A raucous, sellout crowd of 37,705 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium was on hand to watch the United States take on European giants Germany. The U.S. has only won 2 of the last 5 matches between the two. Gregg Berhalter has set higher standards for this group of players to not just compete in these types of games but also to win. While the result of Saturday’s match will reinforce the U.S. still has a gap to close on the world’s best, there certainly were plenty of positives to take from the match into their next match against Ghana, another team they share World Cup history with.
Straight from the kickoff, it was clear the U.S. wasn’t going to sit back and hope to grind out a result and just 4 minutes in a long ball was sent over the top from Weston McKennie as he picked out a darting Christian Pulisic racing in behind the German back four. Pulisic received it well on the run and sent Marc-André ter Stagen the wrong direction as he slotted low into the bottom left corner but the whistle had blown for offside.
The United States would continue to apply pressure just 5 minutes later and were unfortunate not to find the back of the net yet again. Pulisic squeezed a tight pass through to Yunus Musah who quickly found Gio Reyna on the opposite flank who drove at his defender and laid off to an overlapping Tim Weah. Weah tried to find Pulisic who had continued his run into the box but his cross was just behind Pulisic who couldn’t adjust to get a clean strike on the ball and it fell harmlessly into the arms of Ter Stagen.
While Germany defenders tried to keep the U.S. attack at bay, their strikers began building their rhythm and nearly had the game’s opening goal when Florian Wirtz turned Tim Ream inside the 18-yard box and squared it to Pascal Gross who sent a one-time blast past Turner with only the woodwork keeping it out.
Each team continued pressing for the opening goal and in the 27th minute the Americans would finally be awarded for their persistence as Pulisic was given time and space to drive at the German back line where he unleashed a gem of a strike, curling the ball from outside the top of the box into the top right corner of the goal. The strike sent the stadium into a frenzy with the German players asking questions of each other as to who was responsible.
The joy was short-lived as just 12 minutes later, the Germans struck back to equalize. Leroy Sane picked up the ball on the right side of the field and drove at Sergino Dest, turning him around as he drove towards the top of the box. A quick one-two with Gündogan and Sane was through to goal. Turner bravely rushed to close the angle but his initial save left the ball fortuitously for Ikay Gündogan. With a helpless Turner on the ground, Gündogan made no mistake as he drove a left-footed shot into the open U.S. goal for the equalizer.
The two teams would enter the break even at 1-1 with both managers having plenty to discuss. Julian Nagelsmann’s half-time speech seemed to have been received well as the Germans started to impose their will on the game. In the 58th the Germans would pull ahead after a dynamic run of passes and movement sent Niclas Füllkrug in on goal and he buried his shot from close range
with little interference by the U.S. defenders. It was Füllkrug’s 8th goal in just his 10th cap for Germany.
The fate of the match would be decided just 3 minutes later as Jamal Musiala was allowed to drive through the heart of the American defense and a fortunate bounce found it’s way to Füllkrug who sent it past an on rushing Turner back to Musiala to tap in. The ease of the German team to walk through the U.S. backline had Berhalter expressively frustrated. Each team made numerous changes shortly thereafter but the game appeared to have been done and dusted save for a couple of dazzling moments by Brenden Aaronson who did his best to try and interject some life into the match that had seemingly slipped away.
While many knew the quality of the German team coming into the match there was still an abundance of optimism that this generation of young American players would finally be able to deliver in big matches. The U.S. should be applauded for their bravery in attack as the easier option would have been to sit back and try to make it difficult for Germany to break them down. To close the gap with the world’s elite the U.S. has to improve its level which can only be done by not giving into the pressure of just getting a result on the day.
The U.S. had a clear game plan and that was to attack and force Germany to defend. Unfortunately, when you play one of the best teams in the world you leave yourself open at the back and susceptible to the counterattack. This is not to say the U.S. defenders are not of quality as they have players with a lot of pedigree from the top professional leagues but when you compare them to the best strikers in the world, there is a significant gap. This is one area that will certainly be on the coaching staff’s mind as they prepare for their match against Ghana on Tuesday night in Nashville and next years Copa America.
Overall, I was pleased with the effort put forth by this young team and I hope they stay the course and do not revert back to negative soccer. I hope the U.S. continues to build on playing aggressive, fluid style but if I’m honest, I wouldn’t be too terribly disappointed with seeing one ugly half of soccer to seal a 1-0 win and birthplace in the Semifinals in 2026.
