USA vs. New Zealand: Score and Twitter Reaction for 2016 Friendly

A month from now, the United States will continue its quest for a return to the World Cup. The U.S. men's national soccer team very likely wishes those matches were right now.

Julian Green scored in the 27th minute, and the United States led nearly the entire match before New Zealand scored a late second-half goal to earn a 1-1 draw in a friendly Tuesday. 

Jurgen Klinsmann's squad hasn't lost since bowing out of the Copa America. The defense nearly pitched its fourth straight shutout until Monty Patterson came through with a goal in the 72nd minute for New Zealand. Held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., Patterson's goal put a hush over the crowd in the nation's capital.

New Zealand did a nice job of frustrating the U.S. attack defensively. It wasn't until the waning moments of the game until the United States felt like it was back in a rhythm after Green's goal. 

It's nevertheless been a promising stretch of soccer for the United States, which fell short in a third-place match with Colombia at Copa America. The U.S. won World Cup qualifiers against St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago by a 10-0 combined score before defeating Cuba 2-0 in the first friendly between the two countries since 1947.

Dominant for the most part against Cuba, the United States found a stiffer opponent in New Zealand. Green's first-half goal was one of just six shots on goal for the home side. ESPN FC provided a video of the score:

Ty Schalter of Vice Sports also offered his thoughts:

The United States carried that one-goal lead into the second half and appeared like it would hold on for all 90 minutes. But the 19-year-old Patterson came through with a scintillating goal to knot things up late. Coming off a low corner kick, Patterson took a pass from a teammate close to the goal and nutmegged David Bingham for the score.

Bingham had come on as a second-half replacement for starter William Yarbrough.

Chris Chang of One News thought it was a strong goal:

From there, the two sides essentially traded unsuccessful attempts at breaking the tie. Omar Gonzalez and Michael Bradley both nearly gave the U.S. a 2-1 victory in the waning seconds, and Terrence Boyd had another shot blocked. Patterson had one shot blocked, but New Zealand did not have many good chances in the final 10 minutes. 

Overall, it felt like the U.S. put its foot on the gas a little too late. The two sides were about as evenly matched as you can be from a statistical perspective. The U.S. had 13 total shots, compared to 12 for New Zealand. Both teams had 19 fouls and a handful of corner kick tries. 

The result wasn't exactly what Klinsmann wanted, but he still has to feel good heading into Nov. 11's matchup with Mexico. The competition hasn't been great, yet this has been a solid stretch of sustained play from the younger members of his team.

New Zealand returns for World Cup qualifying Nov. 7 against New Caledonia.