Lackluster US loses to Japan 2-0 in soccer World Cup warmup
With the World Cup approaching and final roster decisions looming, U.S. soccer players gave a dismal performance in a 2-0 exhibition loss to Japan on Friday in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Daichi Kamada scored following Weston McKennie’s giveaway in the 24th minute and Kaoru Mitoma added a goal in the 88th.
In their next-to-last World Cup warmup, the Americans failed to put a single shot on goal, getting outshot 16-4 — including 8-0 in efforts on target.
“Obviously really disappointing,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “I just kind of wish that we had a little more fight about us from the start. I think we hurt ourselves in a lot of ways.”
The U.S. has one win, five losses and four draws in its last 10 road games and just one goal in its last five away matches. U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said subpar performances were “almost across the board.”
“We need to play with personality. We need to play relaxed. We need to play with intensity,” Berhalter said. “When we do these things, we’re a really good team, but when we don’t, we’re an average team.”
Berhalter plans to announce his 26man World Cup roster on Nov. 9 and has said 15-20 percent of the spots were undecided.
“There are certainly positions and players who are probably a little tense,” defender Walker Zimmerman said. “They know that they have one or two games, one or two opportunities to show that they can make a difference in Qatar.”
American star Christian Pulisic did not dress because of an unspecified injury that Berhalter called “a knock.” The 14th-ranked Americans already were without Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson and Zack Steffen due to injuries, and Miles Robinson will miss the World Cup because of a torn Achilles.
A series of defensive breakdowns put pressure on Turner, who has played just one match this season for Arsenal. He made a pair of diving saves in the second half, on Junya Ito in the 55th and Kamada in the 65th.
Kamada scored after McKennie received the ball from Tyler Adams and underhit a backpass. Hidemasa Morita played the ball to an open Kamada, who beat Turner to the far post from about 12 yards for his sixth international goal.
“It was pretty sloppy from all of us — myself, yeah, Weston in moments,” Adams said.
No. 24 Japan initially was called