Doug McIntyre
Football journalist
After Saturday’s disappointing 3-1 loss to Germany, the US men’s national team responded in the best possible way, crushing frequent World Cup foe Ghana 4-0 on Tuesday in a friendly between the two teams in nashville.
Gio Reyna scored twice for the Americans, his first goals for his country since mid-2021. Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun also found the back of the net for the hosts, with all of the USMNT’s strikes coming in the first half.
It was the third straight win for the USA against the Black Stars, including a group stage win at the 2014 World Cup – the third of three straight meetings between the countries on the biggest stage in sports. Ghana won the first two encounters, knocking the Americans out of the competition both times.
Here are some quick takeaways from Tuesday’s game.
The game of the game
All four of the USA’s goals were easy on the eyes, but Balogun deserves a special mention. The New York-born, London-raised forward, who chose to represent the USA over England last May, barely touched the ball against the Germans. Afterwards, USA coach Greg Burhalter said that finding Balogun in good scoring positions was an area that needed improvement for his team.
That’s exactly what Tim Weah did in the 22nd minute. Weah pounced on a heavy touch from Ghana full-back Gideon Mensah and quickly played a pass to Balogun in the middle of the visitors’ penalty area. Balogun feinted to hit the ball first-time, turned his defender and hit a left-footed shot off the inside post and in. It was a spectacular goal. “We contained Balo as we wanted,” Berhalter told the official broadcaster at half-time. And Balogun — who became the first American to score more than 20 goals in a top-5 European league last season — showed just what he’s capable of when the service he receives is adequate:
Turning point
Determined to start quickly after the one-sided defeat to Die Mannschaft, the USA took the lead just 10 minutes in through Reyna. It was an important strike for other reasons as well. Reyna has been at the center of a post-2022 World Cup storm that nearly resulted in Berhalter not returning as coach for the 2026 World Cup cycle. Taking part in his first USMNT camp since Berhalter’s re-hiring in June, he has focused too much to Reyna since he was named to the October roster earlier in the month.
After starting and playing the first half against Germany, Reina exploded for two goals on Tuesday, the 20-year-old striker’s fifth and sixth of his career. The former was cathartic, both for a young player who has had to deal with injuries on top of off-field drama this year, and for a team that needed to make a statement to its fans and maybe even itself that it can dominate. World Cup caliber opposition, if not yet the sport’s truly elite nations.
Basic stat
Tuesday marked the first time the USA put up at least three goals against any opponent outside the CONCACAF region in the first half of any game since 1999, a 3-0 friendly final against Germany – their first victory. over the four-time World Cup champions – in Jacksonville, Florida. Gio Reyna’s father, two-time USMNT World Cup captain Claudio Reyna, scored the third goal for the Americans on the day.
What’s next for the USMNT?
After playing a pair of friendlies in both September and October and facing two teams from the Asian Football Confederation and one each from Africa and Europe, the Americans will resume real competition next month when they face local opposition to be determined later. Tuesday in the quarter-finals of the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League. This run of aggregate goals over two legs, home and away, will double as an automatic qualification opportunity for the 2024 Copa America.
Doug McIntyre is a football writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in several FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @By DougMcIntyre.
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