The USMNT is starting to trend in a positive direction, even on a night when Christian Pulisic departed early with an injury.
Buoyed by Haji Wright’s brace, the USMNT finished off the international break with a 2-1 friendly victory over Australia.
The United States held the advantage in possession (64.3 percent), outshot Australia 10-9 (4-2 on goal) and held a 3-2 advantage on corners. Those stats favor the United States, but the night didn’t start on such a positive note.
Australia opened the match’s scoring in the 19th minute on a fantastic effort from Jordan Bos:
A little over 10 minutes later, Pulisic was substituted from the game after being injured, causing an obvious unease among USMNT and AC Milan supporters alike.
But the United States quickly responded to that adversity, equalizing in the 33rd minute before taking the lead for good in the 51st minute, with both goals assisted by Cristian Roldan.
Wright was the toast of the town following his brace, with folks on social media showing him the love:
Folarin Balogun seemingly remains the first-choice striker for the USMNT and scored the squad’s lone goal against Ecuador on Friday (he was also a second-half substitute on Monday). But Wright is making his case to be in the mix as well, pushing to usurp Ricardo Pepi as the backup forward.
It’s helped that Wright is in blistering form for Coventry City in The Championship, with eight goals in nine games.
Both Wright and Pepi are trying to earn their place on the World Cup roster, and there is a fairly muddled group of strikers all vying for a spot that also includes Patrick Agyemang and Josh Sargent.
If Mauricio Pochettino opts to take three strikers, Balogun, Pepi and Wright would appear to be the favorites. Wright certainly aided his cause on Monday.
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