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SBI USMNT Man of the Match: Chris Mueller

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Chris Mueller made his senior debut for the U.S. Men’s National Team on Wednesday and turned in the type of performance should ensure it won’t be the last USMNT appearance for the Orlando City winger.

Mueller scored twice and also registered two assists on his way to an SBI USMNT Man of the Match performance in Wednesday’s 6-0 rout over El Salvador in Fort Lauderdale.

Mueller’s fast start in a USMNT shirt got underway in the 17th minute as he set up Arriola for the opening goal. The breakout winger continued his strong first half with his first goal in the 20th minute, setting up and hitting a low drive into the bottom-left corner.

The 22-year-old netted his second goal of the match in the 25th minute, getting on the end of Julian Araujo’s long cross and sending a diving header past Henry Hernandez. Mueller’s terrific performance was capped off with his second assist, sending a low ball into the box for Ayo Akinola to score his first senior goal.

Mueller continued to be a threat for the streaky El Salvador backline as the match continued, helping the USMNT add a sixth goal in the second-half and come close to adding even more.

Mueller beat out Paul Arriola, Sebastian Lletget and Brenden Aaronson for Man of the Match honors.

What did you think of Mueller’s performance? Who was your pick for Man of the Match?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The kid has a lot of “fight” in him and is hungry to provide himself.he represents in MLS and has 10 goals (tied with Morris in goals, behind Zardes by 2 goals) and 7 assists to show for it. Congrats

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  2. Mueller showed enough to get some future call-ups. He was hungry and took advantage of his opportunity but wasn’t selfish as evidence by his assist when he was sitting on potential hat-trick. That is what you want from your roll players.
    Overall we didn’t learn all that much from this game. El Salvador was just too weak of an opponent. But there was enough shown to keep players in the discussion for depth….Just nothing that screamed someone needs to be with the “A-Team” whenever it’s formed.
    Mueller, Aaronson, Arriola, Yueill, McKenzie, Long, Zimmerman, Vines, all held their ground.
    The rest would be better served spending their time with the U-23s.

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  3. Had flashbacks to McBride against Portugal in ’02 on that diving header. Doesn’t hurt that there’s a passing resemblance between the two…lol.

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  4. I thought Mueller would do well for the USMNT and was happy to be proved correct. Wednesday’s performance coupled with his great year in MLS, puts him firmly in the USMNT picture and will force GB to make difficult choices when looking at attacking options. Akinola did nothing to make those decisions any easier for GB.

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  5. It doesn’t matter who we played, that boy wasn’t just Hungry, he played as if he was starving! Looking forward to seeing him against a better opponent.

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  6. Yeah, the best choice for a rather meaningless award in this case. I noticed the Pozuelo (Toronto) was awarded MVP league status and yet when you compare, Mueller’s combination of goals and assists was almost the same as Pozuelo. I think Mueller may have an international future.

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