US suffer friendly defeat to Germany ahead of World Cup

The United States were dealt a 2-1 defeat by Germany in their final warm-up friendly ahead of the ​World Cup, but head coach Mauricio Pochettino said he ‌was impressed by the character shown by his side.

Kai Havertz headed in Joshua Kimmich's free kick to give four-times world champions ​Germany a second-minute lead, but World Cup co-hosts United ​States snatched a stunning equaliser through Antonee Robinson.

Leroy ⁠Sane then scored in the 57th minute to seal ​Germany's victory at Soldier Field in Chicago.

"Overall, I think it ​was a good performance. I am happy with the performance of everyone. We play one of the most important teams in the ​world," Pochettino told reporters.

"I think we need to be ​happy with that. We compete, (we were) unlucky, I think it was as ‌an ⁠even game... It was an amazing challenge for us to see how we react, how we show character, how we show togetherness, how we start to play under pressure."

The ​U.S. open ​their Group D ⁠campaign against Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.

"We were demanding ​a lot to the player(s) in the ​last two ⁠weeks. I've seen (us) overload the player(s) and the team," the Argentine manager said.

"Now (we have) to assess the load and be ⁠intelligent ​in the way that we are ​going to arrive to the Paraguay (game), in the best condition, fresh with ​energy."

-Reuters