The USMNT cruised to a 7-1 win against Grenada as Christian Pulisic & Ricardo Pepi starred to offer a welcome boost amid their struggles at club level
Sometimes, we all can use a good ole' fashioned confidence boost, and that's exactly what the U.S. men's national team got on Friday night.
The U.S. made it look easy in Grenada, scoring early and often in what ended up being a 7-1 win in the CONCACAF Nations League. Ricardo Pepi and Weston McKennie each scored twice, while Christian Pulisic, Brenden Aaronson and Alejandro Zendejas made their marks with goals as well.
It was the Chelsea man that truly stole the show, though, with a Man of the Match performance, although Pepi won't be too far behind thanks to his brace. That's good news for the USMNT, and for the players themselves, both of whom can use the confidence boost after some tough moments on the club level.
Overall, it was a lopsided win by a team that expected to win in lopsided fashion. There were good moments, and plenty of them, but this was little more than taking care of business.
GettyWINNER: Christian Pulisic
Captain America with a performance worthy of the name.
What a game this was for Pulisic, who reminded everyone watching of just how special he is. Yes, this was against Grenada, but it still was impressive watching Pulisic absolutely run a game against an overmatched opponent.
Sometimes, watching Pulisic do his thing against lesser opponents is just fun. More than any other player in the USMNT pool, the Chelsea star can turn games like this into his own personal playground. We all want to see competitive games, of course, but sometimes it is just fun to watch a really, really good player do things that only a really, really good player can do against a team that has absolutely no hope of stopping him.
He played a part in the first four goals and then scored one of his own in the second half, and that may even understate just how good he was. Pulisic surely had fun against Grenada and it was fun watching him.
Now, onto the next. El Salvador looms and then, more importantly, a return to Chelsea, where he'll hopefully play with a bit more confidence after a good international break.
AdvertisementLOSER: Grenada
It's not their fault. They were simply overmatched.
Just look at the USMNT XI. It included players that play for Chelsea, Leeds, Borussia Dortmund, Celta Vigo, Valencia, Arsenal. Grenada's best player plays in Belgium, and most of his teammates play nowhere near that level.
It was a mismatch from the start and a mismatch throughout. No team ever wants to lose 7-1, especially at home, but this felt inevitable.
They did well to get their goal, though: a good finish from Myles Hippolyte that gave the home fans something to cheer. The fans did deserve that much, as did Grenada, who played hard until the final whistle, as evidenced by a late horror tackle on Alejandro Zendejas.
Still, this is just the nature of CONCACAF, where there's the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada, then a solid second tier, and then everyone else. Grenada are comfortably in the "everyone else" category, and that's how you get scorelines like this when the USMNT rolls into town.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Ricardo Pepi
All aboard! The train is leaving the station.
Goals against Grenada won't fully restore the Pepi hype, but it's a start, right? He got two of them, his first since 2021, and, boy, will those do him some good.
For a player that saw his confidence absolutely crater in 2022, the 2023 version of Pepi is looking pretty good. He's scoring goals with Groningen and is back scoring for the national team, making up some of the ground he lost after his disastrous Augsburg move.
Goals against anyone will help, even Grenada. Will we need to see more from him? Absolutely, but he'll get those opportunities down the line.
For now, Pepi will take his two goals and look forward to, hopefully, a few more soon.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Mexico
Look away, El Tri. It seems you missed out on a good one.
Alejandro Zendejas was fantastic after coming on for his USMNT debut which, notably, officially cap-tied him to the program. It's all over now: Zendejas is a USMNT player for good.
And what a player he is, if this was any evidence. He scored a goal and could have had three more on another night. The Club America star absolutely tore Grenada to shreds every time he got on the ball, offering a pretty good glimpse into why so many thing he can actually compete to start on this team.
Those decisions are for down the line, though. What matters now is that Zendejas has arrived, and he arrived in style.