USMNT holds off pesky Uzbekistan, feasts late

Some samplings from our full USMNT player ratings versus Uzbekistan:

Sergino Dest: 8 — Was a dude tonight. Ninety-seven touches, many of them in dangerous and pressure-packed areas, and a scintillating late dribble into the box that led to a corner kick. Hockey/MLS assist on Pepi’s goal. Seven defensive actions, and 66-of-69 passing.

Luca de la Torre (Off 35') : 7.5 — Lost possession once in an appearance shortened by a nose injury, but otherwise showed zero signs of the hamstring ailment that could’ve cost him the start. Connected on 39-of-40 passes, made six recoveries, and sent five balls into the final third. Took a shot, too. Very bright, and gives Berhalter real hope when Tyler Adams is unavailable,

This was among the least 3-0 games you’ll see represented by a 3-0 score line, but there’s no doubt the home team is the more talented and better team following a win over Uzbekistan in St. Louis.

Shots finish 15-13 for Uzbekistan, as a busy Matt Turner made three saves and nine recoveries while looking as good as ever with the ball at his feet.

The USMNT had 65 percent of the ball and will seek a similar score line with a lot fewer errors in possession come Tuesday in Minnesota versus Oman.

This score line now looks as predicted.

Malik Tillman darts into the box and is dropped for a penalty.

Christian Pulisic leaves no doubt with the conversion for his 26th USMNT goal.

It took Ricardo Pepi 40 minutes or so of his appearance to make an impact, but my did he.

The PSV Eindhoven man showed a neat bit in possession a few minutes from time to remind us he was out there, and then took his first real chance of the game with vicious precision.

The 90th minute saw Tanner Tessmann make a steal and the attacking danger comes from Sergino Dest’s dribble.

The ball comes to Brenden Aaronson, who might be trying to find Dest with his entry pass but Pepi cuts in front and hits a piledriver that bends back the keeper’s hand for 2-0.

Ouch.

That’s it for a prone Antonee Robinson, hopefully just a cramp, while Weston McKennie’s race is run as well.

Malik Tillman comes on as does little-known Kristoffer Lund, a Danish youth international who has moved to Palermo and is getting a look at left back.

Sergino Dest, my goodness.

The PSV Eindhoven man cooks one defender and that turned out to be a 1v1 appetizer because Dest roasts another with a vicious cut.

We’ve seen him do this sort of thing before en route to a USMNT goal but his shot, looking angled for goals, is blocked out for a corner.

The Yanks do nothing with it. The service hasn’t been very good on dead balls tonight.

Now Aaronson’s blocked shot comes to Ricardo Pepi, whose driven shot pops into the air but Pulisic can’t get much on his improvised header and it’s saved by Utkir Yusupov.

It’s been much better and more direct from the USMNT and no surprise that Pulisic’s behind a lot of us.

He’s won another free kick, but we’ll see two subs first. Weah’s off for Brenden Aaronson and Chris Richards leaves for Mark McKenzie. Both were among the stars of the show today.

Now for the free kick. It’s a bit further out but the same result, easily headed clear by a defender.

It’s very clever and crisp from Christian Pulisic, who sent in the cross to McKennie on Weah’s first goal.

This time his cross is fit for a header, and Juventus’ Weah pops a header wide of the far post.

Uzbekistan races to the other end and Turner is again required to make a big stop.

A corner kick follows and Pulisic looks to have thwarted the danger only for a weird bounce to lead to a goal kick.

Christian Pulisic wins a free kick off Alijonov, but his service can’t beat the bank of defenders.

The USMNT keeps the ball and it’s recycled to Pulisic, who drags defenders inside before the ball is sent back his previous space.

Yunus Musah is offside, though, and that shouldn’t happen there. Frustrating for a player who has been bright.

Two more promising moments for Alijonov, who sends another dangerous cross-shot into the box that just misses the far post as Chris Richards had the intended target covered up well.

The 26-year-old has spent his whole career in the Uzbekistan Super League but on today’s evidence deserves a look — should he want it — in a more challenging league.

The three-time league winner with Pakhtakor is impressive.

Ricardo Pepi takes the place of Folarin Balogun in what the TNT team announces is a “pre-planned” sub.

Luca de la Torre’s injury is a broken nose.

The first 15 minutes felt like we were on the path to a blowout win, as Timothy Weah’s fantastic strike had the Yanks up 1-0 after four minutes.

The Yanks just didn’t hit on some moderately-difficult passes and had to be bailed out twice by Turner, who himself was beaten (maybe?) but saw a shot smash the bar.

The possession number is 65 percent but Uzbekistan piled up shot attempts late and are ahead 7-6. Both teams have missed chances, but the Yanks are fortunate to be ahead, which is crazy given how bright they looked early against laggard travelers.

Here’s Gregg Berhalter, via TNT:

“We got the early lead which was good but after that sloppy, too many loss of ball possession. We need to get into the tackles. There are too many tackles going their way, and that’ll be the message at halftime.”

Ream’s now given the ball to Shomurodov for a breakaway — was there a bet we don’t know about?

And the Cagliari man is driving toward Turner, who retreated 10 steps.

But Turner stays big and shuffles with Shomurodov, who can’t find an angle he likes and is saved by Turner.

