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The U.S. men’s national team failed to trouble a second-choice England all that much, falling 3-0 at Wembley Stadium on a day that marked Wayne Rooney’s final appearance for his country.
The U.S. men fell to 3-4-4 under the guidance of interim manager Dave Sarachan with the loss, which came on the heels of goals from Jesse Lingard, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Callum Wilson.
Despite the return of Christian Pulisic, marking the Dortmund star’s second appearance since the October 2017 failure in Trinidad & Tobago and his first since an 89-minute stint against Bolivia in May, the U.S. attack failed to really trouble England all that much. The match was lost in the midfield, where England dominated the ball and possession and bossed the match at will.
England’s domination started in the opening minutes and earned a pair of early corner kicks. The latter of the two forced Brad Guzan into making a sensational save to tip Dele Alli’s header off the bar, though a ref’s whistle would have nullified a goal anyway.
Guzan nearly committed a blunder a few minutes later, when his attempt to play out of the back gifted England a turnover. Wilson couldn’t turn in Lingard’s cross, though, letting the USA off.
The USA had a couple of brief glimpses of light before the wheels fell off. First, Pulisic was played into space down the right channel, but his cross was caught by Jordan Pickford on the goal line in the 16th minute. Eight minutes later, Pulisic got behind the England defense after beating a number of defenders to his own wayward touch and had Pickford 1-v-1, but the Everton stopper made the save.
That proved costly on the other end almost immediately, when Lingard curled a gorgeous right-footed shot by Guzan in the 25th minute. A couple of minutes later, Alexander-Arnold doubled the lead with a strike of his own–his first in an England shirt.
The U.S. tried to get back in it through Julian Green in the 36th minute, who was sprung for a shot from distance. His dipping, knuckling chance forced Pickford into an awkward save, but he parried it to safety.
The match continued to unfold with more of the same in the second half, with England generally looking like the more competent of the two sides. The moment most at Wembley were waiting for arrived in the 58th minute, when Rooney entered the match as part of a multi-player substitution to a big ovation.
The Americans almost pulled a goal back in the 66th minute off a quickly taken corner kick. Pulisic received a short corner, turned and fired in a dangerous cross, which found Bobby Wood six yards out. His header went high of the mark, though, keeping it 2-0.
Five minutes later, Rooney, who was the target of a brief pitch invasion, had his first opportunity to fire on goal, curling in a left-footed chance from 18 yards after being set up by Jadon Sancho. The D.C. United star hit it right to Guzan’s waiting arms, though, much to the disappointment of the Wembley faithful.
England’s third goal came soon enough, though, with Wilson marking his senior national team debut with a first international tally. He beat John Brooks on the run to the near post before redirecting home Fabian Delph’s cross, making the score 3-0 to the hosts.
Rooney had one final chance to score on his final cap in stoppage time, but he was denied by a diving Guzan, who preserved the 3-0 scoreline.
Rooney concludes his international career with 120 caps and 53 goals, which are an all-time record for England.
Here were the lineups for the match:
Here were the rosters for both nations:
ENGLAND
GOALKEEPERS: Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Alex McCarthy (Southampton), Jordan Pickford (Everton)
DEFENDERS: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Michael Keane (Everton), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
MIDFIELDERS: Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Dele Ali (Tottenham), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Harry Winks (Tottenham)
FORWARDS: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Wayne Rooney (D.C. United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)
USA
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Atlanta United), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Jonathan Klinsmann (Hertha Berlin)
DEFENDERS: John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Matt Miazga (Nantes), Shaq Moore (Reus Deportiu), Jorge Villafaña (Portland Timbers), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC)
MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls), Luca de la Torre (Fulham), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC), Romain Gall (Malmo), Julian Green (Greuther Fürth), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Schalke), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund), Kenny Saief (Anderlecht), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew), Tim Weah (PSG)
FORWARDS: Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96)
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