Gio Reyna scored with a deviant shot in the first half, Christian Pulisic traded a penalty in and the United States beat Northern Ireland 2–1 in an exhibition in Belfast on Sunday for the Americans’ first victory over a European opponent since 2015. .
Reyna won a Tim Ream pass and took four unsafe touches. His 24-yard right-foot shot deviated a leg from Ciaron Brown and goalkeeper Conor Hazard in the 30th minute for his goal so far.
Pulisic, the U. S. captain for the fourth time, made the 2-0 by sliding the ball to Hazard’s left in the 59th minute for his 15th foreign goal. Playing only his moment game for Americans since October 2019, Pulisic hit a Reyna pass and stumbled upon Daniel Ballard.
Niall McGinn scored his sixth goal outside at 88 with a very inclined volley beyond Antonee Robinson, who lied after injuring his left leg on a slippery play through Alistair McCann.
The Americans, ranked 22nd, are preparing for a League of Nations semi-final against Honduras in June and the start of World Cup qualifying in September, have won 8 and a draw in their last nine games, and have beaten their war parts. 25-4 with five wins in consecutive friendlys. They had won against a European opponent since a 4-3 friendly win over Germany in June 2015.
The next level is an exhibition of 30 May in Switzerland, followed by the semi-final of the CONCACAF nation house against Honduras on 3 June. The 2017 defeat prevented Americans from going to the 2018 World Cup.
Midfielder Yusuf Musah connected with the United States in his fourth appearance abroad. Under a new FIFA rule, players under the age of 21 can replace national federations if they play 3 matches or less before age 21.
Musah, an 18-year-old Valencian, made his U. S. debut on 12 November in Wales, then played four days later against Panama and last Thursday against Jamaica. He had played in England’s national youth groups and also eligible to play. for Italy and Ghana.
The last FIFA rule would have forced Musah to the United States until he had played in a competitive match, such as a World Cup qualifier, the CONCACAF Gold Cup or the CONCACAF League of Nations.
American coach Gregg Berhalter has made four adjustments to his starting line-up for the friendly in Belfast, placing Tim Ream and Matt Miazga in a three-man centre-back with Aaron Long, Robinson on the left wing and Sergio Dest on the left-back. to the right wing when Berhalter made his first lead 3-4-3.
Jordan Siebatcheu had his first start after making his debut in Thursday’s 4–1 win over Jamaica in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, starting with the striker.
Defenseman Bryan Reynolds replaced Dest at the beginning of the moment, the 65th player to make his debut since defeating Trinidad and 44 from Berhalter’s coach.
Daryl Dike came in in the 62nd minute and denied it when Ciaron Brown deflected his shot, then jumped through Hazard and put a deflected headbutt.
Number forty-five in Northern Ireland made 10 line-up adjustments in Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Italy in the World Cup qualifiers, keeping only Corry Evans, who is making plans for qualifying against Bulgaria on Wednesday.
___
More AP football: https://apnews. com/hub/soccer and https://twitter. com/AP_Sports
Be the first to comment on "Reyna and Pulisic lead Northern Ireland 2-1 in friendly"