USA 1-1 Uruguay
The US men’s national team finished with a 1-1 draw versus Uruguay in an International Friendly hosted at the Busch Stadium in St. Louis last Tuesday evening.
This match was a good gauge on how USA would fare with three of their best players missing in Weston McKennie, John Brooks, and Christian Pulisic.
On the other hand, Uruguay were missing their stars as well in Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, and Diego Godin due to injury.
Uruguay took control of the game late thanks to a second-half goal by Brian Rodriguez. However, the Americans didn’t back down as Jordan Morris scored the equaliser after almost 20 minutes.
The draw result gave US some sort of a relief, especially after reeling from their humiliating 3-0 loss against Mexico last week. This game gave Gregg Berhalter an idea on how his club will look like as they gear up for the CONCACAF Nations League next month.
Let SBOBET help you re-live some of the best International Friendly 2019 highlights in this game.
Highlights of the game
Many questioned on whether the home team was up for the challenge, and it’s safe to say that they’ve responded well in this game.
The match was pretty even from the first 20 minutes as both teams had their own share of chances. Both defences were good enough to prevent each other from getting good looks for a shot on target.
Jonathan Rodriguez had a great chance when Brian Rodriguez left off a lovely pass inside the box. However, it looked like Jonathan wasn’t ready and Brad Guzan’s reflexes was fast enough to get a save.
Cristian Roldan almost gave USA the quick lead after a nice cross by his teammate, but Uruguayan goal keeper Fernando Muslera was there to deflect the ball out of harm’s way.
Few minutes later, Uruguay had another chance at a goal after a clumsy save by Guzan. It was a good thing that a lot of red shirts were in the way to prevent the South Americans in taking an early lead.
Tyler Boyd was just inches away to put the Americans on top. After a lovely volley inside the pitch by Morris, the Besiktas winger’s touch unfortunately bounced over the hands of Muslera and the net – leaving him in disbelief.
Jackson Yueill tried his luck by letting off a long-range strike, but his shot was too far wide on the right. Overall, it was a tight first half with neither team taking advantage.
Team USA was unfortunate to not have gotten a penalty kick at the end of the first half after a handball on Jose Gimenez. That could’ve been the perfect chance for them to seize the advantage. Nonetheless, it was an encouraging performance for the Americans despite having low International Friendly 2019 odds of beating Uruguay in this fixture.
After a quiet first half, the Uruguayans flipped the switch by being more aggressive. They executed the counterattack to perfection en route for their first (and only) goal of the match.
Brian Rodriguez found an open space on the left flank against Aaron Long and fired a strong finish over Brad Guzan’s outstretched arms in the 50th minute. He tried to follow another one up few minutes later, but he wasn’t successful.
Jordan Morris’ first attempt on a shot came after a volley towards inside the box. His header, however, wasn’t strong enough making it an easy catch for Muslera.
Uruguay were the more aggressive team in the second half as they kept on pushing pace with their counterattacks, while USA looked listless at least for a while.
The Americans were constantly searching for answers in the whole second half, and they finally did at the 79th minute.
USA got ahead on the attack after a smart pass by Tim Ream to Cristian Roldan inside the box. After a mad scramble with the ball, Roldan showed off his deft touch by flicking the ball right into a Jordan Morris header for the equaliser.
Back-and-forth action continued as both teams tried to go for a lead, but nothing really happened after that and the game ended with a 1-1 draw.
Youngsters Joshua Sargent and Sergino Dest played a lot of minutes for Berhalter. However, their inexperience didn’t help as they failed to make much of an impact. Paxton Pomykal showed some flashes in his national team debut after being subbed in the 85th minute, but he didn’t play enough to make a huge difference.
Key statistics
Team USA’s last game in the Busch Stadium was a dominating 6-1 win over St. Vincent last November 2015.
They were the more aggressive team in the first half with 59-per cent possession. USA controlled 60-per cent compared to Uruguay’s 40-per cent, and they had more completed passes as well (536 on 87-per cent accuracy).
Uruguay had more shots (15) and corners in the match (4).
What’s next?
Team USA are set to compete against Cuba to kick off the CONCACAF Nations League in October at Washington DC.
Meanwhile, Uruguay’s next international friendly will see them go up against Peru in what will be a rematch of their Copa America affair last June 30.
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