The American national male team used the goal of Chris Richards’ 63rd minute to get a place in the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Golden Cup with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in a group D in Austin, Texas on Thursday.
The Americans (2-0-0, 6 points) can get the group’s first place with a victory or a draw on Sunday against Haiti in Arlington, Texas. They have a difference in goals for more than six years compared to the Saudis (1-1-0, 3 points), who will face Trinidad & Tobago in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Mexico and Costa Rica also won points.
Richards, who saved a potential goal in the first half, used his left foot to redirect a free kick from Sebastian Berhalter. The son of the former USMNT coach, Gregg Berhalter, won his first career in his career in his fourth game.
For Richards, it was his second goal in 27 games. Then the defender came on June 18, 2023 against Canada.
Matt Freese in his third match made a backup for his second consecutive laundering.
American coach Mauricio Pochettino used the same neophyte 5-0 victory program against Trinidad & Tobago. Eight of the 11 runners were 25 years or less and had an average of 16 appearances, seven in official competition.
It was a frustrating first half from the point of view of the Americans. According to Optajack, only nine of the 424 keys were in the box because the United States is not willing or unable to attack the defense.
It was ironic because a large part of the game sank on the left side of Max Arfsten, including the coach of Columbus Crew, Wilfried Nancy, preaches “possession with a goal”.
There was little goal. This is why it took until the 45th minute to record a shot to the goal when the sweet head of Patrick Agyemang was easily gathered by Nawaf al-Aqidi
The highest point of the USMNT in the first half was Richards who followed 25 yards to make a sliding block of what was going to be a clean aspect by Abdulrahman al Obud.
The United States has won the Gold Cup seven times since its creation in 1991, the last being in 2021, second behind the nine titles of Mexico.
– field level media