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Five thoughts on the USMNT loss to Mexico

It was one of those kind of games you would just as soon forget, but also the kind of game you want to watch over again to make sure it was as bad as you originally thought.

The U.S. Men’s National Team’s 3-0 loss to Mexico felt like a bad dream, and as much as Gregg Berhalter chose to dwell on the positives he saw in the performance, it was tough to see the same silver linings the USMNT coach saw.

Berhalter’s contentment with Friday’s performance centered around the fact his players actually tried to stick to his system and try to build from the back rather than resorting to long balls, like they did in the Gold Cup final. There is something to be said about the positive sign that his players really tried to build from the back, but whatever merit may be derived by that faithfulness to Berhalter’s system was cancelled out by the lineup’s painful inability to play the system well.

There is a growing sentiment that Berhalter’s system doesn’t suit the USMNT player pool, but while there was certainly evidence on Friday that the system didn’t suit the players on hand on Friday, it still feels early to want to scrap the system without being able to see it with some key figures such as Tyler Adams and John Brooks.

If Berhalter isn’t going to scrap his system — and he isn’t — then he needs to at the very least be able to adapt his tactics to allow his team to adjust to what is and isn’t working well in a given match, and against a given opponent. The USMNT needs to be able to change things up when the tactics are yielding terrible returns, as we saw on Friday when the USMNT struggled mightily to cope with Mexico’s defensive pressure and build out of the back competently.

Friday’s loss wasn’t all negative. Even amid the disappointment, mistakes and lackluster play, there were a few bright spots, though some of them were overshadowed by specific bad moments that tainted otherwise promising individual performances.

Here are five thoughts on the USMNT loss to Mexico:

Berhalter’s lineup construction failed him

When the USMNT starting lineup was revealed for the Mexico friendly, the immediate surprise wasn’t that Gyasi Zardes was starting over Josh Sargent, but rather that Berhalter was going to deploy Wil Trapp and Alfredo Morales together.

That resulted in the team fielding a central trio lacking a pure attacking midfielder. As much as Weston McKennie has shown some good attacking qualities in his overall makeup, he is at more a box-to-box midfielder than a natural attacker capable of thriving in the final third on a consistent basis. In fact, when he is given an attack-heavy role, it actually winds up diminishing his impact because he tends to lose that box-to-box presence, and the defensive bite that can make him a truly dominant presence in the middle.

Wil Trapp kept things tidy in the first half, but after a promising start to the match, he eventually settled into an ineffective funk that left the midfield limited, which only served to make it easier for Mexico to effectively pressure the United States into mistakes.

Then you had Gyasi Zardes, who was left starved for service, but who also once again showed himself to be a lackluster target forward option. Hold-up play isn’t his strength, and you could argue he would be more effective as a wide option in Berhalter’s system than as the striker, particularly against better opponents.

Perhaps the worst decision Berhalter made, specific to the Mexico match, was deploying Christian Pulisic on the wing, and then not replacing his creativity in central midfield with a more creative option. Sebastian Lletget would have made more sense as a starter than having Trapp and Morales partnered with McKennie.

Dest’s debut was promising, nutmeg aside

There is no getting around how badly Sergino Dest was abused by Jesus Corona on Mexico’s first goal on Friday, but to only point to that play as evidence of Dest having a bad night is a lazy breakdown of Dest’s overall performance.

The Ajax defender showed some exciting qualities in the first 20 minutes of the match, and even forced Jonathan Orozco into a tough save early on, and while you can’t excuse a defensive breakdown like the one he suffered against Corona, you also can’t ignore the fact he was an 18-year-old making his national team debut. Having one defensive breakdown against a quality winger like Corona doesn’t suddenly make you a bad defender, but clearly one who needs some more seasoning.

Tyler Boyd didn’t look the part

Why didn’t Tyler Boyd start in the Gold Cup final? That was a big question after Boyd went from showing some real promise early in the Gold Cup to not starting in the final matches of the tournament. On Friday, against Mexico, Boyd failed to combine with teammates, and far too often tried to force things by dribbling into traffic. It wasn’t the kind of performance expected from a player who recently completed a successful move to Turkish power Besiktas.

Can we chalk some of his struggles up to the fact he’s still relatively new to team? Perhaps, but as things stand, the early positive talk about Boyd potentially being the answer on the wing has been replaced by healthy skepticism.

Jordan Morris boosted his own standing with a promising appearance off the bench in place of Boyd, showing why Berhalter chose him to start in the Gold Cup final. Morris is enjoying a good season with the Sounders, and looking more and more comfortable on the wing.

Morales brought some much-needed bite

For a first USMNT appearance in years, Morales didn’t look timid at all, and offered up an edge to his game like we haven’t seen in the U.S. lineup since Jermaine Jones was patrolling the midfield.

Morales took some grief for his part in Mexico’s second and third goals, but the second goal was more about Zack Steffen’s poor pass than his ability not to get to it, and expecting him to stop the dangerous Hirving Lozano in the open field on a counter was asking a lot. Overall, his showing against Mexico didn’t scream “number 6 of the future” but it did offer enough promise to want to see more of him.

