Monaco forward Balogun, who switched from England in May and scored in the Nations League final against Canada a month later, opened the scoring in the 13th minute. A fierce strike by teammate Sergino Dest was parried out by Oman keeper Ibrahim Al Mukhaini, and Balogun reacted swiftly to bury the loose ball.

The USA had been far from impressive in their 3-0 win over Uzbekistan on Saturday but looked sharper and they doubled their lead on the hour through Brenden Aaronson. The midfielder, who plays in Germany for Union Berlin, drilled a free-kick through a badly organized Oman wall and past the unsighted Al Mukhaini to make it 2-0.

Aaronson went close to add another with a fine solo run and low shot which the Oman keeper did well to get down to but the third goal arrived soon enough with Ricardo Pepi who found the target for the second straight game. DeJuan Jones broke down the right and found Pepi with a low ball into the box which the striker collected before spinning sharply and firing into the bottom corner.

The fourth goal came via two players USA coach Gregg Berhalter had brought on to make their debuts - Benjamin Cremaschi found Kevin Parades down the right and his low cross was turned into his own net by the sliding Oman defender Khalid Al-Braiki. "I saw a young side, a lot of young players coming through so, overall, I'm really happy with what I have seen, a really good opportunity to take things forward into October," said US Soccer technical director Matt Crocker.

Berhalter's side will face Germany on October 14th in East Hartford and then take on Ghana three days later in Nashville.

September 13, 2023

Khalid Al-Braiki

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