Christian Pulisic had some strong words to describe the United States men's national team's 3-0 loss to Mexico on Friday night, saying that his team plays "with fear" against El Tri. Pulisic and the attack did next to nothing against a dominant Mexico, with Josh Sargent also missing a penalty kick. The U.S. was sloppy with the ball, didn't mark well defensively and has now gone two straight matches without scoring against Mexico -- the other being the Gold Cup final in July.
Pulisic said they need to change how they play against Mexico and didn't hold back.
"We still play with fear against them, and that is what I can't really live with," Pulisic said, according to ESPN. "That needs to change.
"We have to go and play like we're good enough to be out there, be confident and play without thinking twice about it. That's how it needs to be, and that's just not where we're at right now."
That's far from calling the team out, but those are some strong statements that the confidence level needs to go up.
The U.S. hasn't looked strong against tough competition under Berhalter, and while he still really hasn't had the full squad together for one reason or another, the results are a bit concerning. The U.S. is 8-5-1 under its newest coach yet has rarely looked convincing. They try to play out of the back, and that's caused more problems than solutions so far. The U.S. gave up its second goal because of sloppy play out of the back and was lucky to not concede another due to its lack of precision.
The U.S. will look to get back on track against Uruguay on Tuesday in a friendly that you can see on fuboTV (Try for free).
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