Folarin Balogun and Alejandro Zendejas each scored a goal, as Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT bounced back from a frustrating defeat to South Korea over the weekend and beat Japan 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday.
WATCH — USMNT v Japan full match replay
After losing five straight games against World Cup-caliber sides, there were plenty of bad vibes surrounding the USMNT and Pochettino badly needed a positive result (and performance to match) to hold up as an example of progress and improvement with just eight friendlies left before the 2026 World Cup next summer.
Balogun answered in a big way with his first USMNT goal in 15 months, expertly set up by Christian Pulisic, pushing himself back to the front of the pecking order at center forward. Zendejas helped his own case for a place in the World Cup squad even more, as he hooked home a fantastic volley in the first half. After the game, Pochettino said that Zendejas’ performance had given him much to consider regarding the pecking order at right winger.
MORE — Mauricio Pochettino reaction
Pochettino made five changes to the starting lineup, including both goalscorers, and the three-man backline of Tim Ream, Chris Richards and Tristan Blackmon kept a clean sheet against what eventually amounted to Japan’s second-team squad playing for World Cup places of their own. Matt Freese made six saves for the USMNT, but his counterpart, Keisuke Osako, make nine and was the only thing that kept the Samurai Blue within touching distance beyond the opening 20 minutes.
Player ratings – USMNT vs Japan
USMNT vs Japan live updates – by Andy Edwards
USMNT vs Japan final score: 2-0
Goalscorers: Alejandro Zendejas (30′), Folarin Balogun (64′)
GOAL! USA 2-0 Japan: Balogun fires home after Pulisic plays him in behind (64′)
Balogun doubles USMNT’s lead over Japan
Folarin Balogun makes the most of Christian Pulisic’s pass and doubles the USMNT’s lead over Japan in the 64th minute.
GOAL! USA 1-0 Japan: Alejandro Zendejas hooks a stunning volley home (30′)
Zendejas strikes first for USMNT against Japan
Alejandro Zendejas opens the scoring for the USMNT in the 29th minute against Japan with a stunning volley.
DOUBLE SAVE! Osako denies Balogun twice from close range (18′)
Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun worked their way through Japan’s transition defense fantastically there, but somehow Balogun couldn’t put the chance away in two tries. Nevertheless, those two clearly have a good understanding how to play together and seem to just find one another in the final third.
USMNT starting lineup
Freese – Blackmon, Richards, Ream – Richards, Adams, Roldan, Arfsten – Zendejas, Pulisic, Balogun
Japan starting lineup
Osako – Sekine, Araki, Nagatomo – Mochizuki, Fujita, Sano, Maeda – Ito, Suzuki, Ogawa
How to watch USMNT vs Japan live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 7:30pm ET Tuesday (September 9)
Venue: Lower.com Field — Columbus, Ohio
TV Channel: NBC Universo (en Español), TNT (in English)
Streaming: Stream live en Español on Peacock | HBO Max (in English)
Once again Pochettino’s side struggled against a top-tier team in that defeat to South Korea in New Jersey, and even though they’re missing some key players for this window you would have expected better from the USMNT. Pressure is building on Poch and he could really do with a much-needed win, and dominant performance, against Japan.
MORE — How worried should we be about the USMNT?
As for the Samurai Blue, they have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup with minimum fuss and they have great balance about their team, plus a few superstars in Wataru Endo, Kaoru Mitoma and Takefusa Kubo. Japan impressed at the 2022 World Cup and this encounter will give us a very good idea as to where the USMNT are at nine months out from the 2026 World Cup.
MORE — Predicted lineup for USMNT vs Japan
USMNT team news, focus
The likes of Folarin Balogun, Alex Zendejas and Chris Richards impressed off the bench and all three should start against Japan. We should also expect to see Jack McGlynn, Luca de la Torre and Damion Downs get some minutes, with the latter duo not featuring at all against South Korea. In short, Pochettino needs a positive performance and result to build some belief around what he’s doing. Yes, he has rarely (if ever) had his full-strength squad together since he took charge of the USMNT but this is now about getting results with the team he has and having some signature moments to build on. Remember: Johnny Cardoso, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Malik Tillman, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Ricardo Pepi, Antonee Robinson and perhaps even Gio Reyna will be added to this squad for the October friendlies against Ecuador and Australia and November friendlies against Uruguay and Paraguay. All is not lost but Pochettino needs the likes of Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah and Tyler Adams to step it up against Japan.
Japan team news, focus
Japan lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation for their 0-0 draw against Mexico on Saturday, with Brighton star Mitoma at left wing-back and Liverpool’s Endo and Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada in central midfield. They have such a deep, well-organized squad and have some real difference makers in attack with Kubo and Takumi Minamino tasked with being the chief creators. Japan have so many different ways to hurt you and their bench is full of players who are at big European clubs. There is plenty of experience in this squad.
USMNT vs Japan prediction
This feels like the USMNT will show a reaction from their defeat against South Korea, but poor defending will be exploited by Japan’s stars in attack. USMNT 1-2 Japan.
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