US vs. Uruguay – International Friendly Game Review
The US Men’s National Team (USMNT) came to this International friendly match on the back of a defeat to Mexico (3-0 last Saturday), and was hoping to recover some of its pride and confidence ahead of the Concacaf Nation’s League A next month.
Uruguay travelled to meet the US in Busch Stadium in St. Louis after a 2-1 win at Costa Rica on Friday. This is the seventh time these two sides meet.
Early in the game, both teams started to create opportunities, notably was Uruguay’s narrowly missed shot after a counter attack, and also the USMNT that had great chance with Christian Roldan’s header (11’), to be blocked by Uruguay’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
Another great chance missed for Team US came with Tyler Boyed hitting over the crossbar from close range.
Coming back from the break, Uruguay was the first to score in the match, with midfielder Brian Rodríguez receiving a pass from Federico Valverde, and then cutting through from the left of the box and scoring with a spot-on-target shot into USMNT’s goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s net (50’).
Uruguay strike first! 🇺🇾
It’s LAFC’s Brian Rodriguez who opens the scoring with his first career international goal on just his second cap! #USAvURU pic.twitter.com/SgcV1Gb962
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 11, 2019
It did seem at times as if the US is headed into another loss, but luckily a late equalizer came with Jordan Morris finding a ball that deflected off an Uruguay defender and just sailed his way. Morris headed it in for the tie (79’).
Photo Credit: Jeff Curry, USA Today Sports
The most interesting name of this match was Uruguay National Brian Rodriguez, who was signed by MLS club LAFC as a designated player this August. His senior-career debut in American soccer couldn’t have gone better, with an impressive performance in the Uruguay 2-1 win on Costa Rica Friday, he completed in this match 13 of 17 passes, scored Uruguay’s goal, and demonstrated some great 1-on-1 skills. All these make him a rising young star now in South, and North American soccer.
Team USA will next face Cuba in the Concacaf Nations League on October 11th, whereas Team Uruguay face on the same date an International Friendly against Peru.
