{"id":865553,"date":"2026-09-30T06:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865553\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:08:12","slug":"usmnt-youth-shines-again-in-contentious-4-2-win-over-chile-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865553\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT youth shines again in contentious 4-2 win over Chile | USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riding goals from Sebastian Berhalter, Julian Hall, Chris Richards and 17-year-old newcomer Mathis Albert, the US men\u2019s national team beat 49th-ranked Chile<\/a> in St Louis on Tuesday night 4-2. The US were shaky at times but used a blend of regulars and newcomers to get the job done, with Albert becoming the youngest-ever goalscorer for the US men with his insurance goal in stoppage time, and Hall becoming the youngest US men\u2019s player to score in each of his first two games.<\/p>\n

The game ended with an example of the collective identity a young US group has managed to forge in their first World Cup window, minus major figures like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Folarin Balogun. When goalkeeper Brian Schwake fell on the ball as stoppage time ticked over, Chile forward Leandro Hern\u00e1ndez left a kick in on the Nashville SC goalkeeper. Chris Richards took exception, confronting Hern\u00e1ndez, setting off a group confrontation that cleared both benches and saw US manager Mauricio Pochettino jump in to the middle of the fray to try and calm things down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have each other\u2019s back. We have 26 guys that are ready to be there at any moment,\u201d Sebastian Berhalter told TNT afterward. \u201cWhen you do stuff like that, there\u2019s gonna be repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49th-ranked Chileans are far removed from their glory days, the stretch of years in the 2010s that saw them win back-to-back Copa Am\u00e9ricas and advance to the knockout rounds of the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Interim manager Nicol\u00e1s C\u00f3rdova has started the process of leading the Chileans through a generational turnover as they build towards 2030.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, C\u00f3rdova was without the services of Chilean captain Gabriel Suazo, one of a pair of Chile players red carded in their brutally physical 1-0 loss to Canada on the weekend. Still, they proved a tougher challenge for the US than Peru, whom the US beat 4-1 in the first match of the window three days earlier.<\/p>\n

Berhalter\u2019s goal came 37 minutes in and was well worked. Sergi\u00f1o Dest\u2019s combination play at the near sideline pulled several defenders out of position; Hall smartly stepped over Dest\u2019s ensuing cross as it traversed the area and found the Middlesbrough midfielder 10 yards from goal at the far side of the area. Berhalter \u2013 who was excellent throughout the evening and assisted on the match-winner from a corner kick \u2013 drove his effort low and into the side netting at the near post.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a player that the commitment, the energy, everything he does is for the badge, for the national team, for the teammates,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cHe is a very good role model player for the players that arrive the first time or maybe are watching from home, in the way we expect the players to behave. The quality he has – the delivery on set pieces, scoring goals, can play from the left, from the right, box to box or a holding midfielder, or like a number 10 from different positions. Always he\u2019s happy to do anything for the national team. These things are priceless. To have a player like him is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall was once again positioned well on his 51st-minute goal, rising above his defender 10 yards from goal to meet a Gio Reyna cross and sending a perfectly placed, glancing header towards the near post. As with Berhalter, it was the Red Bull New York forward\u2019s second goal in as many games.<\/p>\n

The US arrived in St Louis fresh off a 4-1 dismantling of Peru, a match that saw 11 US players make their senior debut, just one shy of an all-time record. US head coach Mauricio Pochettino made 10 changes from the group that started that match, and while Tuesday\u2019s XI may have lacked the sheer youth of that group, it had no lack of debutants: goalkeeper Chris Brady made his first-ever start, as did outfield players Hall, Adri Mehmeti, Neil Pierre, Brooklyn Raines and Frankie Westfield.<\/p>\n

The match ended with two scuffles between players, the first set off when goalkeeper Brian Schwake was kicked by a Chilean player. Photograph: Jeff Roberson\/AP<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s starters lacked polish at times \u2013 particularly while defending \u2013 with the US ceding the lion\u2019s share of first-half chances to the Chileans. They lacked sharpness going forward, as well; 20 minutes in, Hall was sprung through clean on goal by Berhalter. The Red Bulls attacker rounded Chile keeper Lawrence Vigouroux and turned towards an open goal but couldn\u2019t keep his angled attempt on frame from 12 yards out.<\/p>\n

Brady looked shaky when asked to control proceedings in the penalty area and was saved by the crossbar twice in the first half. First in the 34th minute on a hit by Ben Brereton D\u00edaz, then again two minutes later as the far post intervened on a Chilean effort, keeping the match scoreless. Berhalter\u2019s goal came shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

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Yet Chile answered just before half-time, off a corner kick which neither Brady (nor any US defender, for that matter) took command of, leading to a frantic goalline scramble inside the six yard box. After several thwarted attempts, Chile defender Diego Ulloa finally found an opening in the madness and equalized. Brady was replaced by Nashville SC\u2019s Brian Schwake at half-time.<\/p>\n

Just minutes into the second half, the Chileans struck again. Westfield badly misplayed a header in his own half, one which fortuitously fell at the feet of Maximilliano Guti\u00e9rrez, who sprinted forward and hit a bending effort around the outstretched arms of Schwake. Hall quickly equalized.<\/p>\n

In the 72nd minute, Richards found the winner when he met Berhalter\u2019s brilliantly-struck corner service near the penalty spot, heading it home with authority. Albert\u2019s effort came in stoppage time as he crashed goalwards and tapped it home with an outstretched leg; the game quickly devolved shortly afterwards into a shoving match between both teams.<\/p>\n

On a night where US Soccer honored longtime USMNT captain Tim Ream\u2019s retirement, Robinson wore the armband for the US. Pochettino said earlier in the week that he wants to waste little time in establishing Ream\u2019s replacement as captain for the US\u2019 push towards the 2030 World Cup, but he seemingly hasn\u2019t decided yet; midfielder Tyler Adams got the nod against Peru.<\/p>\n

The US will face a pair of even stronger opponents to close out this international window, traveling to Phoenix, Arizona to face Mexico on 3 October before facing Canada in St Paul, Minnesota the following Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riding goals from Sebastian Berhalter, Julian Hall, Chris Richards and 17-year-old newcomer Mathis Albert, the US men\u2019s national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-865553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865553","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=865553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}