United States 1-3 Germany (14 Oct, 2023) Game Analysis

A stunning solo goal from Christian Pulisic wasn’t enough for the United States as Germany fought back to win 3-1 in Saturday’s international friendly at a nearly sold-out Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gündogan canceled out Pulisic’s effort to level the score before half-time. Germany then took control in the second half and scored twice in three minutes either side of the hour mark through Niclas Füllkrug and Jamal Musiala to inflict the first defeat of Gregg Berhalter’s second tenure as USMNT coach.

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“Of course it hurts,” Pulisic told TNT Sports. We had a good start to the game. I felt like we hurt them a few times. But yeah, just little mistakes here and there, defensively we can be a little better.

“Obviously we have to give them credit, they have incredible players, they played a solid game. But these are games we want to start finding ways to win.

Arguably the biggest news came before the match, with Gio Reyna being named to the starting lineup for his first appearance since suffering an injury in June’s Nations League final and, more notably, his first match under Berhalter since the 2022 World Cup.

Still returning from injury, Reyna played an encouraging 45 minutes before being replaced at half-time. But it marks another step in a process that Berhalter said is “moving forward” after a breakdown in the two men’s relationship that led to a public feud involving both families.

Germany has recently faced its own tragedy. The team were playing their first match under new coach Julian Nagelsmann and were desperate to get back on track after back-to-back World Cup group stage exits and a poor start to their preparation to host the World Cup. Europe next year.

For the United States, this seemed like a great opportunity to get a rare victory over the four-time World Cup winners and show they can compete and beat a global power ahead of the 2026 World Cup on home soil .

It looked like a real possibility when, after an entertaining start to the match, Pulisic opened the scoring with a spectacular strike in the 27th minute.

Just a minute after missing a much better scoring chance, which ended in an ambitious penalty appeal, the 25-year-old striker single-handedly took on the German defense, darting from the left touchline and overcoming several challenges before bending an unstoppable shot into the ball. highest corner of the net.

But the open nature of the game persisted and 12 minutes later Germany were level.

Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sané is the creator, making his own solo run before a clever one-two with Gündogan. American goalkeeper Matt Turner did well to glove the ball to stop Sané in his tracks, but Gündogan smartly followed up and slotted a finish straight into the unguarded net.

The score could easily have been higher at halftime. German midfielder Pascal Gross hit the post with a side-footed shot while striker Füllkrug failed to capitalize on two good chances. On the other side, Reyna and Sergiño Dest both forced German stopper Marc-André ter Stegen into saves.

Returning to the locker room at the break, Berhalter said in his interview with TNT Sports that the United States needed to tighten things up and be more compact in the second half. Instead, Germany appeared more determined to take control of the match.

Füllkrug gave Germany the lead in the 58th minute after Dest put him into play with a pass into the box, and the Borussia Dortmund player wrong-footed Turner with his shot.

Yunus Musah had a chance to bring the United States level but headed a Pulisic corner over the crossbar. Moments later, the locals’ deficit was doubled.

Once again, the USMNT’s defense was less than ideal, leaving space for Musiala on the edge of the box before the Bayern Munich striker took advantage of a lucky deflection and a square pass from Füllkrug to slide in and convert the ball into an empty net.

Berhalter responded with three substitutions, bringing on Brenden Aaronson, Ricardo Pepi and Cameron Carter-Vickers to join Luca de la Torre, who replaced Reyna at halftime.

The United States managed to stem the flow of German attacks, but the damage was done. Berhalter’s team will now look for a better result against Ghana in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday.

“We did some good things, we have to take the positives and obviously learn from some of our mistakes,” Pulisic said. “We have another opportunity against Ghana in a few days and we need to turn things around there.”