THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The situation on Tuesday evening couldn’t be any clearer if the United States men's national soccer team wishes to advance to the second round of the World Cup. Anything less than a win against Iran and the USMNT will have an early exit. They have earned that scenario with two differing draws in their first two games, but now the path is clear - and they could even end up winning their group.
The World Cup so far has produced various degrees of action, with shock wins for Saudi Arabia and Japan against Argentina and Germany respectively, and there have also been several goalless draws as teams have played ‘not to lose’. The USA have arguably had the better chances to win their opening games and therefore should be fairly upbeat about their chances of progression going into this winner takes all game.
Against Wales a week ago they took a first half lead as they bossed the first half of play. Tim Weah, 22, stretched to latch onto a Christian Pulisic pass to poke the ball home and it was a well-deserved lead. For long periods of the game, they held control, but started to run out of steam and with a new found urgency, knowing how important it is not to start with a defeat. Wales grew into the match. They of course are led by Gareth Bale, one of the sports superstars, and he forced a rough tackle from Walker Zimmerman, and duly dispatched the penalty kick to level the scores with under ten minutes left. Despite the late setback it put the USMNT in a decent position in the group but with a potential tough second game against one of the tournament favourites England ahead.
That match was a goalless draw, but it wasn’t without many positives for the young Americans. A lot of pressure on England to perform as they did in their first game, a 6-2 thrashing of Iran, but they failed to move out of first gear for most of the match, but this was also due to the good tactics and management by Gregg Berhalter. Again, as in the match against Wales, they took the game to their opponents and were unfortunate on a few occasions not to take the lead. As the game wore on it looked again that they would suffer from not taking those chances, but they held firm and both teams seemed happy with the outcome.
This leads to the game on Tuesday that both teams know a win will see them through. USA will have to be more ruthless in front of goal, as that seems to be their only real sticking point at this time. They have far from disgraced themselves so far, but in a high stakes game with the pressure on we will see their true character. Iran bounced back well from that first game rout and handled Wales with ease but had to wait until late to get their deserved goals, a 2-0 win.
Whoever wins could well win the group if Wales beats England. The Welsh have to beat England and hope the USA and Iran fixture ends in a draw, so they could inadvertently decide the group winners too as they still hold out hope. It makes for a fascinating end to the group stage but one that the USA will look to continue their decent form into the second round. They have met Iran once before at this stage in the World Cup, a 2-1 loss in 1998, so they will be looking to reverse that outcome. With the team only recording 8 clean sheets in their 14 games this year, scoring more than once will likely be the necessity.
Read more about the USMNT World Cup Squad here >>
Iran vs USA
Tuesday 29 November – Al Thumama Stadium
7pm GMT kick off
BBC TV coverage>/b>
