USMNT’s Tillman ‘scary’ for knockout-bound PSV

PSV Eindhoven coach Peter Bosz said the play of United States attacker Malik Tillman was “almost scary” as his side held on to a 1-1 draw with Arsenal to close out Champions League Group B play on Tuesday.

Tillman, who plays with PSV on loan from Bayern Munich, was one of the Eredivisie team’s best players on the pitch, and USMNT teammate Ricardo Pepi also turned in a strong performance with an assist on Yorbe Vertessen‘s equalizer early in the second half.

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“It was almost scary how good he was,” Bosz said after the game. “I really enjoyed that sitting on the bench. I really thought he played great and that’s nice to see.

“We could have lost it at the end, but I also think we could have won today. I have a proud feeling about how we played today.”

Arsenal and PSV had already qualified for the knockout round in first and second place, respectively, and Gunners coach Mikel Arteta elected to leave key players Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka on the substitutes’ bench.

The USMNT duo both featured prominently in the national team’s last two games — a pair of wins over Trinidad and Tobago that secured the team’s spot in next summer’s Copa America — with Pepi coming on for Tillman in the first leg of the home-and-away matchup to score the opener in a 3-0 win.

The two traded roles in the second leg, with Tillman coming on for Pepi in a 2-1 loss in which PSV and U.S. teammate Sergiño Dest was sent off for misconduct in a bizarre incident in the first half. The U.S. still advanced 4-2 on aggregate past T&T.

Dest came on in the 74th minute of the 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.