The USMNT could not have asked for a better start to the 2026 World Cup. The team took a 1-0 lead in front of a raucous home crowd last Friday, scoring just 7’ minutes into the match after a driving run by Christian Pulisic to split a pair of defenders and a ball to Weston McKennie which was then redirected into the net by Damian Bobadilla for an own goal and the US was off and running.
There had been some questions about the lineup coming into the match, primarily around whether Center back Chris
Richards would be available to start as he had been dealing with injury but he was indeed set to go and was joined in the back by Tim Ream, who many thought was too old four years ago but is back again and looked up to the task in the team’s opener.
For that matter, all eleven players looked up to the task on the day. It was as positive a result as the US have seen from all eleven players in a very long time, perhaps ever on this stage. The team would score their first conventional goal in the 31st minute when Christian Pulisic would find Folarin Balogun for his first goal of the night.
Just before the halftime break the US took a 3-0 lead when a fantastic ball from Malik Tillman found Folarin Balogun again who did well to maintain control before blasting the ball to the top corner.
At the half Sebastian Berhalter would come in for Christian Pulisic who was pulled due to some tightness in his calf after taking a kick. The substitution was dually unfortunate as Pulisic had been playing very well and the US took a more passive role in his absence.
The defense did give up a goal in the 73rd minute when they failed to deal with a long ball and Mauricio took advantage to make the score 3-1. It wasn’t close to enough though and Gio Reyna would provide the icing on the cake in beautiful fashion with a stoppage time goal struck with the outside of his boot to curl around a defender and the keeper.
After such a fine showing it’s not surprise that the player rankings were quite high across the board. Christian Pulisic ended the match ratings with fantastic 8.71 and all the starting field players scored above a 6.5 with a noticeable drop for the subs not named Reyna as things predictably tailed off in the second half.
The highest of the rankings though were reserved for brace scoring Folarin Balogun who earns our opening match SSFC Man of the Match award with a 9.23 rating, a half point ahead of Pulisic and a full point above all the other players.
The full results are below, let us know what you think:
Folarin Balogun – 9.23
Christian Pulisic 8.71
Malik Tillman – 7.88
Weston McKennie – 7.84
Antonee Robinson – 7.52
Chris Richards – 7.48
Sergio Dest – 7.34
Tyler Adams – 7.17
Tim Ream – 6.75
Alex Freeman – 6.65
Matt Friese – 5.83
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Sub – Gio Reyna – 7.47
Sub – Tim Weah – 6.11
Sub – Sebastian Berhalter – 5.85
Sub – Ricardo Pepi – 5.45
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Coach Mauricio Pochettino – 8.83
Match Official – 7.51
Do these ratings seem about right to you or what would you have changed? Let us know in the comments section below.
