The United States entered Wednesday’s friendly against world powerhouse Brazil looking to extend their 5 match winning streak. Unfortunately that momentum, as well as 67,619 screaming fans packed into FedEx Field in Landover, MD, were not enough to stop Brazil from claiming victory 4-1.
The Brazilian national team came into yesterday’s game led by Neymar, hailed by former national team member and soccer icon Pele as the next great Brazilian futbol star. First half goals from Neymar and Thiago Silva gave Brazil a lead that they would never surrender.
According to the Washington Post, USA head coach Juergen Klinsmann praised his team’s resilience but felt that they played without a lot of tenacity.
“We need to get nastier, maybe a little bit still too naïve, maybe we don’t want to hurt people. We have to step on their toes more, get them more frustrated.”
Team USA Forward Herculez Gomez, who scored the only goal for the U.S., noticed how the game changed when his team began to force the issue against the respected Brazilians.
“Sometimes you see Brazil on the calendar and you go in with a lot of respect for their players, but they are just like us,” he said. “They bleed, they hurt, so you’ve got to get after it. You saw in the second half when we pressed and imposed our game, they were the ones on their heels, they were the ones trying to hit us, they were the ones sweating and battling and fighting to track back.”
The U.S. had ample opportunities to score during the second half but failed to rally from their deficit. The crowd of 67,619 was the largest crowd to watch a soccer game in the Washington area.
