Two World Cup friendlies down, an airport welcome to remember in Los Angeles – now it’s time for the USMNT to lock in.
A 3-2 victory over Senegal in Charlotte was followed by a 2-1 defeat to four-time champions Germany in Chicago, but there was no time to dwell.
After more than 60,000 fans at Soldier Field sent Mauricio Pochettino and his team on their way west, an immediate flight to Los Angeles and their training base in Irvine, California followed.
Pochettino used the game against Germany to give 22 of his players a runout, and may have offered a clue to his starting line-up.
The US face Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on Friday June 12, which means a full on week of preparations in the Pacific Coast sunshine.
One man missing again was Chris Richards, with the Crystal Palace defender battling an ankle injury that could rule impact his early role at the tournament.
Pochettino made six changes and switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation from the 4-3-3 that started against Senegal.
Malik Tillman came into the attack at the expense of Ricardo Pepi, with Folarin Balogun and Weston McKennie also back and likely to form a huge part of the US attacking gameplan.
After talkSPORT’s senior US reporter Brian T. Smith called for more from Christian Pulisic, Saturday’s friendly saw the AC Milan playmaker miss a few chances.
But the 28-year-old, who is fifth on the USMNT all time list with 32 goals believes there was plenty to be positive about.
“I thought we did a lot of good things against a really good opponent,” he said after the game.
“We created some chances. We had a really good reaction after their goal. Things didn’t go our way in the end, but I feel like we feel like we’re right there.
“All in all I think a pretty positive performance. We can take some things out of it and we still have some little things that we want to work out.
“I think we feel progress, – at the end of the day these friendlies, results or whatever performance – we have to do it when it when it comes down to it
“When the World Cup starts and we have the big games, it definitely helps us, it makes us feel good. I feel like the last performance has been really good.
“I don’t feel pressure, there’s pressure, of course, but I feel good about it.”
Defensive decisions the only question mark?
While the attack looked close to full strength, the defence remains a question mark, mainly due to Richards injury.
Matt Freese returned in goal but ahead of him there was only one change.
USMNT World Cup Group D
June 12 – v Paraguay, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
June 19 – v Australia, Lumen Field, Seattle
June 25 – v Turkey, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Miles Robinson was given his chance alongside Tim Ream in central defence after Mark McKenzie started against Senegal, but any return for Richards could open the door to a back three.
Any version of the defence is almost certain to feature Robinson, who fired his fifth international – and as he admitted to talkSPORT after the game, probably the best of his career.
The Fulham defender, better known as Jedi, has had an up and down season, but insists that goes out of the window for a United States team gunning for success.
“There’s times that I’ve not felt like I was going to make it to this point,” he said after the game.
“Being able to finally get through that second game and knowing that the World Cup is finally around the corner and we’re in this moment, I can finally start to get a bit excited now.
“Everyone’s been through their own thing as a team, as individuals – I just hope that we go into it full of confidence and thinking that we can go and win this tournament and don’t have any regrets.
“Don’t think, ‘I should have run that extra yard, I should have made that pass, I should have shot.’
“Just give it everything in the moment and if we focus on each game at a time, then I’ve got a great feeling that we can do something special.
“Things are going to go against you, don’t let it get to you – I think that response shows that when things are going against us, which in tournament football is bound to happen, that we can come back from anything.”
When do the US start their World Cup?
The US are based on the West Coast for the group stage of the tournament, with two games in Los Angeles either side of a game in Seattle.
After their opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, the US play Australia at Lumen Field seven days sater on June 19 with the final game against Turkey on June 25 back at SoFi.
A run to the quarterfinals in 2002 is their best showing since a third placed finish at the first ever World Cup in 1930 – and both Pulisic and Robinson have shown how ambitious this group are.
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