Al Rayyan, Qatar – After riding a strong, organized defense to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup, United States of america Men’s national team failed to bring same intensity in A round of 16 3-1 damage to Netherlands,
The US conceded only one goal, and none from open play, as it finished second in Group B behind England. But in Saturday’s first knockout game, each goal came at a crucial moment where it looked like the US was building momentum and getting the better of the game.
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“The last three games, I would say we defended moments really well,” the US captain Tyler Adams Told. “And today three goals come from moments when we are probably sleeping a little.”
The US starting lineup was the second youngest in the 2022 World Cup (25 years, 86 days) after the US XI that started the last match against Iran (24 years, 321 days).
And, while that means there’s plenty of room for promotion for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States along with Canada and Mexico, Adams suggested it could cost the team on the night.
“It’s exciting, the more time we have together the more growth there should be,” he told Fox.
“But having said that we still need to develop more mature players individually for moments like this so that we can come out on top. As I said it comes in moments and today you can see That slightly more experienced team has gotten better.” Our.”
For the first nine minutes of the game, the US had the bulk of the possession and probably had their best scoring chance of the game in the third minute when christian pulisic from close range was denied by the goalkeeper andries knoppert,
“It hurts, man. It hurts,” Pulisic said of the miss. “I thought I was onside when it happened, but I still hit it and made a good save. It’s going to hurt for a while.”
While a lack of sophistication plagued the US throughout qualifying and the first three matches, the Netherlands showed what clinical finishing looks like.
It took until the 10th minute for the Dutch to make a real push into the Americans’ defensive third, but did so on a beautiful passing sequence that saw denzel dumfries Deduct a pass for being late memphis depe — who beat Adams and was free in the box — for the opening goal.
US coach Greg Berhalter said, “Their first attack was basically a target and how long did it take to attack? We were clearly on top, clearly dominated.”
“We had a good moment, an opportunity to score before, we didn’t score. It’s just moments like this when a player moves around a bit and it ends up in the back of the net. And when you Play at this level, when you play at this high quality, that’s what happens.”
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The goal may have looked like it came against the order of play, but it was exactly the type of moment Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal had hoped to set up by sitting deep for most of the game.
Netherlands center-back virgil van dijk They said they knew the US midfield was the team’s strength and deliberately did not apply more pressure on the US backline to make things more difficult for the US midfield. Yunus Musa, Weston McKenney and Adams.
The US had some bright moments of possession – especially from Tim Wee and sergino destination – but it failed to generate much through the centre, where Jesus Ferreira Started on Striker.
Ferreira said he was instructed to drop deeper than the American strikers — josh sargent (unavailable due to ankle injury) and Haji Wright – Tried to open up the back slot in his first three matches, but the plan didn’t work and live rayna His place was half-submerged.
Seconds before halftime, the Dutch made a throw-in on the same sequence as before. Dumfries cuts a pass into the box again and becomes captain daily blind ended peacefully.
The United States got a chaotic, shaky goal through Wright in the 71st minute, which the Dutch responded quickly and methodically.
