England vs USA hasn't lived up to some of the heights of World Cup 2022 – but Weston McKennie has gone viral already.
Before winding up for a long throw, the Juventus midfielder wanted to wipe his hands. McKennie couldn't find a towel, however, so took an unorthodox approach that may have upset a photographer.
The US star wiped his hands on the bemused onlooker, which was caught by fans on social media.
Weston Mckennie casually using the photographer as a towel.😂 pic.twitter.com/886s55f2fUNovember 25, 2022
Weston McKennie arguably had the chance of the first half hour, after the US grew into the game. The Juventus midfielder had made a run into the penalty and drifted into space away from Kieran Trippier, meeting a cross from Timothy Weah with a swing of the right leg. Fortunately for England, McKennie managed to sky the chance over the crossbar, much to the relief of Trippier and his goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, who watched it sail over, rooted to the spot. Yunus Musah, a couple of minutes later, had a long-range effort deflect off Declan Rice and into the grateful grasp of the Everton keeper.
England were given another warning after 32 minutes when Chelsea attacker Christian Pulisic rattled the crossbar. The England defence weren’t quick enough to close down the United States forward line and when Pulisic cut in on his right foot, his effort from the edge of the penalty area looked as though it took a touch off Pickford before shaking the woodwork from a difficult angle.
Towards the end of the first half, England started to take back a little control. First, Luke Shaw did incredibly on the left flank to whip a ball back to Bukayo Saka, who couldn’t wrap his foot around the ball enough to have a clear shot at goal. Minutes later, Mason Mount was free in the left halfspace and stung the gloves of US goalkeeper Matt Turner with a drive from around 25 yards out.
Before the game, much of the talk was about FIFA’s banning of the OneLove armband with ITV pundit Gary Neville condemning the governing body.
“It’s what I expect the FA would say, they’re a risk-averse organisation, always have been,” said Neville of the FA’s response to pulling out from the protest, “Doesn’t surprise me that FIFA have acted this way, they’re a rogue organisation and in this tournament, we’ve probably seen them at their worst. They don’t need to be that way, they represent world football – what’s an armband going to do to harm FIFA?"
