Pulisic shines in US’ friendly win

Midfielder creates one goal, wins penalty for another in 3-0 triumph over Mexico

CINCINNATI:

Chelsea star Christian Pulisic played a leading role as the United States launched their final preparations for the World Cup with a convincing 3-0 friendly win over fellow qualifiers Morocco on Wednesday.

Pulisic created a goal for new Leeds signing Brenden Aaronson and won a penalty converted by debutant Haji Wright as the US claimed a first ever win over Morocco at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium.

Lille forward Timothy Weah scored the other US goal in a torrid outing for Morocco, who also missed a dubiously awarded second-half penalty when Selim Amallah hit the crossbar.

"Christian was in a position where he could hurt them, he was our man of the match, the way he led with intensity and also his performance on the field," US coach Gregg Berhalter said.

Berhalter meanwhile was happy with his team's display as they build towards Qatar, where their first round opponents will be England, Iran and either Ukraine or Wales.

"We talked before the game about having a baseline about how we can perform against World Cup opponents and they showed how good we can be although sometimes we were vulnerable," Berhalter said.

"We need to keep improving, they were a dangerous opponent but we controlled the match well and created a number of chances."

Berhalter had demanded an aggressive performance, and the hosts delivered with a bright opening, striker Jesus Ferreira and Weah forcing saves Morocco's Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou early on.

Morocco, who will play Belgium, Canada and Croatia in the first round of the World Cup, should have taken the lead on 12 minutes, when Watford left back Adam Masina exposed the US defence only to see his shot parried away by new Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Tarik Tissoudali pounced on the follow-up but his effort was blocked by Aaron Long for a corner.

Morocco continued to look dangerous on the counter-attack, and another flowing move saw Masina advance down the left flank and pass inside for Tissoudali but his effort failed to trouble Turner.

The American breakthrough came on 26 minutes with a goal crafted by Pulisic