{"id":33228,"date":"2022-06-02T06:13:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T06:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/usmnt-beats-morocco-and-offers-a-clever-answer-to-its-striker-problem\/"},"modified":"2022-06-02T06:13:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T06:13:18","slug":"usmnt-beats-morocco-and-offers-a-clever-answer-to-its-striker-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/usmnt-beats-morocco-and-offers-a-clever-answer-to-its-striker-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT beats Morocco, and offers a clever answer to its striker problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CINCINNATI – On a muggy Wednesday afternoon in Washington DC last month, Gregg Berhalter sat across a table from three reporters, leaned forward, and confronted his most irksome dilemma.<\/p>\n

With the 2022 World Cup approaching, his US men’s national team didn’t have a consistent striker; was he concerned?<\/p>\n

“Well, I mean, I don’t want to underplay this,” he began. \u201cBut France won the World Cup without a striker scoring a goal. It could be done, right? “<\/p>\n

He was not, of course, comparing the USMNT to the 2018 world champions. His point di lui was that, although he’d love to have a ruthless poacher leading his line di lui, \u201cit’s not that it’s dire,\u201d he said of the striker situation.<\/p>\n

And four weeks later, on another muggy Wednesday, this time in Cincinnati, his players proved the point.<\/p>\n

In their first of four friendlies between now and Qatar 2022, the USMNT roared past Morocco, 3-0. Its three goals came from a midfielder, Brenden Aaronson; from a winger, Tim Weah; and on a penalty won by another winger, Christian Pulisic.<\/p>\n

Haji Wright, the hottest American male striker on the planet, converted that penalty, and at the very least earned an extended look from Berhalter as a more traditional No. 9. His movement was sharp. He took his one chance from open play confidently, though he fired his shot right at the goalkeeper. He then celebrated his debut goal with a point toward and hug of Pulisic, his one-time team roommate who handed him the ball at the penalty spot – after Wright asked for it.<\/p>\n

But it was the USMNT’s first-half performance, with Wright still waiting in the wings, that was most impressive. Pulisic expertly ran in behind off the left wing, deftly controlled a long ball from Walker Zimmerman, and set up Aaronson for the opener.<\/p>\n

Weah, who has played up front at times throughout his young career, then spanked a 20-yard shot past Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou for the second.<\/p>\n

They were the stars, and will be the stars in Qatar. But in their midst, off the scoresheet, was Jesus Ferreira, who started at striker and did non-tradition-striker things. In the third minute, he led a ferocious press that created a Morocco turnover in the attacking third, and the first US chance of the game. Throughout his 45 minutes, he occupied and lured defenders away from the very space that Pulisic and others can exploit.<\/p>\n