The United States men’s national team will end 2025 on a strong note after defeating Uruguay 5-1 on Tuesday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Without regulars such as Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams, the USMNT didn’t miss a beat. Three players scored their first-ever USMNT goals, led by Sebastian Berhalter’s goal and assist and Alex Freeman’s brace. Tanner Tessmann joined the fun off the bench to add his first USMNT goal, as this squad has done everything to make World Cup squad decisions as tough as possible for Mauricio Pochettino.
Tactical wrinkles shined as right back Sergino Dest was moved to winger ahead of Freeman, and it led to overloads left and right on Uruguay’s defense to great effect. Nine changes from the USMNT’s win over Paraguay wouldn’t slow them down as Mark McKenzie took the captain’s armband and helped the team secure a statement victory. Freeman and Berhalter made their cases for being on the World Cup squad, but Gio Reyna also helped enhance his own.
Coming off the bench, Reyna delivered an assist to Tessmann for the fifth goal and ensured that the team would stretch their unbeaten run to five consecutive games. They now won’t get together again until March of 2026 so it’s great to make a good, potentially final, impression.