The US Men’s National Team was punched in the metaphorical mouth and then struggled for 94 minutes towards their biggest defeat in years – until an accidental own goal spared them in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals on Thursday night, paving the way for two heroes and a 3-1 win.
The USMNT followed an undersized Jamaican team for almost two hours. When they won a corner in the 95th minute, they were seconds away from a first competitive defeat on home soil in almost half a decade.
But Christian Pulisic swung in that corner; Miles Robinson got there first with the slightest movement; and Jamaica’s Cory Burke nodded it into his own net.
It was “miraculous,” U.S. head coach Gregg Berhalter said after the game.
The tying goal gave the US life and 30 minutes of extra time in a largely empty AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. And in those 30 minutes, Gio Reyna finally untied Jamaica.
In the sixth minute of the 30, Reyna picked up a stray ball and burst from a broken play into a small pocket of space. And with one brilliant move of his right boot, with one pass that no one else on the American roster ever sees, he released Haji Wright towards the Jamaican goal.
Wright, a game-saver for Coventry City in the quarter-finals of the English FA Cup last weekend was initially left off this USMNT roster. He was at an airport, on his way to a family holiday in Dubai, when Berhalter called and asked if he would like to join the squad as an injury replacement for Josh Sargent. Wright’s girlfriend had planned the trip. His agent was already there, Berhalter said. His bags were all packed. Berhalter told him to hang up and take a moment to think.
Ten minutes later Wright called and said: “I participate.”
Five days later he scored his second dramatic winner in a week.
And 14 minutes after that, he and Reyna came together again to bury Jamaica.
American fans, players and coaches breathed a sigh of relief. But for most of the evening their smiles had been absent.
Jamaica, without several stars, came out swinging in the first minute. Greg Leigh’s goal, just 31 seconds after kickoff, was the first goal the USMNT had conceded in decades.
“It was a bad play by a number of players,” Berhalter said. “We are on lockdown.”
It caused shock, which led to frustration, which simmered for almost the entire ninety minutes.
The Americans huffed and puffed after the blow in the opening minute. They dominated the ball, with 82% possession. As the game progressed, they tilted the field. But they lacked creativity and urgency in the final third. They were blunt and sloppy in the penalty area. Folarin Balogun lacked sharpness. Pulisic squandered the best chance of the first half.
“We have to improve,” Berhalter would later say. “Especially against a 5-4-1 [formation], which has caused us problems in the past. For me it’s about the speed of the ball movement. Combinations, especially in large areas, to get behind them and damage the defense. And we haven’t done that enough.”
They had been talking all week about building – towards this summer’s Copa America, and the 2026 World Cup. Instead, to start this huge year, they teetered towards a huge flop.
They arrived in Texas with perhaps their most talented team yet. They were on course to leave with the Nations League trophy in someone else’s hands.
At half-time, Berhalter came on for Reyna, who has hardly played competitive football since his January loan to English Premier League club Nottingham Forest. Reyna brought some life back. But after a lively first fifteen minutes of the second half, the stagnation returned and continued.
In the 75th minute, the US seemingly ran out of ideas. Jamaica’s low block held firm. “I felt really comfortable even though the possession was American,” Jamaica coach Heimir Hallgrímsson said later. “I even had the feeling that in the end they gave up trying to score.”
And as the minutes passed, the pressure began to build. The seats started to get warm, especially Berhalter’s. The USMNT has not improved noticeably since he took over again last summer. On Thursday they suffered from the same offensive incompetence that plagued them at the 2022 World Cup. By 7:45 PM local time, anti-Berhalter sentiment was as loud, widespread and legitimate as ever.
And then the own goal, at least temporarily, masked everything.
In extra time, Reyna took over and wrote a different story.
“Great quality, great talent,” Berhalter said of Reyna. “…He has that quality that not many players have.”
Reyna, meanwhile, had not spoken to the media in 15 months, since his World Cup drama exploded into the public eye and engulfed the Berhalter and Reyna families. Fans were left wondering about his relationship with Berhalter — and, by extension, whether the coach could unlock the talent of his best playmaker.
Thursday night in Arlington, Reyna finally spoke. “It’s clear that what happened, happened.” he said of Berhalter. “But I think we’re both so far past it, and so focused on the group that, yeah, it’s not a problem at all anymore.”