The United States men's national team returned to the Tri-State Area for the first time since 2019, falling to South Korea 2-0 in an international friendly played at a packed Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
Son Heung-min gave the pro-Korea crowd what it came to see by scoring the match's opening goal in the 19th minute, then South Korea would double their advantage shortly before halftime through Lee Dong-Gyeong, with Son picking up an assist on their second. It was more than enough for South Korea, as the USMNT faded from the match after a promising first 15 minutes, not doing much to bother the South Korean defense once down by multiple goals.
When you last saw the USMNT, they were losing to Mexico, 2-1, in the Concacaf Gold Cup final, ending what was a rocky summer for and around the national team. Controversy swirled over the roster Mauricio Pochettino called up for the pair of June friendlies against Turkiye and Switzerland plus the Gold Cup, mainly around Christian Pulisic's exclusion, as well as the exclusion of a few other European-based national team regulars.
Pulisic was back for this match, as were other Europe-based national team veterans like Timothy Weah, Sergiño Dest, and Josh Sargent, joining a roster that included 13 players plying their trade domestically in Major League Soccer.
This September window of games represented one of the final handful of opportunities Mauricio Pochettino will have prior to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to refine his preferred lineups and sort out his player pool. Pochettino continues to experiment with new faces from MLS and from abroad, but his experimentations universally failed in this convincing win for Korea.
Korea's crowd, vets provide the tests
It was a sea of red at Sports Illustrated Stadium but for neither the red, white, and blue of the United States, nor for the usual tenants the Red Bulls. Many thousands of red-clad fans turned out to loudly support South Korea in a rare visit to the United States by the national team, a squad led by their captain and star forward, Son Heung-min of LAFC.
Son had the most international appearances of any player to take the pitch at Sports Illustrated Stadium, earning his 136th career cap with South Korea in the friendly. He wasn't the only seasoned veteran to test a younger, less-experienced United States side. FC Bayern Munich central-defender Kim Min-jae (69 Korea caps) started, along with 1. FSV Mainz 05 playmaker Lee Jae-sung (96 Korea caps), and Ulsan HD FC goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo (44 Korea caps).
They made up the core of the Korea team that looked far more disciplined, dangerous, and effective than the United States. Son was getting behind the United States defense with ease, playing himself into 1-v-1 situations with Matt Freese three different times in the first half. One of those 1-v-1s was offside, but on the other two, Freese was left on an island while Son charged toward his goal, resulting in both Korea goals in that first half.
The experienced heart of the South Korea team outperformed the USMNT, and the Korea team also benefited from what felt like a home crowd you might find in Seoul for one of the national team's games.
It's nothing new for the United States to have fewer fans than their international opponents here in the States and especially here in the melting pot that is the New York City area. In fact, the hugely pro-Korea crowd brought back plenty of memories from the USMNT's last visit to then-Red Bull Arena, on September 1, 2017.
That game, a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica, became remembered for its pro-Costa Rican crowd and the supposed disadvantage that crowd presented for the United States. There were no stakes like that involved in this match with South Korea, since both teams already qualified for next summer's World Cup and this was purely a preparatory friendly.
Still, in this South Korea friendly, the United States got yet another taste of being a road team while playing here on their home turf. Their record at the artist formerly known as Red Bull Arena didn't improve, as the USMNT now has gone 1W-0D-4L in their all-time appearances in Harrison, New Jersey.
Freese unconvincing in 7th straight start
Matt Freese entered this match on surprising ground. He's entrenched, at the moment, as the clear-cut starting goalkeeper for the United States, as evidenced by the fact he's the only goalkeeper on this September's roster with an appearance for the senior men's national team under his belt.
Freese got his seventh consecutive start under Pochettino, attempting to build on his breakout performance at the Gold Cup this summer, when Freese first staked his claim to the USMNT starting spot by coming up with three saves in the penalty shootout to beat Costa Rica in the quarterfinals.
The New York City FC goalkeeper entered this clash with Korea with great individual history at Sports Illustrated Stadium, as Freese's career record stood at 7W-1D-2L in all matches he'd played in the New Jersey soccer-specific venue across his club career, with three clean sheets kept in those appearances.
In the week leading up to this match, the USMNT pundit class tried to wrap the collective head around Freese possibly having the inside track to being starting goalkeeper at the World Cup. All the attention and scrutiny that comes with being the USMNT's No 1 is new pressure for Freese, and he didn't exactly thrive under that pressure while facing South Korea.
He played behind a slightly new-look backline, as Vancouver Whitecaps FC defender Tristan Blackmon earned his first-career USMNT appearance while paired with Tim Ream at center-back. That pairing struggled to cope with Son and his perfectly-timed runs in behind, and Freese wasn't able to pull off any miracles to deny the star LAFC forward in the 1-v-1 showdowns.
Could Freese have done better on South Korea's second goal? The NYCFC keeper sold out to try to clear the ball from Son's feet but whiffed completely and took himself out of the play, a risk that he had to take in the moment, but one that left a wide-open net for Lee Dong-gyeong to flick a shot into.
Freese wasn't under constant duress and did make two saves to keep Korea from extending their lead, but he also couldn't produce any match-swinging saves. It wasn't the kind of performance that will lead to calls for Pochettino to drop Freese, but it also wasn't the kind of performance that further solidifies Freese's standing as the USMNT's clear-cut starter in goal.
When do the experiments end for Poch?
Tristan Blackmon got thrown straight into the deep end in his first career USMNT start, a tough assignment to face Son Heung-min while making your senior national team debut. That was perhaps the biggest failed experiment undertaken by Pochettino with his team selection against South Korea, as Blackmon and Tim Ream had a rough game paired in defense.
Pochettino also tried playing Pulisic and Weah on their un-nautral sides of the attack, with Pulisic on the right and Weah on the left, despite the fact that those two players are usually on the left and the right, respectively, with their club teams in Europe.
The defense looked shaky and the attack disappeared once Korea took its 1-0 lead in the first half. While Pulisic and Sergiño Dest combined well at moments in the opening half, the USMNT did nothing with the ball after halftime, not really threatening South Korea until late in the second half when wholesale substitutions had been made by both coaches.
The United States missed Chris Richards at center-back, and could have used a player like Weston McKennie in that central midfield next to Tyler Adams.
This Major League Soccer-centric group of players called up by Pochettino is trying to impress and stand out while making their cases for inclusion in next summer’s World Cup. Before the Korea loss, Pochettino called this his last chance to see new faces prior to the World Cup, but I’d argue that time already came and went this summer with the Gold Cup.
Continuing to test new faces like Blackmon, Sebastian Berhalter, or Max Arfsten this late in the calendar means there’s less and less time for the best possible version of the USMNT to gel and develop their on-field chemistry.
That best possible version of the United States was missing entirely against South Korea at Sports Illustrated Stadium. They’ll have a chance to show some more progress when they travel to the more friendly confines of Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, to face Japan on Tuesday, September 9.
Until then, they leave New Jersey staring down another bad loss to a tough opponent, something they’ve experienced multiple times already this summer. Progress will need to appear sooner rather than later, otherwise it might be a short stay at the World Cup for one of the tournament co-hosts.
