The U.S. plays its final World Cup tune-up game Saturday against Germany before the soccer tournament begins next week. U.S. coaches are tinkering with lineup changes after a solid win over Senegal.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
One week from today, the U.S. will be playing its first game in the FIFA World Cup, the long-awaited tournament that kicks off here in North America. Now, the U.S. is a long shot to win the whole thing, but that has not kept the team from aspirations of their own, and their final preparations are underway now. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is with them in Chicago. Hey, Becky.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: They looking good? What’s going on there?
SULLIVAN: You know, I think they do – are – they’re starting to show some promise right here at the right time. They had this friendly game, sort of international semi-competitive match last Sunday versus Senegal. Senegal is a very good team. And the U.S. won, 3 to 2. Their attack, especially, was excellent. They had the three goals, obviously, but a bunch more chances. The score definitely could have been higher.
On the flip side, they had a couple of defensive mistakes that led to goals on the other side, but it was really a promising showing. And so they have one more tune-up game tomorrow that is a friendly against Germany here in Chicago at the historic Soldier Field.
DETROW: Which is making news on other fronts today, but we’ll talk about that later.
SULLIVAN: True.
DETROW: Let’s – looking at tomorrow, give us a preview of that matchup and what you think it’ll teach us about the U.S. team.
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s going to be hard to take away too much. I think both teams, you know, obviously are going to try to avoid injuries. Nobody’s going to try that hard to win. But Germany’s a really good team. USA coach Mauricio Pochettino has been consistent the whole time he’s been the coach of this team – for the last year and a half – that he feels like iron sharpens iron. If you want to be elite, you have to play elite teams, and so that’s what the goal is here.
Germany is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. U.S. isn’t as good as them just overall. I think the U.S. could definitely see a loss. But I think last week’s result is already plenty enough for optimism, and hopefully, the first half tomorrow will show USA fans some more.
DETROW: How are the players feeling about the tournament, especially given the fact that they’re the home team?
SULLIVAN: I mean, they’re stoked. I think for a while, it was hard to know if it was, like, really feeling real for them yet. They were all not too sure. I think it is finally set in. They’ve spent the last week and change sort of finally getting down to this dedicated training. And so I think for a lot of the guys, it’s, like, finally starting to hit them. This is the biggest summer of their lives so far. The World Cup is right around the corner, and maybe no player is having a bigger summer actually than midfielder Brenden Aaronson, who just got married one week ago today. Here he is talking about it this week.
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BRENDEN AARONSON: You know, having our wedding day during the whole World Cup – but yeah, I mean, like I said, you know, it’s something that’s stressful in moments ’cause you know, we planned it 2 1/2 years earlier, but it’s impossible to plan things as a footballer. But that’s the way life is. And yeah, just really grateful that I was able to do that.
DETROW: Wait a second. Like, we have known when the World Cup is for years.
SULLIVAN: Yes.
DETROW: What was he doing?
SULLIVAN: (Laughter) You know, I think that was everyone’s first thought when it came out that he had left camp to go get married and then flew right back. But as he says, he scheduled it two years ago, I guess, back then, last weekend was supposed to be off, and, like, camp was supposed to start for the first time on Monday for a few reasons then ended up changing. And Coach Pochettino said today, he told reporters, obviously, there was no question he was going to let Aaronson go off to get married. He said, the human being always comes first. So anyway…
DETROW: Yeah.
SULLIVAN: Aaronson is back with the team now training, and hopefully we’ll see him tomorrow.
DETROW: Other than wedding planning questions, what, to you, is the biggest question mark left for this U.S. team?
SULLIVAN: I mean, I think the biggest question is defense, kind of as I alluded to earlier. The biggest weakness for the team, I think, in their games this spring – ’cause good teams like Senegal, like Germany, et cetera, you know, who they have aspirations of beating when it comes to the World Cup – they are skilled enough to convert when they get even the tiniest little opportunity, little glimmer of a mistake. And so I think for the U.S., key to their defense is the young star Chris Richards. He hurt his ankle in a game a few weeks ago for his club Crystal Palace. He’s not going to be available for the game tomorrow, but everybody is still hoping that he’ll be ready in time for Friday’s opener against Paraguay next week. So we’ll have to see.
DETROW: That is NPR’s Becky Sullivan in Chicago. Becky, we will be talking to you a lot about the World Cup over the next few weeks.
SULLIVAN: Sure will.
DETROW: Thanks.
SULLIVAN: Thank you. Take care.
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