The United States were dominating the action against Iran in Tuesday’s World Cup action as the team attempted to make it past the group stage with a win.
Despite this, the USMNT found itself tied at zero in the 38th minute before Christian Pulisic and Sergiño Dest put up the highlight of the World Cup for the Red, White and Blue to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead over Iran.
First off, that’s just an absolutely awesome header pass from Dest there. Secondly, Pulisic was able to get it past Iran’s goalkeeper before going down to injury himself.
There’s a lot of moving parts for the United States here. They had to play one man down with Pulisic sidelined. USMNT also had a few more chances before intermission, but was not able to capitalize on the momentum.
The United States needs a win in this one to advance to the Round of 16. The backdrop here are continued tensions between the U.S. and Iran from a political perspective.
In fact, reports suggested that members of the Iranian National Team and their families could face torture if they did not take part in singing the national anthem ahead of the match.
Either way, the United States headed into intermission with a 1-0 lead and roughly 45 minutes away from advancing in the World Cup. Imagine that!