CHICAGO — The shot that mattered most arrived 12 minutes into the second half. Leroy Sané, given a half-step of space on the right side of the penalty area, collected a low pass from Kai Havertz and drove a low finish into the far corner. It was clinical, unhurried, and almost certainly decisive — the kind of goal that separates a tuneup from a trial run. Germany beat the United States 2-1 at Soldier Field on Saturday in front of a sellout record crowd of 63,636, extending their winning streak to nine consecutive matches and departing Chicago with something the Americans could not quite claim: the feeling of being ready.
The Americans were not embarrassed. That matters, given what comes next. In six days they open the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil against Paraguay in Los Angeles, carrying the weight of a nation that has waited four years for this moment. A 2-1 loss to the world’s tenth-ranked side, with two-thirds of the match played at parity, gives Mauricio Pochettino’s coaching staff reasons for confidence alongside reasons for concern. The concern, for now, is less tactical than medical.
Crystal Palace center back Chris Richards, the defender many regard as the Americans’ most important outfield player, watched the entirety of Saturday’s match from the sideline in street clothes. Richards tore two ankle ligaments in late May and has not appeared in training. He was seen smiling, which the USMNT faithful chose to interpret as a positive sign. Whether he will be available for Paraguay remains the central unanswered question hanging over the American camp — a question no one in the organization has been willing to answer publicly.
Germany arrived at Soldier Field carrying their own injury grief. Lennart Karl, the 18-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder who had become one of the tournament’s most anticipated young players, tore muscle fibres in his left thigh during training in Chicago on Friday — a day before the match he was meant to start. Coach Julian Nagelsmann confirmed the diagnosis Saturday morning and called up RB Leipzig’s Assan Ouedraogo as the replacement. “I’m incredibly sorry for Lenny,” Nagelsmann said. “With his creativity, his carefree nature and his speed, he would have been an asset to our game.” Karl posted on Instagram that the pain was “beyond words” but promised to return stronger.
The loss did nothing to diminish Germany’s momentum. The Germans had already beaten Finland 4-0 in their previous tuneup and will open their Group E campaign against Curaçao in Houston on June 14. They have not lost since the autumn and carry into this World Cup the structural cohesion that escaped them at the last two tournaments, where they failed to advance past the group stage in consecutive editions.
Saturday’s match opened within two minutes. A foul on the edge of the American box gave Joshua Kimmich a free kick, which he redirected as a driven low cross rather than shooting directly. Havertz, arriving unmarked at the near post while Miles Robinson tracked a different run, met the ball with his head and powered it into the net. The Chicago crowd, which had arrived loud and expectant, went quiet with a speed that suggested the nightmare scenario — the one where the co-host nation stumbles in its final dress rehearsal — was suddenly plausible.
It did not unfold that way. Pochettino’s side steadied, pushed possession into the German half, and manufactured consecutive corners in the 36th minute. From the second of those, Antonee Robinson collected the ball at the edge of the box, set himself, and struck a first-time volley that caught the underside of the crossbar on the way in. The Fulham left back — known to supporters as Jedi — wheeled away in celebration. It was his fifth international goal and, by any measure, his best. The ESPN broadcast cut immediately to reaction shots; the noise in the stadium returned.
The second half began with both teams searching for the deciding moment. Germany found it first. Sané, operating in the half-space on the right where the American defensive shape had shown seams, received Havertz’s pass with enough time to pick his spot. The finish was low, precise, and placed beyond the reach of Matt Freese. The German bench erupted. The American comeback that followed — Joe Scally and Brenden Aaronson both testing Oliver Baumann with long-range efforts in the closing minutes — was energetic and insufficiently surgical. Baumann, standing in for the resting Manuel Neuer, held firm.
Neuer’s absence pointed to something both teams were doing Saturday: managing bodies in the final window before the tournament begins. Baumann, who started in goal, had no meaningful errors. Germany’s defensive shape, organized around Nico Schlotterbeck and Jonathan Tah at center back with Kimmich as the deep pivot, gave the Americans very little through the middle. Christian Pulisic, who operates best in the channels between the lines, found those channels consistently policed. Folarin Balogun, starting as the lone striker, worked hard without reward.
The lineups on both sides reflected the send-off nature of the occasion. Pochettino rotated freely, and the starting eleven — Freese; Alex Freeman, Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, Antonee Robinson; Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie; Sergiño Dest, Malik Tillman, Pulisic; Balogun — represented something close to the manager’s preferred World Cup shape, minus Richards in the heart of defense. That absence was the most consequential thing about the afternoon. The Americans defended reasonably well without him, but “reasonably well” is not the standard required against Uruguay, Germany, or Portugal if the Americans advance past the group stage.
According to U.S. Soccer’s official match recap, the attendance of 63,636 set a new record for soccer at Soldier Field — a venue that hosted the 1994 World Cup opener between Germany and Bolivia, a piece of symmetry nobody in the organization missed. Chicago did not bid to host 2026 World Cup matches, citing financial disputes with FIFA. The city ended up watching its stadium serve as a farewell venue for both nations heading to the tournament it chose not to pursue.
Tyler Adams, who captained the side, addressed the result in the locker room afterward. “Obviously we want to win every game,” Adams said, without dwelling on the margin. The squad’s attention had already turned west. The USMNT departs for Los Angeles and their Group D opener against Paraguay on June 12. After that comes Australia in Seattle on June 19 and Turkey in the Bay Area on June 25. Pochettino’s side has been built, over three years of preparation, for exactly this sequence. Whether Richards is part of it remains to be seen.
For Germany, the question of what comes after nine consecutive wins is simply whether the streak can survive actual tournament football. As ESPN reported, they are 10th in the FIFA rankings and possess, in Havertz, Sané, Jamal Musiala, and Florian Wirtz, a forward line of a quality they have not assembled in years. Nagelsmann’s project, which nearly unraveled in the group stage in 2022 and again in 2024, arrives at this World Cup with legitimate ambitions. Saturday in Chicago did nothing to diminish them — and everything to remind anyone paying attention that the Americans, for all their progress, still have the hardest part ahead.
