The day began with Jim Cornelison, the famed Chicago Blackhawks signer, doing his usual stirring “Star Spangled Banner,” so it was appropriate the fans in Chicago went to a soccer match and a hockey game broke out.
Even though the U.S. men’s national team fell to Germany 2-1 on Saturday in their last match before the World Cup, they may have won the hearts and minds of a fanbase desperately hoping for more than just a group stage exit.
The memories from the loss to the No. 10 ranked team will not be the awful defending on a goal 1:45 into match, but a scintillating strike by Antonee Robinson to tie it and, most importantly, a bench-clearing shove-fest in the final moments that had the crowd chanting, “USA, USA.”
Don’t think the type of grittiness is forgotten, especially when only few months earlier the team seemingly had gone off the rails.
When the Germans and Americans exchanged hard tackles and angry stares, the home team refused to back down.
“We want to show our skill and our quality, but it doesn’t come without being combative, fighting, winning duels, those kinds of things,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “If I see one of my guys get kicked, I’m going right after them.”
That’s the American spirit even no-soccer fans can get behind.
In the short term, there is disappointment in not getting a win in the sendoff match. But the last time the U.S. failed to win its final pre-World Cup match was 2002, and they reached the quarterfinals, something they have not accomplished since.
That has to be the floor this year, but no amount of beautiful goals or an in-your-face attitude is going to make a difference if the number one issue isn’t resolved.
The U.S. was known for years for producing European-quality goalkeepers with the likes of previous World Cup keepers Tony Meola, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard.
Matt Freese and Matt Turner, the 2022 starter, are not in that category. Freese won the job during this cycle and with a start vs. Germany would be the presumed No. 1 the rest of the way.
But the first goal off a free kick raised more questions of how he will handle his first World Cup.
As TNT analyst Brad Guzan, another successful Euro GK, noted, Freese set up a four-man wall with the thought that Joshua Kimmich was going to shoot on goal from just outside the box. Instead, he sent a curling ball to the head of Kai Havertz for the goal.
Freese himself without view of the ball coming off Kimmich’s foot so once the ball was in the air he was late to make a challenge for it while Havertz was there in time. The World Cup is too big for little hesitations.
The other concern is the condition of top central defender Chris Richards. The Crystal Palace player is recovering from an ankle injury and did not play against Germany or the previous match against Senegal. He’s the key if coach Mauricio Pochettino uses a three-back system.
Pochettino said he is not sure if he will be ready for the opening match against Paraguay on Friday but that could be a coach’s ploy. Then again if it isn’t the glaring weakness could be further exposed.
Despite the negatives, the overall play in the win against Senegal and against Germany has restored the pride in the program that it lost, along with many of its supporters, after disappointing losses against Belgium (5-2) and Portugal (2-0) in March.
What the players did on Saturday in Chicago was leave the fans excited for the World Cup to begin.
–Field Level Media
