Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
HARRISON, N.J. — If ever there were an example of statistics not telling the story of a soccer game, then what we saw on Saturday was it.
Based solely on the numbers, it would be easy to think that the Americans were done in by two goals that came against the run of play. The USMNT out-shot the Taegeuk Warriors 17-5. They had more efforts on target, more possession of the ball, more total passes and better pass accuracy. They had twice as many corners and fouls.
“Overall, I think we were better than South Korea,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said afterward.
Unfortunately for Pochettino and his players, that’s not even close to being true. The visitors’ superstar forward, Son Heung-min, put his side ahead just 17 minutes into the contest, much to the delight of the mostly red-clad crowd of 26,500 at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Son then set up a second goal for Lee Dong-gyeong before the first half was even finished.
The Koreans were on cruise control the rest of the way, with the U.S. mustering mostly speculative half-chances before the final whistle mercifully blew, extending the Americans’ run of futility over FIFA’s 25 highest ranked sides.
The day before Saturday’s match, Pochettino said that results during this international window — the U.S. will face Japan in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday — were secondary to “how we are going to compete.” Yet while the Americans showed more fight than they did the last time European-based stars like Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah were with the squad in March, when they were upset by Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals, they looked every bit as disjointed.
The Koreans, to be fair, are a far tougher foe. Pulisic was as ineffective as he was last spring despite skipping the Gold Cup over the summer to physically and mentally refresh, and despite another strong start to the season with Italian titan AC Milan. Except for second half substitute Folarin Balogun, who had three good chances to pull one back for the home side, the rest of the U.S. players also had a night to forget.
“We need to be sharp at all times, you know?,” said Sergino Dest, who made his first international appearance since undergoing ACL surgery 18 months ago. Even though you play a pretty decent game, if you’re not sharp for one second, you can get the goal against.”
Or in this case, two. On both Korean tallies, the U.S. back line was carved open far too easily. With No. 1 center back Chris Richards on the bench because of what Pochettino suggested was a minor physical issue, 29-year-old MLS lifer Tristan Blackmon made his USMNT debut and was caught out on Son’s opener. (Richards eventually came on with 28 minutes of regular time remaining.) He and Tim Ream, the Americans’ 37-year-old captain, were both guilty of ball-watching on the backbreaking second strike.
“We utilized our speed,” said Korean manager Hong Myung-bo. “The opponent wasn’t prepared for this, maybe.”
“Now,” Ream said, “You’re having to chase the game.”
The U.S. was better in the second half but still couldn’t pull even one goal back, let alone two.
“I am very disappointed about the result,” Pochettino said. “When you lose, it’s difficult to find positive things.”
(Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
He tried his best anyway. When I asked Pochettino when winning some of the nine remaining friendlies before next summer’s U.S. co-hosted World Cup becomes more important than competing or moral victories, the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss didn’t hesitate.
“We need to start to win when the World Cup starts,” noting that the Argentine squad he represented as a defender at the 2002 event beat all comers before that tournament, only to be eliminated in the group stage when it mattered most.
“We want to grow, and we want to learn from this game,” Pochettino said. “We have talented players, we are going to be much better.
“That is my message to the fans,” he added. “We are going to arrive [at the World Cup] in a very good condition. And with the help of the fans, I think we are going to be very, very difficult to beat.”
That certainly wasn’t the case on Saturday. On Tuesday, they’ll get a chance to end the September window on a high.
“I would like to win games before the World Cup,” Adams said. “I think at a certain time, it’s important to have some results.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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