International Soccer
Korea Republic shuts down USMNT in New Jersey
The USMNT continues to stumble their way toward World Cup season, following up a disappointing Gold Cup final loss to Mexico with a 2-0 loss to Korea Republic in front of a sold out crowd of 26,500 in Harrison, N.J. on Saturday.
LAFC forward Son Heung-min opened the scoring against his former Tottenham manager’s side in the 18th minute and assisted on Lee Dong-Gyeong’s 43rd minute strike to round out the scoring. The Koreans outshot the U.S. by a 17-5 margin. Goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo had a standout five-save performance in keeping the U.S. off the scoresheet.
Christian Pulisic (Hershey, Pa.) earned his 79th cap, former Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Matt Freese (Wayne, Pa.) made a pair of saves in goal in his 8th appearance while Tyler Adams started in his old stomping grounds from his New York Red Bulls days. Prior to the match former MetroStars player and current Red Bull II coach Michael Bradley was honored. Bradley, the third most capped player in USMNT history, is a native of Princeton, N.J.
Union defender Nathan Harriel dressed but did not feature in the match but former Philadelphia Union midfielder Jack McGlynn came off the bench in the match to earn his 12th senior cap.
The loss continues a concerning trend under Argentine head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has a 10-7-0 win-loss-draw record since taking over as head coach a year ago this week. That includes three losses to World Cup-qualified teams: Korea Republic, Canada and Mexico and additional losses to FIFA top 30 ranked teams Switzerland and Turkey.
The U.S. will now turn its attention to another World Cup-bound team from Asia with a friendly against Japan slated for Tuesday night in Columbus (7:30 p.m. / TNT, HBO Max, Universo and Peacock).
