{"id":81527,"date":"2025-11-18T22:58:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/u-s-crushes-uruguay-5-1-freeman-shines-pochettino-excels\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T22:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:58:44","slug":"u-s-crushes-uruguay-5-1-freeman-shines-pochettino-excels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/soccer\/u-s-crushes-uruguay-5-1-freeman-shines-pochettino-excels\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. crushes Uruguay 5-1: Freeman shines, Pochettino excels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">United States Thrash Uruguay in a Spectacular Match<\/h2>\n\n\nThe American team, led by a brace from Alex Freeman, achieved an impressive 5-1 victory over Uruguay at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Tuesday.\n\nThe match was characterized by effectiveness in set-piece plays, with the United States opening the scoring in the 17th minute thanks to a goal by Sebastian Berhalter after a free kick. Three minutes later, Freeman extended the lead with a header after a corner kick taken by Berhalter. In the 31st minute, Freeman stood out again with his second goal of the night.\n\nThe United States continued its dominance, making it 4-0 in the 42nd minute through Diego Luna. Uruguay managed to reduce the deficit with a spectacular overhead kick from Giorgian de Arrascaeta, leaving the score at 4-1 at halftime.\n\nThe second half began with the expulsion of the Uruguayan captain, Rodrigo Bentancur, which diminished his team&#8217;s aspirations. With one man up and the boost from players like Gio Reyna, Tanner Tessmann, and Folarin Balogun, the United States took advantage to score 5-1 in the 68th minute, with a header from Tessmann after a cross from Reyna.\n\nAt the end of the match, the American team secured a resounding victory, closing out 2025 in brilliant fashion. With this result, coach Mauricio Pochettino and his team are preparing for the World Cup year with a streak of five undefeated matches.\n\n<h3>Coach Evaluation and Player Ratings<\/h3>\n\n\n<p><strong>Mauricio Pochettino: 9<\/strong> \u2013 It&#8217;s becoming increasingly difficult to criticize Pochettino. Although there have been some stumbles, the coach has made significant progress in the last three windows. His ability to experiment with the lineup has created competition and a five-match unbeaten run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Player Ratings (0-10; 10 = best, 5 = average)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Matt Freese: 7<\/strong> \u2013 Lost points due to a lack of communication in the first half, but made a vital save.<\/li><li><strong>John Tolkin: 7<\/strong> \u2013 Good dribbling on the left wing and good connection with the midfield.<\/li><li><strong>Auston Trusty: 7<\/strong> \u2013 Few problems for the defender, who also provided an assist.<\/li><li><strong>Mark McKenzie: 6<\/strong> \u2013 Lost his player on Uruguay&#8217;s goal, but had a good performance in defense.<\/li><li><strong>Alex Freeman: 9<\/strong> \u2013 Two goals and a lot of defensive work for the full-back.<\/li><li><strong>Aidan Morris: 6<\/strong> \u2013 Cautious in the starting eleven, but fulfilled his role of supporting the defense.<\/li><li><strong>Timmy Tillman: 8<\/strong> \u2013 Created danger with his distribution and did a great defensive job.<\/li><li><strong>Sebastian Berhalter: 9<\/strong> \u2013 A great goal, a perfect assist and several crucial recoveries.<\/li><li><strong>Sergi\u00f1o Dest: 8<\/strong> \u2013 Subtle assist for Berhalter, but demonstrated his ability in attack.<\/li><li><strong>Haji Wright: 7<\/strong> \u2013 Worked hard to recover the ball and win fouls in dangerous areas.<\/li><li><strong>Diego Luna: 8<\/strong> \u2013 Improved his connection with passes, scoring a key goal. Also helped in defense.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Substitutes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Gio Reyna: 8<\/strong> \u2013 Assisted Tessmann&#8217;s goal and provided energy in the second half.<\/li><li><strong>Tanner Tessmann: 8<\/strong> \u2013 Scored a header that sealed the match.<\/li><li><strong>Folarin Balagun: 6<\/strong> \u2013 Had little time to make an impact, but made a couple of recoveries.<\/li><li><strong>Max Arfsten: N\/A<\/strong> \u2013 Precise in his passes.<\/li><li><strong>Brenden Aaronson: N\/A<\/strong> \u2013 Few interventions with the ball.<\/li><li><strong>Cristian Roldan: N\/A<\/strong> \u2013 Came on in the 89th minute.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F1119%2Fr1577495_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg\" alt=\"Dos goles de Alex Freeman a\u00f1adieron brillo a una actuaci\u00f3n superlativa de la USMNT.\" title=\"\"><figcaption>Dos goles de Alex Freeman a\u00f1adieron brillo a una actuaci\u00f3n superlativa de la USMNT.\nDustin Markland\/USSF\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United States Thrash Uruguay in a Spectacular Match The American team, led by a brace from Alex Freeman, achieved an impressive 5-1 victory over Uruguay at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Tuesday. The match was characterized by effectiveness in set-piece plays, with the United States opening the scoring in the 17th minute thanks to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[10338,2661,2017,2075],"class_list":{"0":"post-81527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-alex-freeman","9":"tag-pochettino","10":"tag-uruguay","11":"tag-usmnt"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}