Things are not going well for the USMNT, despite what head coach Gregg Berhalter says to try to convince us otherwise. After an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Mexico, the United States tried their luck against Uruguay in the second of their September friendlies.
In a less than half full Busch Stadium, the United States looked better than they did Friday. But considering how they did on Friday, they set a rather low bar for themselves that it was nearly impossible to be worse.
Anyway, after a Brian Rodriguez goal near the start of the second half, the United States equalized in a rather strange way. A botched Uruguay clearance sent the ball to an open Jordan Morris who chested the ball into the goal and achieve a 1-1 draw.
Snarkiness aside, the USMNT had a case to have a penalty in the first half and their chances in the first half probably deserved to have at least one goal and maybe the win. It’s just difficult to think much is being learned by Berhalter’s staff when a game like this is being played in a baseball stadium when the dimensions are tighter than the pitches where they’ll play games that really count and everyone seems more worried about not getting injured on the ripped up turf.
Gregg Berhalter said that he’s seeing progress out of his team. The jury is still out on whether or not that’s true but for his sake, he better be right because the true test of World Cup Qualifying is less than a year away.
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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