{"id":301265,"date":"2025-11-19T13:52:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/301265\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T13:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:52:29","slug":"the-united-states-overwhelms-uruguay-in-friendly-match-behind-alex-freemans-brace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/301265\/","title":{"rendered":"The United States overwhelms Uruguay in friendly match behind Alex Freeman\u2019s brace"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Alex Freeman scored twice and Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna had one goal each as the United States<\/a> overwhelmed Uruguay with a four-goal first half in a 5-1 win on Tuesday night to head into a World Cup year with a five-game unbeaten streak.<\/p>\n

Tanner Tessmann added a 68th-minute goal for the U.S., which scored five times against a South American opponent and a top 30 team for the first time.<\/p>\n

The 16th-ranked Americans continued their autumn turnaround after lackluster performances in the CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup.<\/p>\n

They have just two more games, March friendlies likely against Belgium and Portugal, before coach Mauricio Pochettino selects his World Cup roster.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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Freeman, Berhalter and Tessmann all scored their first international goals as the U.S. got five goals against a team outside the CONCACAF region for the first time since beating Scotland 5-1 in 2012<\/a>. The Americans have won four games, including three straight, during the five-game unbeaten streak against World Cup-bound teams.<\/p>\n

Uruguay\u2019s Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off in the 64th minute for a high sliding tackle on Berhalter. La Celeste, ranked 15th and headed to its fifth straight World Cup, had entered the friendly with a six-game unbeaten streak.<\/p>\n

Berhalter, a son of former coach Gregg Berhalter, put the U.S. ahead in the 17th minute off a free kick and Freeman headed in Berhalter\u2019s corner kick in the 20th. Freeman added a 31st-minute goal and Luna opened a four-goal lead in the 42nd.<\/p>\n

Fielding a starting lineup of mostly backups, the U.S. scored four goals in a half for the first time against a South American team.<\/p>\n

Uruguay\u2019s Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored on a 7-yard overhead kick in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, his 13th international goal, after goalkeeper Matt Freese and defenders Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie converged and all failed to clear the ball.<\/p>\n

Before the start and again at the final whistle, Pochettino hugged Uruguay\u2019s Marcelo Bielsa, the coach who signed him as a 13-year-old for Newell\u2019s Old Boys in Argentina.<\/p>\n

The U.S. went ahead after Manuel Ugarte fouled Haji Wright just to the side of the penalty area. Berhalter exchanged passes with Sergi\u00f1o Dest and one-timed a shot past goalkeeper Cristopher Fiermarin inside the far post<\/p>\n

Freeman outjumped Bentancur to head in Berhalter\u2019s corner kick for the second goal and Timmy Tillman slid to win a challenge against Nahitan N\u00e1ndez, leading to the third goal. Tillman passed wide to Trusty, who one-touched the ball into the path of Freeman. He dribbled between Ronald Ara\u00fajo and Manuel Ugarte to score from short range, becoming only the second American defender with a two-goal game after Aaron Long in 2019 against Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

Luna got his fourth international goal after Tillman\u2019s cross deflected off Rodrigo Zalazar and rolled into his path near the penalty spot.<\/p>\n

Tessmann headed in a cross from fellow second-half substitute Gio Reyna following a short corner kick.<\/p>\n

Pochettino change nine starters, keeping only Freese and Dest, who played wide right. Trusty made his second start, his first since his debut in March 2023, and Tillman made his second start, his first since his debut in January 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Curacao's<\/a>See which teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup after latest qualifying matches<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 40 teams have already booked their place in next summer\u2019s tournament with 22 others still fighting for the final spots.<\/p>\n

\"United<\/a>Gio Reyna scores as USMNT beats Paraguay in friendly marked by late on-field brawl<\/a><\/p>\n

Reyna, who has nine goals in 33 international appearances, surpassed his father Claudio\u2019s total for the national team.<\/p>\n

For more sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To view subscription options for The News and SportsDay, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Alex Freeman scored twice and Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna had one goal each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,966,15617,3,403,99,21,19,22,20,25,47812,24,84938,153412],"class_list":["post-301265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-article","tag-fc-dallas","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-mens-national-team","tag-usa","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}