Recap: El Salvador 1, USMNT 1

Ari Liljenwall

The US men's national team rallied back from a 1-0 deficit and a second-half red card to Paul Arriola, salvaging a 1-1 draw Tuesday night at El Salvador in Concacaf Nations League play as delivered by Jordan Morris' stoppage-time equalizer.

The USMNT were just minutes away from taking a tough road defeat in an intense, often chippy contest that saw each side reduced to 10 men in the second half, until the Seattle Sounders FC attacker came through with a headed finish that allowed the Yanks to escape with a solitary point. The USMNT end their four-game June window with a 2W-0L-2D record (wins vs. Morocco and Grenada, draws vs. Uruguay and El Salvador).

The hosts took the lead on 35 minutes through what might have been an intended cross from Alexander Larin that turned into a spectacular golazo. The Comunicaciones defender sent in his attempt from well outside the area on the left side, seeing the ball zip past US goalkeeper Ethan Horvath and into the top corner.

The US then went down a man in the 70th minute as Arriola was sent off for a studs-up tackle on Larin. But they would only play shorthanded for the next nine minutes, as El Salvador's Ronald Rodriguez was sent off in the 79th minute to put the numbers back even for the rest of the match.

That gave the Yanks a lifeline for an equalizer, one they took advantage of right at the start of second-half stoppage time. It was Morris with a header assisted by Luca de la Torre, giving the Yanks the goal they needed to salvage the 1-1 result.

Goals

35' - SLV - Alexander Larin | WATCH
90'+1' - USA - Jordan Morris | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: A lot was working against the USMNT in this game, starting with some suboptimal field conditions, then the unfortunate concession on the opener, and then the red card to Arriola. With that in mind, it was some impressive moxie shown by Gregg Berhalter's men to salvage the draw in one of the more difficult environments in Concacaf, even if the performance as a whole underscored that there's still plenty to work on for this group ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH: This was headed to a 1-0 defeat for the Yanks until de la Torre and Morris combined for this gutsy leveler:

MAN OF THE MATCH: On a difficult rainy night, Yunus Musah never stopped running, fought to the end and showed an incredible level that will be key for the USMNT in Qatar.