With Boston Strong Patches on Jerseys, U.S. Earns Historic Win Over Germany
U.S. Men’s National Soccer celebrated its centennial birthday with a friendly match against Germany at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. The team came away with a 4-3 victory.
Team captain and former New England Revolution product Clint Dempsey scored two goals in the game and moved to second all-time in goals scored (35) in a career for the U.S. He trails only Landon Donovan, who’s netted 49 for the men’s national team.
Jozy Altidore opened the scoring in the 13th minute of the game with a beautiful finisher off a volley from Graham Zusi. The tally broke a nearly two-year scoring drought in international play for Altidore.
In a charitable gesture, the team wore “Boston Strong” patches on its jerseys in honor of the victims of the marathon bombings. All of the jerseys and warm-up tops will later be signed by the players and then auctioned off on ussoccer.com with all proceeds going to the OneFund.
The U.S. is gearing up for another round of World Cup qualifying matches starting on Friday. Teams use friendlies before qualifying matches and other tournaments to help teammates familiarize themselves with one another and to see which players the coaching staff wants to keep on the team. In soccer, friendlies let coaches try out new formations and use players in new positions.
Sunday’s win marks the third time in history that the U.S. men’s soccer team has defeated a team ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in FIFA’s international rankings. The other two wins were against then-No. 1 Brazil on Feb. 10, 1998 and No.1-ranked Spain on June 24, 2009 during the Confederations Cup tournament.
The Americans are currently in third place of the six remaining nations in their group. The top three teams automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup in Brazil. The fourth place team will face New Zealand in a playoff for a berth in the World Cup.
This huge win against a marquee country in international play can only help the U.S. in its upcoming qualifiers.
