The World Cup is now less than a week away and all the nations are playing their final friendlies in preparation for the tournament. That includes the host countries, who have already come away with some impressive results to start the summer. For the USMNT, they’ll look to build off a 3-2 win over Senegal down in Charlotte on Saturday.
Match Details
Coca-Cola Send-Off Match at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois
Opponent: Germany
Kickoff: 2:30pm ET/11:30am PT.
Broadcast live on TBS, Telemundo & Universo. Streaming on Peacock & HBO Max.
Unfinished Business
Although this match takes place just before the tournament, Germany and the United States have a lot of history in the World Cup. It dates all the way back to 1998 when they were drawn in Group F together. Die Mannschaft comfortably won the fixture 2-0 as future USMNT manager Jürgen Klinsmann scored a goal and provided an assist.
At the very next World Cup in 2002, Germany controversially knocked out the USMNT 1-0 in the quarterfinals. Another future USMNT manager drew the headlines as Gregg Berhalter’s shot was stopped on the goal line by a blatant handball from Torsten Frings. Somehow, it wasn’t called by referee Hugh Dallas. Then in 2014, with Klinsmann at the helm, the USMNT lost to eventual champions Germany 1-0 in the group stage.
This match will mean a little extra to several of those involved. The last time these countries faced each other was on October 14, 2023. The USMNT got off to the perfect start thanks to a wonderful solo goal by Christian Pulisic, but Germany leveled in the 39th minute through Ilkay Gündogan. The second half saw goals from Füllkrug and Musiala as the Germans won 3-1. That particular match was meaningful because it was Germany’s first under Julian Nagelsmann, their manager for this World Cup. It’s a full circle moment for Nagelsmann right before the biggest few weeks of his managerial career.
This game will also be a full circle moment for two specific players, one for each side. As most USMNT fans know, German-American dual nationals have become a massive part of the national team. Malik Tillman is the most recent example, born to an American father and German mother in Nuremberg, Germany. This will be the first time he gets to face his nation of birth. His story is the flip side to Germany’s Nathaniel Brown. The Frankfurt left back was also born in Germany to an American father and German mother, but unlike Tillman he opted to represent his nation of birth and now gets to face the USA for the first time.
USMNT Looking For Statement Victory
After a bit of a rough start to Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure, the USMNT turned a corner last fall. They have faced a number of teams from all around the world on their level and done remarkably well. Within the last year, they’ve beaten Japan, Australia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and most recently Senegal. Those are all very good national teams and most importantly, two of them are in the USA’s World Cup group.
However, their record against Europe under Poch is a different story. They’ve lost all four of their meetings with European nations, starting last summer with a loss to groupmates Türkiye. That was immediately followed by an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Switzerland where all the goals came in the first half. Then this past March, the USMNT lost 5-2 to Belgium and 2-0 to Portugal. This game against Germany serves as a great chance to change the narrative.
If they are to pull off this upset, Christian Pulisic will have to be at his absolute best. He was arguably the only good USMNT player in that 2023 loss to Germany and Poch will be hoping he can repeat some of that magic in Chicago. It’s been a tumultuous 2026 for “the LeBron James of soccer,” who had failed to score a single goal for club or country this calendar year.
Then came last weekend. Pulisic was suddenly back to his best in the USA’s 3-2 win over Senegal. He set the tone early with a perfect assist to Sergiño Dest in the 7th minute before finally breaking his goal drought with a touch around the keeper and finish into the empty net in the 20th minute. There was a sense of inevitability in Pulisic’s performance that has often come during big tournaments. Despite everything he’s gone through, Captain America shut up the doubters against Senegal and now heads into this game with his confidence sky-high.
Germany Aiming For Ninth Win In A Row
Similar to the USMNT, the Germans also had a rough summer last year. They were knocked out of the Nations League in the semifinals by Portugal despite scoring first. France then beat them 2-0 in the 3rd place game. That form continued into September as Germany shockingly lost their first World Cup Qualifying match against Slovakia. Since then, it’s been smooth sailing. They won the remaining five qualifiers including an emphatic 6-0 win over the same Slovakia team, reminding Europe of their true quality. Die Mannschaft then won friendlies against Switzerland and Ghana in March. Their most recent result was a 4-0 win over Finland last Sunday in their final match before heading stateside. They’ll aim to make it nine wins on the bounce to continue building confidence going into a tough Group E.
Jamal Musiala is the only one of the three German goalscorers against the US in 2023 who is in their World Cup roster. His partnership with fellow attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz is the most important part of Germany’s lineup. Both Musiala and Wirtz have gone through their fair share of adversity in the last year. Musiala broke his leg in the Club World Cup last summer and has struggled to get back to his best for Bayern Munich after recovering. He now returns to the country where the injury happened for an even bigger tournament.
Wirtz had a much better summer, signing for Premier League giants Liverpool for a then-British record transfer fee of up to £116.5 ($154) million. However, he’s failed to meet expectations for a disappointing Liverpool side that went from 1st to 5th. Luckily for Germany, Wirtz has still been at his best for the national team. He scored a brace and provided two assists in their 4-3 win over Switzerland and also scored against Finland. The 23 year old duo built a lot of chemistry together at the Euros in 2024 and are the creative focal points of everything Germany do going forward. They have a very strong team overall, but the Germans will only go as far as Musiala and Wirtz can take them in the World Cup.
World Cup Roster Breakdowns
