USMNT announce September friendlies against Uzbekistan, Oman

Gregg Berhalter’s return to the sidelines as United States Men’s National Team head coach will come against two unexpected opponents. Today, U.S. Soccer announced that the USMNT will take on Uzbekistan and Oman in a pair of friendlies during the September international window.

The first match will see the USMNT face Uzbekistan on September 9th at CITYPARK in St. Louis, with a 5:30pm ET kickoff. Three days later, the USMNT will be at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota to take on Oman. That match will be a 8:30pm ET kickoff.

With many teams around the world engaged in qualifying for various tournaments, there weren’t many options for the USMNT to schedule during the September window. There have been past rumors of attempts to schedule Argentina and Brazil for the September window, but with CONMEBOL beginning World Cup qualifying in September, those two teams were unavailable. With so many competitions coming up, this was likely the best chance for the USMNT to face a team from Asia prior to the 2026 World Cup.

Both Oman and Uzbekistan will compete in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in January, and these matches serve as part of their preparation for that tournament. It will be the first time the USMNT has faced either team on the field. The USMNT will return to St. Louis for the first time since yesterday’s 6-0 win over St. Kitts & Nevis in the group stage of the Gold Cup. For Allianz Field, it marks the first time the USMNT have played there since the February 2022 World Cup qualifier against Honduras, which was the coldest World Cup qualifying match in FIFA history. The temperature there hit a low of -3 degrees, with the real feel temperature dipping as low as -18 degrees. This will certainly be a much warmer affair when the USMNT take on Oman.

With the announcement of these matches, the USMNT have their fall schedule almost complete. They will face Germany and Ghana in the October window, while they will participate in the Nations League quarterfinals during the November window, with the team they face to be determined in October.

Discuss these upcoming friendlies in the comments below.