The USA Men’s National Soccer Team defeated Morocco 3-0 in a friendly held at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio last night. It was their first game since their 2-0 loss to Costa Rica on March 30, 2022, a night that saw them qualify for their first World Cup since 2014.
Morocco, led by Paris-Saint Germainne star Achraf Hakimi, started off on the front foot, forcing keeper Matt Turner to make impressive saves in the first quarter of the 90 minutes. Brendan Aaronson opened up the scoring for the US in the 26th minute after a unique display of control and assist from captain Christian Pulisic. Pulisic controlled the ball out of the air in the Morocco box before cutting back to open up the space for Aaronson who made a run and tapped the ball home into the back of the net. With that assist for Pulisic, he broke Landon Donovan’s record for the fastest US Men’s player to reach double digit goals and assists for country, edging Donovan by a single game to complete the feat in 49 games.
Six minutes later, Tim Weah scored a screamer from outside the box to double the lead for the US. The US made three substitutions at half time, bringing on Haji Wright, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Joe Scally. In the 64th minute, substitute Haji Wright scored a penalty after a foul on Pulisic in the box. Matt Turner produced a few more important saves to keep his clean sheet and the US National Team completed their victory over Morocco, 3-0.
Following the end of the season for most major sports leagues, it’s great to see the USA start off June with a victory, especially against a fellow world cup qualifying team in Morocco. It bodes well for the national team who are hoping to make a big splash in Qatar at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
After the game, Christian Pulisic called out fans for their lack of support during the friendly. “I’m not super happy with the amount of Americans here,” Pulisic noted in an interview with ESPN. A lot of fans for Morocco came out in support of their national team, sometimes sounding stronger than the home side. Fans on social media have been quick to criticize Pulisic’s comments, noting the high price of tickets and the team playing in the same stadiums consistently instead of traveling to more stadiums. Whatever the reason for the lack of support for the home team, Pulisic is hoping for more support as the team heads into their next friendlies and prepares for an important rest of the year.
The US National Team takes on Uruguay on June 5th, 2022 in Kansas City before starting out the group stage of the CONCACAF Nations League with a match against Grenada on June 10th, 2022 in Austin, Texas.
