The United States men’s national team’s preparations for next year’s World Cup took another dent as porous defending and coaching decisions from Marucio Pochettino saw them fall to South Korea at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, on Saturday.
Coming off a loss at the Gold Cup final in July, the Americans would certainly believe the series of September friendlies would get them on track with the big tournament 10 months away. However, there is still very much an air of doubt whether they will be competitive for next summer.
Pochettino went with a 4-2-3-1 formation that had several changes from their last game. The likes of Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah made their returns, while Sergino Dest was in right-back after fully recovering from his ACL injury. Josh Sargent got the nod at center-forward. The most notable of additions was center-back Tristian Blackmon, who got his first cap alongside Tim Ream.
That defensive pairing proved to be exposed 18 minutes into the contest when Lee Jae-Sung’s through ball found South Korea’s captain, Son Heung-Min, to fire his shot past goalkeeper Matt Freese.
The Americans had a couple of chances to level the score as Weah was put in threatening positions to score. His first effort came in the 26th minute when Pulisic fed him the ball in the 18-yard box, but it was whistled for an offside. The Marseille winger then had a shot in the 40th minute, but it went wide of the goal.
South Korea doubled its lead in the 43rd minute as link-up play between Son and Lee left the U.S. backline scrambling, and Lee Dong-Gyeong finished off the play with a backheeled shot into the back of the net.
Despite being in a hole, Pochettino decided to stick with the same lineup when they entered the second half. He only then decided to bring on the likes of Folarin Balogun, Alejandro Zendejas, and Jack McGlynn to provide some attacking push, but it proved disappointing in the end.
The U.S. will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to face Japan on Tuesday.
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