United States vs Uzbekistan

St. Louis City’s CityPark is the venue as the United States and Uzbekistan go head-to-head in their first-ever meeting.

It’s been two months since the United States surrendered their CONCACAF Gold Cup crown to Mexico after shockingly losing to Panama in the semi-finals via a penalty shoot-out. However, you’d need to go to January for the USA’s last defeat in regulation time, with Gregg Berhalter’s side going unbeaten in 11 consecutive internationals (W6, D5) since a 2-1 loss to Serbia at the turn of the calendar year. Despite netting under 1.5 goals in their last two outings, the ‘USMNT’ will be confident about packing a punch after welcoming in-form AC Milan star Christian Pulisic back to the fold. Pulisic’s return to the national team could inspire another free-scoring performance from the USA, as they had scored precisely six goals in two consecutive games before the abovementioned uneventful run.

In the meantime, Uzbekistan slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Iran last time out, relinquishing an eye-catching seven-match unbeaten run (W5, D2), and now stare down the barrel of back-to-back losses for the first time since October/November 2021. Back then, both defeats came ‘to nil,’ as was ominously the case in their abovementioned heartache against Iran. However, it’s worth noting that drawing a blank against the Iranians marked Uzbekistan’s first international in 2023, where they failed to get on the scoresheet. Indeed, Srecko Katanec’s men had netted 2+ goals in three consecutive outings before that loss, suggesting they won’t go down without a fight, even though they come into proceedings as significant pre-match outsiders.