USMNT falls to Germany 3-1 as Christian Pulisic scores lone U.S. goal

Hartford, Conn. – The U.S. Men’s National Team fell 3-1 against Germany in the first of two international matches this month. Team captain Christian Pulisic scored an incredible goal on a brilliant solo run before Germany rallied in front of a record sellout crowd of 37,743 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.

The U.S. wasted no time setting the tone as Pulisic finished off a ball over the top from McKennie in the third minute before being waived offside by a narrow margin. The USA showed defensive composure on the other end as the back line and goalkeeper Matt Turner shut down dangerous chances, all the while not shying away from attacking as Gio Reyna, Tim Weah and Pulisic led the charge pushing into the offensive third.

The Americans opened the scoring in style in the 27^th minute as Balogun laid off the ball for Pulisic just past midfield. From there, the USA captain exploded on the dribble toward goal and avoided an enclosing circle of five defenders before he fired off a curling strike from 20 yards out to score a stunner in the upper right corner.

Germany then responded in the 39^th minute as midfielder Leroy Sane showed off solo skills of his own, dribbling out of trouble and laying off a pass away from Turner for midfielder Ikay Gündogan, who finished with a tap-in from five yards out.

The second half started with a warning from the visitors as Turner came up with a big save to deny Gündogan from the top of the box; however, Germany then converted in quick succession. The first came in the 58^th minute as Gosens did well to set up forward Niclas Füllkrug with a pass into the box which he finished with a low shot. Then in the 61^st minute, an unfortunate deflection for the Americans off a defensive tackle set up Füllkrug for a pass to Musiala as he crashed into the box for a sliding finish.

Sparked by the use of all six available substitutes, the USA continued to press in the attack and came close to scoring a few times, including efforts from midfielder Yunus Musah off a corner that sailed just over the bar as well as a dangerous effort from forward Ricardo Pepi that caused trouble inside the Germany box but was ultimately cleared out of danger.

NEXT UP: The USA will close out the October window as it takes on Ghana on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tenn. (8:30 p.m. ET; TNT, Universo Max, Peacock, Futbol de Primera Radio).

GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:

USA – Christian Pulisic (Folarin Balogun), 27^th minute: Balogun laid off the ball for Pulisic about 10 yards past midfield, where he explosively dribbled toward goal, avoiding an enclosing circle of five defenders, and fired a curling strike from 20 yards out to score a stunner on the upper right corner. USA 1, GER 0

GER – Ikai Gündogan (Leroy Sane), 39^th minute: Sane received a long ball on the right side and did well to dribble toward the center, showing nice footwork to get out of trouble and laying off a pass for Gündogan to tap in from five yards out. USA 1, GER 1

GER – Niclas Füllkrug (Robin Gosens), 58^th minute: As Germany built up in the attack, Gosens received a ball in the air near the edge of the box from the right side. From there, he settled with a one-touch pass to find Füllkrug inside the box near the penalty spot to slot home low past Turner. USA 1, GER 2

GER – Jamal Musiala (Niclas Füllkrug) 61^st minute: On an individual effort in which Musiala ran around the left side and tried to dribble into the box centrally, a deflection off a defending tackle sent the ball to Füllkrug on the left, where he squared a low pass back to Musiala as he crashed into the box for a sliding finish into the back of the net. USA 1, GER 3 FINAL.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• The sellout crowd of 37,705 was a record for a soccer match at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
• Today’s Starting XI had an average age of 24 years, 217 days. It’s the youngest lineup the USMNT has put out in 12 matches against Germany.
• The lineup also averaged 30 caps.
• Christian Pulisic’s 27^th minute goal was the 27^th of his international career, putting him just three goals back of Brian McBride for fifth all-time among USMNT players.
• Pulisic (41 G+A; 27 goals, 14 assists) also moved past McBride (40 G+A; 30 goals, 10 assists) and Michael Bradley (40 G+A; 17 goals, 23 assists) into sole possession of fifth on the USMNT’s goal contributions list.
• Folarin Balogun collected his first international assist on Pulisic’s 27^th minute goal.
• Midfielder Gio Reyna made his first USMNT appearance since suffering a broken bone in the Concacaf Nations League Final against Canada on June 18.
• Midfielder Yunus Musah (20 years, 319 days) became only the fourth USMNT player to earn 30 caps before his 21^st birthday. He is the third youngest player to achieve the feat, following Jozy Altidore (20 years, 277 days), Christian Pulisic (20 years, 288 days) and beating Landon Donovan (20 years, 320 days) by one day.
• Nine of the Starting XI were age 25 and younger: Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic (25), Chris Richards and Tim Weah (23); Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest (22); Yunus Musah, Joe Scally and Gio Reyna (20).
• Having just celebrated his 36^th birthday on Oct. 5, Tim Ream became the 10^th field player to earn a USMNT cap after age 36. The last time a field player 36 or older appeared for the USMNT came on Sept. 5, 2001 at Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying when 38-year-old Preki Radosavljevic came off the bench in the 71^st minute. The last time a field 36 or older started for the USMNT came in 37-year-old Thomas Dooley’s send-off match on Feb. 21, 1999 vs. Chile.
• Ream is also just the fourth modern-era (1990-present) field player to earn a USMNT cap after hitting age 36, following Fernando Clavijo (31 caps), Dooley (15 caps) and Preki (2 caps).
• Christian Pulisic captained the USMNT for the 18^th time tonight. The team is 13-2-3 when Pulisic wears the armband, with the only loss coming in the 1-0 defeat to Italy on Nov. 20, 2018 in his first match as captain.
• Goalkeeper Matt Turner made his team-leading 10^th appearance of 2023. Turner has appeared in 15 of the 17 USMNT matches during FIFA windows since last September.
• Striker Folarin Balogun started his fifth consecutive match for the USMNT.
• Cameron Carter-Vickers came off the bench to earn earn his first USMNT appearance since Nov. 29, 2022 vs. IR Iran at the FIFA World Cup.
• Gregg Berhalter is 39-12-12 record in 63 matches as USMNT head coach and holds both the highest winning percentage (.714) and highest unbeaten percentage (.810) of any manager that has coached eight or more matches.
• The USMNT is 4-8-0 in 12 all-time matches against Germany.