COLUMBUS, Ohio — Alex Zendejas and Folarin Balogun scored, and Matt Freese made six saves, giving the U.S. men’s national team a much-needed victory, 2-0 over Japan in a friendly on Tuesday.
Zendejas scored in the 30th minute and Balogun extended the lead in the 64th against the No. 17 team in the FIFA rankings.
The U.S lost their previous five matches to top-25 teams by a combined 11-1 score.
Zendejas scored his second U.S. goal from a cross by Max Arfsten, who plays for the Columbus Crew.
Arfsten did several stepovers then sent a line drive to the middle of the box, where Zendejas ripped a side volley into the net for the highlight of an entertaining first half that saw each team put four shots on target.
Christian Pulisic set up the second score with a slick entry pass that Balogun ran onto before putting the ball inside the far post for his sixth goal.
One of the best stops for Freese was a reaction save on a shot by Junya Ito as he cut through the box in the 36th minute.
Japan nearly scored in the 70th minute when Koki Ogawa hit the right post.
Keisuke Osako was stellar as well for Japan and made a great diving stop of Jack McGlynn in the 79th among his nine saves. McGlynn later hit the crossbar.
There were five lineup changes from a 2-0 loss to South Korea on Saturday in Harrison, N.J. that was played in front of a crowd estimated to be two-thirds pro-Korean.
That wasn’t the case in Columbus, known as the “Fortress” for the USMNT with an 11-1-3 record.
Wednesday marks one year since the hiring of Mauricio Pochettino to replace Gregg Berhalter. He has a 10-7-1 record.
He has introduced numerous players and left some mainstays off the roster to much criticism but said the matches Oct. 10 vs. Ecuador in Austin, Texas, and four days later in Commerce City, Colo. against Australia will be close to the first team he plans to take to the World Cup.
–Craig Merz, Field Level Media
