{"id":80237,"date":"2022-09-28T02:43:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/usmnt-vs-saudi-arabia-score-usa-limp-to-scoreless-draw-in-last-friendly-ahead-of-novembers-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2022-09-28T02:43:25","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:43:25","slug":"usmnt-vs-saudi-arabia-score-usa-limp-to-scoreless-draw-in-last-friendly-ahead-of-novembers-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/usmnt-vs-saudi-arabia-score-usa-limp-to-scoreless-draw-in-last-friendly-ahead-of-novembers-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia score: USA limp to scoreless draw in last friendly ahead of November’s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the team’s final match before the World Cup, the United States drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in Murcia, Spain on Tuesday behind a strong showing from Matt Turner in net as he battles for the number one shirt.<\/p>\n

It was a chance for the United States to enter Qatar with momentum but with Gio Reyna leaving after only 30 minutes of action as a precaution and another disappointing showing from Ricardo Pepi, more questions than answers remain. The expectation was that Christian Pulisic’s return to the lineup would see the attack improve from their 2-0 loss to Japan, and while it did statistically, with seven shots, four on target, it wasn’t good enough to secure a victory over Saudi Arabian. <\/p>\n

The match started brightly with the trio of Sergino Dest, Weston Mckennie and Christian Pulisic making inventive runs but outside of the trio, the attack was nowhere to be found. Pepi was unable to check his runs to stay onside or get onto the end of crosses in the air while the loss of Dest’s crossing ability on the right was drastic with DeAndre Yedlin deputizing there. <\/p>\n

After the match, Berhalter was happy with the performance but not the execution, saying that timing was an issue. With the amount of rotation that the team has faced, there hasn’t been much time for his best lineup to come together which clearly contributed to Pepi’s issues with getting on the end of runs during the match. Key cogs like Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, and Yunus Musah have all missed time during the last few international windows so it’s fair for the team’s timing to be off but it also shows how fragile their depth pieces are with only 55 days to go until the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Next, the US face Wales in their Group B opener on Nov. 21 at 2 pm ET.<\/p>\n

Here are a few takeaways from the match:<\/p>\n

Learn from mistakes, don’t dwell on them<\/h2>\n

After only registering two shots on target in 180 minutes of soccer during this international break, you couldn’t ask for a flatter showing from the national team attackers. But there is time to improve before kicking off the World Cup against Wales in November in Qatar. If players like Christian Pulisic, Sergino Dest, and Luca de la Torre can use this camp as inspiration to kick on and earn starting spots at their respective clubs, things could be quite different a few months from now. Combined, the trio has only played 536 minutes this season for club and country which is fewer minutes than Tyler Adams has logged for Leeds United (540) this season. Berhalter needs his best players actually playing minutes before the World Cup because the preparation time between coming together for camp and kicking off against wales won’t be enough time to get up to speed when it comes to decision making. That can only come via minutes that they need to earn at their respective clubs. <\/p>\n

Craving even more coverage of the world’s game? Listen below and follow \u00a1Que Golazo! A Daily CBS Soccer Podcast where we take you beyond the pitch and around the globe for commentary, previews, recaps and more.
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