In Photos: USMNT 4, Chile 2 at Energizer Park

A youthful United States side beat Chile 4-2 at Energizer Park on Tuesday night, and for a while it looked like it might go the other way. Sebastian Berhalter put the U.S. ahead in the 37th, but Diego Ulloa leveled a minute into first-half stoppage time and Maximiliano Gutiérrez gave Chile the lead just after the break. Chile had already hit the goalpost twice by then. At that point the 21,000+ at Energizer Park had gone quiet.

Then, as has been the theme of this camp for the USMNT, the teenagers took over. Julian Hall headed in a Gio Reyna cross in the 51st to level it back up, Chris Richards put the U.S. in front in the 72nd, and Mathis Albert added a historic goal for the USMNT's fourth three minutes into stoppage time. Things got chippy at the end, with both benches emptying after a Chile player went in on goalkeeper Brian Schwake. Not a bad night for a St. Louis crowd as the USMNT remain

Here's the match as it happened, told through photos.

This is the part where it starts getting fun again. Cavan Sullivan turned 17 on Monday, came off the bench in St. Louis on Tuesday, and promptly carried the ball nearly the length of the field like he was the second coming. Mathis Albert, also 17, entered in the 71st minute and three minutes into stoppage time became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the United States men's national team. For years the question around the Stars & Stripes has been when the next wave was coming and whether it would actually be any good. It turned up at Energizer Park on a Tuesday night in September, in front of 21,680 people, and looked completely unbothered. The 2030 cycle is going to be incredibly fun to watch unfold.

I know we aren't supposed to talk about fight club, but...I'm going to. Pochettino did not pretend to be above the brawl afterward. "I don't like it," he said of the scuffle. But later he called it "amazing," because it "shows that you care for your teammate and that we are defending our shirt." Both things can be true at once. This was a lineup with six players making their first start, three teenagers in the XI and an average age of 23 years and 25 days, a group that on paper had no particular reason to feel like a team yet. And THIS is how the squad reacted when the opposition was playing dirty and they decided enough was enough. USMNT faithful have to like the fire.

And take one look again at that last frame, up in the stands, left of center. A St. Louis supporter is holding a Tim Ream jersey over the rail. A few hours earlier Ream had stood on this same field with his wife and three kids and a framed number 86, ending a sixteen-year international career in the city he grew up in. By the time his shirt turned up again, it was hanging above a pile of players scrapping over a teammate who had been kicked while he was on the ground. Ream spent sixteen years repping that shirt. That is what a handoff actually looks like, and it is never as tidy as the ceremony. This is why St. Louis is America's Original Soccer Capital.

Bill Jansen is a St. Louis based freelance sports photographer who shoots soccer at every level, from youth clubs to the national team, for STL Soccer News and their affiliates as well as HellbenderPics. He has never gotten over the game and has no plans to. Follow along on X at @HellbenderSTL and on Instagram at @HellbenderPics.