US boss admits they were outperformed by entertaining England

USMNT interim manager Dave Sarachan admitted that England were the deserved winners at Wembley Stadium following a 3-0 loss against the World Cup semifinalists.

At a  game built up as the final farewell to Three Lions legend Wayne Rooney, who made his 120th appearance for England but failed to add to his record-breaking goalscoring tally, the US were played completely off the park for the majority of the match and could only control the game in small fractions.

Christian Pulisic had the best chance of the game for the visitors when the Borussia Dortmund playmaker skipped through on goal after rounding the entire England defence, but fired straight at Jordan Pickford from a one-on-one position.

“It was challenging for our group”

Speaking to the media following the game, a somewhat upbeat Sarachan managed to praise the US but also acknowledged there is much to do if America are to compete against the best footballing nations.

Sarachan said:

“Their spacing, their movement, was very challenging for our group.  As much as we watched and scouted England, it’s still on the players to sort through that. We just didn’t get around on the ball enough, didn’t get in on enough plays, makes for a tough half.

“We talked about some things at half-time. I think there were some stretches where we had some confidence to play a little bit, get better numbers centrally, the ball could go from one to the next and we are going to take some positives. That’s the point of these games.”

A fitting farewell for Rooney

The night was all about one man, though, Wayne Rooney. England’s all-time record goalscorer came out of international retirement for one night only to raise money for his charity.

And despite only playing 33 minutes, the now DC United player impressed on the night and almost scored England’s fourth goal when he went through on goal with five minutes to play, but the former Manchester United captain’s effort was well saved by Atlanta United keeper Brad Guzan.