The U.S. men’s national team turned in a thoroughly professional 90 minutes in Austin, Texas, securing a win to begin Nations League play. The USMNT triumphed 5-0 over Grenada with standout performances from several players who are well in the mix for World Cup roster spots.
Leading the way was Jesus Ferreira, who solidified his hold on the team’s starting striker spot with a four-goal performance to earn SBI USMNT Man of the Match honors.
The 21-year-old FC Dallas forward opened scoring late in the first half by dribbling into some space and firing into the bottom left corner. He completed the hat trick in the 56th minute with a beautiful strike to finish off a corner-kick feed from Kellyn Acosta. Brenden Aaronson assisted yet another Ferreira goal in the 56th minute.
Ferreira combined well with his club teammate, Paul Arriola. Arriola assisted Ferreira’s goal in the 54th minute with a perfectly weighted ball ahead of a Grenada defender, which Ferreira ran onto to score. Ferreira made his 12th USMNT appearance in this game and has now raised his scoring tally to seven goals.
It has been a big year for Ferreira, who assumed the starting forward role at FC Dallas to start 2022 after the departure of Ricardo Pepi. Ferreira has nine goals and four assists for FC Dallas, which is excelling in the Western Conference.
Ferreira wasn’t the only USMNT player to impress on Friday. Luca de la Torre earned Honorable Mention for Man of the Match for his excellent display in midfield, as did Paul Arriola, who finished with a goal and assist.
What did you think of Ferreira’s performance? Who among the rest of the USMNT impressed you the most on Friday?
Share your thoughts below.
Ferreira did what was expected….scoring multiple times against an inferior opponent. Yes he got 4 goals, but he also wasted at least 2 other prime opportunities. Against better competition he won’t have as many golden chances as he did in this game. Hopefully this performance helps his confidence and he’ll be more clinical in against his next opponent.
This was a game where players couldn’t really improve their standing within the squad, but could only hurt it. Of the players who made it into the game the clear losers were Morris & Roldan. Both were shambolic…..and should be dropped from the team going forwards. Arriola was pretty bad in the first half, but picked it up in the 2nd when the game opened up more due to a tired defense.
The rest of the team were pretty much average….none really stood out, but nothing too terrible either.
Ferreira did what strikers are supposed to do–score on weak teams when you have good opportunities. I don’t want to downplay his results too much, but as an old nidfielder, it was the passes that made at least 2 of his goals easy. In the second half Grenada started tiring and a lot of channels started opening up, allowing Ferreira to find open spots and exploit runs in the box. Arriola also played well, but it was definitely Ferreira’s game.
I thought Ariola solidified his spot as a backup and that de la Torre looked good carrying the ball forward. I do wonder if either would look as bright against better defenders however.
I think that Morris played himself out of a spot on the roster. I expected more from Acosta and McKinnie who both had fairly blah games.
Turner and the rest of the defense had little to do; of the 3 backs, I thought CCV had the poorest showing mostly by making some errant passes while under no real pressure.
Of the subs Aaronson again showed why he is making it hard for GB to pick a starting midfield, he has to leave out at least one of Aaronson, McKinnie, Adams, Musah or Reyna. Aaronson’s continued to shine, making his case for being included.