It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
It was by no means going to be straightforward. Then once more, neither has the grinding strain of being American soccer’s chosen one. But when the proper alternative arrived, Christian Pulisic surrendered his physique for his crew and at last took maintain of his signature second on the worldwide stage.
With the temperature of this geopolitical proxy warfare between the United States and Iran at the Middle East’s first World Cup having risen to a boiling level, Pulisic turned the quantity down with a purpose the United States desperately needed to have, making the difference in a tense and riveting win-or-go-home showdown for the Americans. When Sergiño Dest directed a header towards purpose off Weston McKennie’s floated move in the thirty eighth minute, an onrushing Pulisic burst via a thicket of white shirts and struck dwelling what proved to be the winner whereas barreling into the Iranian keeper. Pulisic then lay sprawled in the goalmouth for practically 4 minutes.
He was taken to hospital at half-time with dizziness and to obtain a precautionary stomach scan. But as soon as the US held off a heart-pounding Iranian onslaught late in the second half, sealing their progress to the knockout stage and a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, the fallen winger joined the rollicking locker-room celebration over FaceTime and was already back at the team hotel by the time they arrived. US Soccer later mentioned Pulisic is “day-to-day” and had suffered a “pelvic contusion”.
“Christian makes those runs,” USA supervisor Gregg Berhalter mentioned after the sport. “That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has. As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity into the penalty box and good things happen and you score goals. We’ve seen at Chelsea he’s scored a number of goals on the same types of runs. He crashes the box and makes it really difficult for defenders with his change of pace.”
The 24-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, stays the frontman of a romper room that’s been breathlessly touted as America’s golden technology. More than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s high 5 leagues, together with Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and captain Tyler Adams (Leeds United). It’s a set-up designed at the very least in half for the subsequent World Cup, when the US can be co-hosts and at the moment’s core gamers can be in their presumptive primes, even when Berhalter resists the notion. “We want to build a ton of momentum going into 2026,” he mentioned final week. “But it all starts now.”
And how. Berhalter has chosen the three youngest lineups of all the video games performed in Qatar and Tuesday’s was the youngest one but with a median age of underneath 25 years outdated: the first ever American facet at World Cup the place all 11 starters featured for European golf equipment. Each of them levelled up on an evening when the thorny political underpinnings had been uncomfortably thrust to the fore. The ambiance in and round lots of the stadiums at the Qatar World Cup has been oddly flat. That was not the case on Tuesday, to the extent it nearly felt like a distinct match altogether. It was clear exterior the Al Thumama Stadium greater than three hours earlier than kickoff that US followers could be vastly outnumbered by the Iranian supporters and the many neutrals introduced into their fold. They turned the 44,400-seat venue right into a cauldron of noise: a impartial website in title solely.
Coming off a draw with Wales that felt like a loss and one other with England that felt like a win, the United States had been at all times going to face an uphill climb in the group-stage finale, needing three factors in opposition to Asia’s highest-ranked crew. Iran would nearly definitely progress with a draw, that means they might pack gamers behind the ball in the sort of low block the United States have constantly struggled in opposition to. But the hostile roars and ear-splitting cacophony of vuvuzelas and drums made it that a lot tougher. Welcome to Great Satan v Iran II, a rematch a quarter-century in the making.
The first half hour unfolded on a knife’s edge, with the counter-attacking menace from Iran’s ahead pairing of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi looming over the US crew’s promising begin, however the Americans weren’t in awe of the event. The itinerant Adams took command in midfield. McKennie made the lung-busting box-to-box runs which have turn into his calling card. The prodigious Yunah Musah, celebrating his twentieth birthday, dribbled out of strain and fearlessly ran at defenders.
By the thirty fifth minute they’d already peppered the Iran purpose with as many pictures as in the whole Wales sport, however the agita mounted with every missed completion. Until that second. For all the precocious expertise in their ranks – so younger and impressive, unscarred by failure, with the note-perfect mix of confidence and humility – Pulisic stays the bellwether; as he goes, so go the Americans. It’s not an accident the US crew have received eight straight matches in which he’s scored.
“What I saw from the group was a tremendous amount of focus, especially leading into the game: you could tell they were locked in,” Berhalter mentioned. “The end of the game is really what I’m most proud of because it’s the mark of determination and an extreme amount of effort and resiliency to hang in there and get the win and not buckle. You know, that’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve gotten two shutouts at a World Cup, so the boys are doing something right.”
It’s the fifth time the United States have reached the knockouts since 1994 – which places them in some elite firm – however this one means a lot extra after the gloomy nadir of 5 years in the past once they did not qualify for Russia with a dour defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Pulisic is one in all solely 4 holdovers from that traumatic night time in Couva and the wait absolutely makes his maiden World Cup purpose that a lot sweeter.
And now? The Americans enter the enterprise finish of the match on a tailwind of confidence, wanting for objectives however having but to concede from open play. Berhalter, who will eternally be remembered by supporters as the participant whose left foot practically despatched the US into the semi-finals again in 2002, is assured this crew can comply with that path.
“From here, anything can happen,” Berhalter mentioned. “All we need to do is play one game at a time and there’s no need to even project how far this team can go, because the next match is against Holland and that’s our main focus. It’s great to be in this knockout format. We relish this. It’s an opportunity for our guys to keep grinding and stick together and enjoy this experience.”
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