino, no doubt about that.
66,867 are in attendance today at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Polite applause all around.
From Jeff Rueter: Pulisic and McKennie, the faces of the program, sub off in the 70th minute after a hydration break. Pulisic left looking fuming – not about getting the hook, but about his own performance. Belgium found it easy to mitigate for him and his shooting was downright errant.
Would’ve been informative to see Gio Reyna alongside Pulisic for the final 20’, but Pulisic’s relative dip in form wasn’t left behind in Milan.
More US subs: Gio Reyna, Joe Scally, Pat Agyemang and Ricardo Pepi all coming on for the US. Tillman, Balogun, McKennie among those coming off. Reyna daps up former teammate Axel Witsel on the sideline before he comes in for Belgium along side Youri Tielemans.
Goal! USA 1-4 Belgium (Lukebakio, 68)
Well, it’s a rout at home for the US. Dodi Lukebakio, who had only just come on as a substitute, glides past Max Arfsten, cutting inside on to his left foot, which it turns out is quite good. He loops a lovely finish past Turner.
64min: A mass of subs for both sides, with Sebastian Berhalter, Max Arfsten, and Alex Freeman coming on for the US in place of Tim Weah, Antonee Robinson, and Tanner Tessmann.
GOAL! USA 1-3 Belgium (De Ketelaere, 59)
Charles De Ketelaere makes no mistake with his penalty after a lengthy appeal from the US and VAR review. A really weird sequence, that unfortunately for Turner will count as a goal against instead of the very nice reaction save that resulted from Ream’s deflection.
Penalty confirmed. Meunier’s header was indeed deflected by Tim Ream’s hand. Turner now must face the PK…
Penalty! Tim Ream is called for a handball in the box as he deflected a headed effort by Belgium. The referee is going to the VAR monitor….
56min: The US has their first big chance after the Belgian go-ahead goal, but Weah catches it all wrong. Been that kind of night in front of goal for the US.
GOAL! USA 1-2 Belgium (Onana, 53)
The US had started brightly, but Belgium puts an end to that momentum with a finish from the top of the box by Aston Villa’s Amadou Onana.
For the millionth time in this liveblog, I mist type that Doku started the attacking move, beating Weah on the dribble and laying off the Saelemaekers, who found an unmarked Onana onrushing at the top of the penalty area.
52min: Wow, what a nice move by Christian Pulisic, tap dancing through the heart of the Belgian defense, ending at the penalty spot, but applying maybe the worst finish attempt possible as it sails over the bar. He’s going to want that one back.
51min: Cristian Roldan immediately contributes with a strong, fair tackle to break up a period of Belgian possession. As Jack Edwards would say: that’s why he’s here.
Second half is underway!
Only one change at halftime for the US: Cristian Roldan enters in place of Johnny Cardoso.
Reader Justin gets in touch …
What does Pochettino need to change at half-time? His team’s jerseys/uniforms/strips (depending on your region!) for starters. Alex Ferguson perfected the art of blaming a bad first-half on a grey jersey; Poch can blame it on the similarity of shades here. He can blend it into his half-time talk too: “Let’s see more stars out there, and less stripes…”
I like the brand synergy!
From Jeff Rueter: Christian Pulisic has long been the US’s primary corner taker, with Sebastian Berhalter stepping in during the Gold Cup and occasionally handling the duty thereafter. Antonee Robinson’s placement on the opener is a crucial boost to help offer more in-swingers into the heart of the mixer, as both Pulisic and Berhalter are right-footed.
Halftime! USA 1-1 Belgium
A fairly even opening 45 minutes saw the Belgians storm back and dominate the minutes after the US’s opener in the 39th minute. Jérémy Doku has been the Red Devils’ most dangerous player by far.
What did you think of the opening 45? What does Pochettino need to change at halftime? Let me know at the link above, or @ me on BlueSky.
