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The U.S. men’s national team clinched a spot in the knockout round of the Concacaf Gold Cup after a grind-it-out 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, June 19.
The U.S. will close out group play on Sunday, June 22 against Haiti at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas (7 p.m. ET, Fox).
Defender Chris Richards put in a “man of the match” performance, scoring the game’s lone goal and circumventing a Saudi Arabia scoring threat in the first half.
“We needed tonight. It was a tough game against a tough opponent. Props to them,” Richards told Fox Sports after the game. “But that’s Concacaf for you. Sometimes you’ve got to get physical, sometimes you’ve got to get nasty, and that’s exactly what we did tonight.”
As expected, Saudi Arabia proved to be a much tougher opponent to break than Trinidad and Tobago, which the U.S. steamrolled 5-0 on Sunday, June 15. On Thursday night, it took until late in the first half for the U.S. to even manage a shot on goal. For their part, the U.S. was equally as stingy defensively, allowing just one shot on goal the entire game.
USA TODAY Sports provided updates and highlights for the Concacaf Gold Cup match between the USMNT and Saudi Arabia:
Tempers flared after Tyler Adams was pushed to the ground. Both Saudi Arabia manager Hervé Renard and U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino got involved as players from both teams got into a scrum.
Sebastian Berhalter was issued a yellow card, as were Saudi Arabia’s Ziyad Al Johani and Abdulrahman Al Obud.
The USA-Saudi Arabia Gold Cup match finally had a breakthrough, as Chris Richards scored off a free kick from Sebastian Berhalter in the 63rd minute.
The play went to VAR, but Richards was ruled onside, giving the defender his second career USMNT goal.
The USMNT was not able to break down their disciplined opponents and make any threatening attempts on goal in the first half.
The U.S. enjoyed the majority of possession (72% to 28%), but did not get a shot on goal until late in the first half. In the 45th minute, Patrick Agyemang’s header attempt was on goal, but Saudi Arabia ‘keeper Nawaf Al Aqidi made an easy save.
Earlier in the first half, defender Chris Richards made the USMNT’s best play of the game so far, thwarting a potential Saudi Arabia goal-scoring opportunity.
Haji Wright, who came on as a second-half substitute and scored a goal on June 15, is not with the U.S. team for Thursday night’s game against Saudi Arabia. Wright is dealing with an Achilles issue.
The Concacaf Gold Cup group stage game pairing the USMNT with Saudi Arabia is set for 9:15 p.m. ET at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. Q2 Stadium is the regular home of Austin FC of Major League Soccer.
- Time: 9:15 p.m. ET
- Location: Q2 Stadium (Austin, Texas)
- TV: FS1 (TUDN for Spanish-language broadcast)
- Stream: Fubo
Watch USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia with a free trial of Fubo
Mauricio Pochettino is going with the same starting 11 as the U.S. featured in Sunday’s win over Trinidad and Tobago.
For Sebastian Berhalter and Alex Freeman, the start against Saudi Arabia represents a third national team cap for each player.
Saudi Arabia is coming off a 1-0 win over Haiti in its Gold Cup opener. The goal scorer from that win, Saleh Al-Shehri, starts this game on the bench. Forward Firas Al-Buraikan (known as Feras) is the team’s most-capped active player (52).
Concacaf announced in December 2024 that Saudi Arabia would participate in the 2025 and 2027 Gold Cup tournaments. This announcement came shortly after Saudi Arabia was selected as the host nation for the 2034 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia is the eighth different non-Concacaf affiliated nation to be invited to compete in the Gold Cup. Other invited teams include Brazil (1996, 1998 and 2003), Colombia (2000, 2003 and 2005), South Korea (2000 and 2002), Peru (2000), Ecuador (2002), South Africa (2005) and Qatar (2021 and 2023).
The Gold Cup is a biennial tournament for national teams in the North and Central American and Caribbean region associated with Concacaf. Mexico (nine times), the U.S. (seven times) and Canada (one time) are the only nations to have won the Gold Cup. Mexico won the last Gold Cup competition in 2023.
- Group stage: June 14-24
- Quarterfinals: June 28-29
- Semifinals: July 2
- Final: July 6
- Arlington, Texas (AT&T Stadium)
- Austin (Q2 Stadium)
- Carson, California (Dignity Health Sports Park)
- Glendale, Arizona (State Farm Stadium)
- Houston (NRG Stadium and Shell Energy Stadium)
- Las Vegas (Allegiant Stadium)
- Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium)
- Minneapolis (U.S. Bank Stadium)
- San Diego (Snapdragon Stadium)
- San Jose, California (PayPal Park)
- Santa Clara, California (Levi’s Stadium)
- St. Louis (Energizer Park)
- Vancouver, British Columbia (BC Place)
Goalkeepers (3): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/England)
Defenders (9): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Alex Freeman (Orlando City SC), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/France), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/England), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), John Tolkin (Holstein Kiel/Germany), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Midfielders (9): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/England); Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/England), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/Canada), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/Spain), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo), Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands)
Forwards (5): Paxten Aaronson (FC Utrecht/Netherlands), Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC), Damion Downs (FC Köln/Germany), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps/Canada), Haji Wright (Coventry City/England)
