The United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) displayed superior class and style in a dominant 3–0 win over No. 24 ranked Morocco, in front of 19,512 spectators at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati Wednesday night.
The “friendly” match is part of both teams’ preparation for the World Cup, beginning November 21. It was the the No. 15 ranked Americans’ first victory over Morocco, as the World Cup qualifying team from Africa had never lost in an official match to a CONCACAF (Conferation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) team.
The U.S. extends its home unbeaten streak to 24 matches, two shy of their all-time record. The Americans’ last home loss was to Mexico in September 2019, while Morocco lost only for the second time in 35 matches.
The match is the first of four World Cup friendlies in June, allowing American coach Gregg Berhalter a final look before making his final roster selection for the World Cup—he has used 91 of 118 total players since taking leadership of the squad.
The U.S. played a high-pressure defense from the beginning to control the match, resulting in all three strikers taking shots on the goal.
The Americans would take 10 of 11 shots on goal while possessing the ball 53 percent. Meanwhile, the Moroccans had eight of 22 shots on goal.
In the 26th minute, U.S. central defender Walker Zimmerman connected on an over 50-yard pass over the top to a sprinting Christian Pulisic in the center field—who controlled the pass perfectly in stride to beat his mark with a right-footed shot fake.
Pulisic then turned inside to gift an assist to an oncoming run of Brenden Aaronson for his sixth international goal, punching the first-touch shot past the Montreal-born Moroccan goalkeeper “Bono” for a 1–0 lead.
Chants of “Dos-a-Cero” overcame the American supporters six minutes later in the 32nd minute after Timothy Weah dribbled inside, after receiving a pass from Teggie Cannon, to create space for a blast that knuckled from left to right—confusing Bono, who went in the wrong direction.
Berhalter made three substitutions at half-time to include Cameron Carter-Vickers, son of NBA and European basketball player Howard Carter, and debutants Joe Scally and Haji Wright.
In the 64th minute, Pulisic would receive a penalty after being taken down by Achraf Hakimi; Hakimi and two other Moroccans received yellow cards in protest.
Instead of taking the penalty himself, Pulisic would give the opportunity to his former 2017 U-17 teammate Wright—placing a skipping low blast into the left side-netting to get his first international goal in his national team debut for a 3–0 final.
“We go way back,“ said Pulisic. “He needed that goal, and he said he was confident to go step up and take it, so I wanted him to get that confidence, and I’m glad he scored.”
Morocco would get a penalty call on Carter-Vickers in the 75th minute, and Selim Amallah drove his penalty shot into the crossbar.
Pulisic was not satisfied following the game, stating on ESPN, “For whatever reason, I’m not super happy with the amount of Americans here, however, that works out, if I’m being completely honest.
“But thanks to the ones who did come, and the support is always great from them.”
Next up for the U.S. is another friendly against Uruguay on Sunday at Kansas City, followed by CONCACAF Nations League matchups against Grenada on June 10 in Austin, and at El Salvador on June 14th.
The U.S will play their World Cup Qatar opener in Group B, on November 21, against the winner of Wales-Ukraine playoff match this Sunday. They face the group’s top-seeded England four days later, and finish group play versus Iran on November 29th.
