USA Men’s Soccer
The United States Men's National Team has been a huge surprise in this year's World Cup in Qatar. The team’s hopes will be pinned to a core of young stalwarts led by Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and a few others who have formed the main foundation of the squad in recent years. There were inevitably some surprising selections, including the veteran center back Tim Ream and the young forward Haji Wright, neither of whom had featured much in the team’s qualifying campaign over the past year. Zack Steffen, once seen as the team’s ‘No. 1’ goalkeeper, was not on the list, and neither was Ricardo Pepi, the promising teenage striker who scored three goals for the U.S. in the qualifying tournament. Tim Weah, Josh Sargent, Brendan Aaronson, Yunus Musah, Sergino Dest, and Antonee Robinson are some of the young players who have played a big role on the United States team. Goalkeeper Matt Turner was a huge surprise as he put up 2 clean sheets in the group stage against the likes of England and Iran.
The United States Men’s National Team kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw with Wales in the opening match of group stage play. After a solid first half that included taking the lead on a wonderful goal from Timothy Weah, it looked like the US might be able to hang on and capture all three points. There were a few worthy candidates for the Man of the Match, with Weah picking up the goal, Christian Pulisic the assist, and Tim Ream putting in the sort of match at center back that fans have been clamoring for. The US would go on to draw 0-0 against the top team in the group England. Other very impressive performances came from Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Tim Ream, and Antonee Robinson. The United States went against Iran in a win or go home match, and the US delivered with a 1-0 victory. The scoring came from US star Christian Pulisic on an assist from Sergino Dest. Pulisic would be injured on the goal scoring play, but he would not miss any more time. Unfortunately, the United States would be knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands. A 3-1 win by the Dutch would seal the United States' fate, but everyone was proud of our country’s team.
