USMNT v Portugal live – Updates and analysis from international friendly

​ ⚽️ Final friendly before 2026 World Cup roster is named⚽️ Questions? Thoughts? Email Alexander hereFrom Jeff Rueter: It’s tough to resist rampant speculation on the back of this final lineup before Pochettino picks his squad. Morris and Berhalter, former academy teammates in Columbus, will be desperate to show the requisite bite and midfield moderation to make their cases for World Cup inclusion. Clearly there’s some desperation to get Pulisic back among the goals if he’s serving as a nominal line-leader.
US fans ought to hope Alex Freeman puts in a shift that keeps him in the lineup. Whether he’s right-most of three center-backs or a right back (or wing back), he’s been a staple of the team’s best performances in recent windows.Via Pablo Iglesias Maurer: It’s about an hour before kickoff and Mercedes-Benz Stadium is already filling in quite a bit. One thing was made abundantly clear on the walk over here – this will be a much taller task for the US in terms of the crowd, which is 50/50 rooting interests at best and perhaps even pro-Portugal. Belgian fans were hard to come by on Saturday, when the US got thrashed anyways. Continue reading… Read More