He has more caps than Pulisic, Arriola, Stanko, Birnbaum.
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Pulisic made his first usa start after seven appearances as a substitute, and at 17 years, 353 days, became the youngest American to start a qualifier.
It put the cap on an encouraging two-games for the USA, picking itself back up after the disappointment of being dominated by Argentina in the semifinals of the Copa America.
Goals from Sacha Kljestan, Paul Arriola, and Jozy Altidore helped secure the United States the top spot in their respective World Cup Qualifying group.
His inclusion came despite Klinsmann stressing beforehand that he would take a patient approach with the Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder. We just need to make sure it all kind of comes at the right time.
“The situation is very clear”, he said. This was all but a formality, with it almost impossible for them to miss out heading into Tuesday’s final day of games in the semifinal round, but a 4-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago made it official. If the US loses to T&T and Guatemala beats SVG and those results combine to turn around USMNT’s 12 goal advantage over Los Chapines in goal difference – then Guatemala will progress to the Hex at USA’s expense. Jurgen Klinsmann stated before that Tim Howard would be starting this game.
Instead, Pulisic played a supporting role in the opening goal for another player to have made the most of his opportunities in these dual World Cup qualifiers. Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood remained up front.
Hart said his side had been tentative and had “played with a lot of nerves”, allowing Guatemala to steal a point from the encounter.
“I’m just trying to stay healthy, man”, he said. “It’s fine to be patient. It’s important that our team knows this is serious stuff”. It’s been a insane year for me going from a lot of youth teams and programs straight to the professionals and top teams. “I’ve felt good in the group, I’m happy to be back and everything is going well”. Many feel it is time, especially after his performance on Friday. They are fully loaded now in their roster.
“I thought we were sloppy, it’s nearly like we didn’t want the ball and we didn’t move it effectively”, he told a media conference afterwards. “When I have the feeling to give him a go, we’ll give him a go”.
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Although the US team had virtually wrapped up a spot in the six-team final round – a phase that also includes Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and either Honduras or Canada – this one made it official. Here’s the winning goal from the 30-year-old, who has two goals and two assists in his last two games. He’s a good kid. “What you all see is what we see up close on a daily basis”. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works.
