U.S. Men’s World Cup Opener Ends In Draw

(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The USA’s Men’s National Soccer team, (USMNT), has completed its first match in “Group B” of the tournament, and it unfortunately ended in a (1-1) draw against Wales and its Mega-Star, Gareth Bale. The match took place in the wondrous and sold-out Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, before some 40,000 delirious fans.

[1st Half]: The U.S. got onto the scoreboard first when, after taking a perfect lead pass from #10/Christian Pulisic in the attacking zone, and although tightly covered, #21/Tim Weah, the 22 year-old New York native, took dead aim straight on the Wales goal keeper, Wayne Hennessey and drove a clean, but high-speed ground level shot right by him at the 38th minute. The scoreboard now read, USA 1  Wales 0.   [Halftime Score]: USA 1  Wales  0

[2nd Half]: Then late in the match, a foul was called on USA’s #3/Walker Zimmerman for taking down Bale inside the box, and a penalty kick was awarded to Wales. It was obviously Bale who took the “one-on-one” penalty shot. In his mental preparation for the attempt., and after pausing for a moment of deep reflection, he approached the ball, then blasted it with his famed left-foot and watched it rocket to the high left of goalkeeper, #1/Matt Turner and slam into the back of the net. This goal occurred at the 82nd minute. The score was now evened at USA 1  Wales 1. Although the Referee added some 10 minutes of “Stoppage time,” both teams played the clock out without any further scoring, and thus the match ended in the draw.      [Full-Time Score]: USA 1  Wales 1

[Next Up In Group “B” Pool Play]: England, Friday, 11.25.22. The match will “kick-off” at 11:00 AM. How To Watch: FOX, Telemundo, FOXsports.com, Peacock

For the first time, all eight groups in the @FIFAWorldCup will feature at least one player from Major League Soccer.

For the post-match arguments about what Team USA did right or wrong, depending on who you want to discuss the selection process with, there will be full agreements, split agreements, or no agreements on the player or players you might wish to bring up in a frank discussion.

This type of fan involvement is certainly universal in scope and applies also to the Technical Director or Head Coach for management of the match and the players he must count upon to secure either a three point victory, or perhaps a one point draw. Losses are inevitable, but scarcely ever accepted or tolerated. And so the World Stage has been set for more exciting soccer/futból to abundantly entertain ALL Soccer fans, no matter what age you may be, over the course of the next 28 days, until the Final Match takes place on December 18th.

Nonetheless, our Team USA was at last in the starting gate of a World Cup and anxious to begin their “match-by-match” journey to the Mecca of all Soccer/Futból in Qatar’s Capital city of Doha, the site of FIFA’s 2022 World Cup Headquarters and several state-of-the-art stadiums.

There are a decent number of American players who are currently rostered to Major League Soccer (MLS) teams and are easily identifiable to the millions of fans who follow them, with our own Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) having sent Kellyn Acosta. Representing other MLS clubs are: Cristian Roldan & Jordan Morris/Seattle Sounders FC; Sean Johnson/New York City FC; Aaron Long/New York Red Bulls; DeAndre Yedlin/Inter Miami CF; Shaq Moore & Walker Zimmerman/Nashville SC; and lastly, Jesus Ferreira/FC Dallas.

Now is the time for us all to pull together for the benefit of the Team as they do their very best to represent the Red, White, and Blue in this “world-class” competition.

East L.A. Sports Scene, as an MLS accredited media outlet, will also do its very best to bring you, our faithful followers and viewers, as much coverage of Team USA, the tournament from MLS perspectives, and many other interesting stories that we can find, and then share with you during the quickly approaching Holiday seasons.