Yeesh.

It’s a terrible decision by Tessmann to send a ball back from midfield to Uzbekistan’s advanced forward, and the identity of the thief is a real problem.

It’s Eldor Shomurodov, and the Cagliari forward — on loan from Roma — is past Tim Ream by half-stride.

Ream’s pressure, however, probably forces a less-than-ideal shot and Matt Turner gets low to keep the sheet clean.

Still 1-0, USMNT

It’s another chance for Alijonov, who is driving forward down the right now that Uzbekistan is down.

He curls a low, less-than-full-power shot wide of Turner’s far post but there’s a lot more intent to the visitors’ counter attacks and pressing now.

It’s a welcome development for the game. Let’s see if the USMNT can refind its dominance.

Luca de la Torre has trainers trying to do two things following a head-to-head collision:

1. Stop his nosebleed
2. Determine whether there’s a more serious head injury

De la Torre was a question to start for a hamstring problem and likely wouldn’t have gone 90, and Gregg Berhalter’s taking no chances.

In comes Palermo midfielder Tanner Tessmann.

As we type that, the visitors smash the bar!

Kholjakbar Alijonov, well advanced from his right back slot, drives toward and around Tim Ream.

The Pakhtakor Tashkent talent, swings his left peg from outside the 18 and USMNT keeper Matt Turner can’t reach the ball at full extension.

It claps the bar and the USMNT is off the hook. The Yanks immediately seem to snap to life and go back to the other way, where a muddle of men at the Uzbeki six leads to nothing.

Still 1-0 USMNT.

There have been three significant bright moments for Uzbekistan in the first dozen minutes and not one was more than a few seconds logo.

The Yanks have almost all of the ball and it’s going to take USMNT mistakes for Uzbekistan to break into the American half with any real danger.

It usually takes visiting teams time to get into the flow, especially after travel as extensive as these visitors, but it’s difficult to see this game being anything more than an evaluation of the USMNT’s plan and sharpness in the final third.

Christian Pulisic curls a pinpoint cross to Weston McKennie in a sea of defenders.

McKennie takes it down coolly with the outside of his boot and four Uzbekistan defenders flock to the ball.

That leaves McKennie’s Juventus teammate Timothy Weah all alone for a square ball, and Weah lashes the opportunity home for his fifth USMNT goal in 32 caps.

Admitting a substandard knowledge of the Uzbekistan Super League, it looks like we’re seeing three center backs out of Uzbekistan coach Srecko Katanec.

Khojakbar Alijonov and Farrux Sayfiev are generally fullbacks and Rustam Ashurmatov, Khusniddin Aliqulov, and Umarbek Eshmurodov are center backs. The Uzbeki lineups lists all as backs, too.

Throw in four midfielders behind Roma forward Eldor Shomurodov, who captains the side, and it looks a lot like a 5-4-1 or, at its most open, a 3-4-2-1.

There was minimal drama ahead of the lineup announcement, as Gregg Berhalter revealed the plan on Friday and said there was only one decision to be made.

The question was whether Luca de la Torre would be fit to start in the midfield with Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie, and the Celta Vigo man is ready to go in front of captain Tim Ream. If De la Torre’s hamstring remain problematic, Tanner Tessmann would’ve gotten the nod.

Matt Turner’s in goal, and the back four is Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Ream, and Antonee Robinson. Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah flank Folarin Balogun atop the formation.

Available off the bench:

18- Ethan Horvath
3- Mark McKenzie
12- Miles Robinson
19- Joe Scally
22- Kevin Paredes
23- Kristoffer Lund
15- Ben Cremaschi
16- Tanner Tessmann
7- Cade Cowell
9- Ricardo Pepi
11- Brenden Aaronson
17- Malik Tillman

Gregg Berhalter’s 24-man roster includes 25 call-ups, as Venezia’s Tanner Tessmann has been brought in following an injury to initially-tabbed midfielder Johnny Cardoso.

See the full roster here.

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The Yanks’ Starting XI should be somewhat predictable unless Berhalter is planning to really flip his lineup between Uzbekistan and Oman.

The only real questions in this group is who Berhalter will deploy at center back and in the middle of a 4-2-3-1.

At center back, Berhalter saw Tim Ream star at the World Cup but didn’t seem high on the Fulham captain leading up to the tournament. Chris Richards, Mark McKenzie, and Miles Robinson are also options.

Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie will be in the midfield, but where will the latter be deployed with Tyler Adams out? There could be an opening for Brenden Aaronson or Malik Tillman in an attacking role, or Luca de la Torre in a less forward role.

My bet? De la Torre, Richards, and Ream, but our own Joe Prince-Wright gives his best guess at Berhalter’s XI versus Uzbekistan, here, and it’s quite different.

FIFA ranking: 74
ELO rating: 60

Uzbekistan swept Group A at the 2023 CAFA Nations Cup, beating Oman 3-0, Turkmenistan 2-0, and Tajikistan 5-1 before losing 1-0 in the final versus Iran.

Most of manager Srecko Katanec’s roster comes from the Uzbekistan Super League, with seven players plying their trade outside the borders. Cagliari loanee Eldor Shomurodov — parent club Roma — is an exception, as is Turkey-based Otabek Shukurov (Faith Karagumruk).