Connect with us

Olympics / Team USA

Young USMNT fall to Brazil 2-0

 The US men’s national team faced off against the world’s third ranked Brazil at MetLife Stadium Friday night to continue their kick-off series.

The MNT Starting XI had an average age of 23 years 117 days, marking the fifth-straight match the U.S. lineup has averaged under 24 years. Brazil’s starting XI came in with an average of 26 years, 326 days.

After some even spells of possession between the two sides, some nice passing and a bit of speed helped Brazil pull ahead. Playing the ball around midfield, Marquinhos slotted it to Douglas Costa on the right who took one touch before speeding down the field. He made a swift cross to Roberto Firmino at the back post who in a quick second made it past Zack Steffen. 

In the 43rd minute Brazil succeeded due to  a controversial penalty after Fabinho made it into the box on the right before falling gracefully as he tried to penetrate between Wil Trapp and John Brooks. 

Neymar stepped up and slotted a low penalty to the right of Steffen to take a two-goal advantage.

The second half seemed to be more alive for the USMNT as they started attacking a bit more. The Brazilians did not seem phased as they displayed all their different styles of footwork zig zagging past the American defenders. 

In the 64th minute Mckinnie almost contributed with a nice shot on goal but the ball was deflected to the left side of the goal post.

Defenders Matt Miazga and John Brooks did a good job defending and keeping Brazil at bay, Miazga had some pretty effective stoppages that gave the Brazilians a hard time. “This is football sometimes you win sometimes you lose, you have to learn to shake it off and prepare for the next game. Next game is mexico,another big one at home. Like I said we  gotta learn from our mistakes and figure out what we did well and bad and continue to build” he explained after the game. 

76th minute A free kick caught the Brazil defenders standing still. McKennie got to it again, but this time closer to goal, but his touch was  weaker and it went straight to Alisson.

Unfortunately the final score stayed at 2-0 favoring Brazil.

After the game interim coach Dave Sarachan explained some things the  US team will be gaining from this game  “It forces us to analyze how we can be better,you learn from mistakes, you learn from these types of games that put you on the back foot instead of the front foot. I prefer these games over playing with a weak team where we get away with some mistakes. We don’t like to lose but there’s lessons in losing. These are games to challenge us, to improve us, to learn from”. 

The team will travel to Nashville for their next game against Mexico on September 11. 

The following two tabs change content below.
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Olympics / Team USA