The importance of John Brooks was magnified

Watching both Aaron Long and Walker Zimmerman struggle badly with their passing served as a reminder of just how important John Brooks is to the USMNT setup heading toward the 2022 World Cup qualifying cycle. He is the best passer in the American pool of centerbacks, and arguably the best defender, so when he was forced to miss Friday’s friendly due to a groin injury, the drop-off was considerable.

Of course, Brooks is also seemingly the most injury-prone option in the pool too, so relying on him can be very tricky. Aaron Long has emerged as a strong option in central defense, but he’s not naturally left-footed and it showed at times when he was forced to play as the left-sided central defender on Friday against Mexico. A Brooks-Long tandem is the best option the pool can offer at the moment, but we haven’t seen it since March, and won’t see it again until October at the earliest.

Both Long and Walker Zimmerman have seen their form dip since the Gold Cup, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that both struggled against Mexico. Neither passed the ball particularly well and defensive positioning wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be. They will need to regain their top form to ensure Berhalter has a viable central defense pairing for October’s Nations League matches, though their struggles against Mexico have boosted Matt Miazga’s prospects of taking hold of a starting place, especially if Brooks isn’t available.

The good news for USMNT fans is that there are some very promising prospects in the centerback pool, including Miles Robinson and Chris Richards. Unfortunately, it might be a while before either is ready to take on a prominent role in the U.S. central defense, though Robinson’s meteoric rise in 2019 makes it tough to rule him out as a contender to start for the USMNT in 2020, if not sooner.

Comments

  1. The lazy analysis is saying a defender was ok because he tried a shot that was never going in and hit is well. Blame Dest performance on playing on the left or his age if you want an excuse.
    I am not a GB hater, but Trapp isn’t good enough and he looks like the 100% certain to play with what should only be 2-3 locks on this team. GB is the one deciding that.

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    • Everyone is hammering Dest about the nutmeg goal. Yes, it was a mistake, but it shouldn’t have led to a goal. Watch chicharito in the build up. He starts out near Dest and drifts into the center tight past a ball watching Trapp and in front of Boyd. Either one of them should have marked Chicharito and likely disrupted enough to prevent the goal. I blame them more than Dest.

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  2. 1. No more Zardes, ever.
    2. No more Trapp, ever.
    3. Miazga and Brooks are the best centerbacks in pool.
    4. Yedlin might be the most important player we have.
    5. Arsenal Wenger is looking for work.

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  3. I still think that the biggest issue with this group playing out of the back is that mostly Trapp was invisible, hiding is another word. McKennie did show for passes better, but when the passes were less than spot on, he made a panicked return pass that put the back under hard pressure. –
    I thought Morales mostly did OK, but as a group the midfield suffered from being unable to present clear, multiple options for the backs. That is a fundamental failing in a system that is trying to use short passes to play out of pressure. (You could argue that Boyd and Pulisic shared some of that guilt.) As a result the backs were forced to attempt passes to midfielders who were not quite open with the expected disastrous results.

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    • Yeah, as much hate as he gets, we really struggled without Bradley in there to receive those passes from the defense. If anyone wonders why we haven’t moved on from him, they should rewatch this game during the times when Mexico pressed us heavily. Not that Bradley doesn’t make mistakes, but he can receive the ball, turn and occasionally make that long diagonal pass to keep defenses honest. Without that, Mexico pressed high and relentlessly. Morales did ok, maybe if he and McKennie played dual 6s, then we could insert a more offensive player ahead of them. Not sure, but Mexico has controlled the midfield against us for several years now.

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      • that would have been a great tactical adjustment and still allow GB to play his possession style…GB is not a good coach and it showed in the game

    • @ Dennis…goal. I agree and it’s been a problem for the USMNT from the beginning of time…the midfielders/wingers lose courage to continuously show for the ball and play effectively with their back to goal to break lines playing out of the back as games wear on. My take is we don’t have the horses for that style of play, wold love ot be proven wrong, but not in the many decades that I’ve followed the team. Lletget does it and gets hammered for it, MB is OK at it, McKennie has done it but vs. Mexico and top flight teams, it’s a different ask than against CONCACAF minnows

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      • It was a problem last cycle no matter the formation with Arena and JK. We were probably spoiled during the Bradley Jones years, although they often showed into the same space causing a different problem. Before that it might go back to 2002 with Reyna and O’Brien. Maybe it was less apparent because we could just play up the sideline to Dempsey, Donovan, or Beasley.

  4. If we are looking for positives, I’ve thought Morales deserved a call-up for awhile, and hope he gets a callback. Trapp just doesn’t have the bite for DM, and we need some competition and more options at that position. Mexico is as tough as it gets after a 3 year absence, so hoping he gets more time against Uruguay and adjusts.
    We also are starting to see some depth at both outside defenders, which is a positive step forward. If Cannon continues his upward trajectory, that certainly frees up Yedlin and Adams for MF roles. Dest is young at 18, and will only get better.
    I agree with others that Zardes is sharper on the wing, as he is not a skilled hold-up forward. Here’s hoping by 2022 WCQ we have options.

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  5. I don’t think we should abandon the idea of trying to play modern possession soccer because we lost to Mexico in this friendly. Our team is young and building for the future, WC 2022 and even 2026. We are integrating some really young and raw guys, and still haven’t really seen our best team play together under Berhalter. So far we haven’t struggled against weaker teams like in the past, we’ve beaten them. We have been beaten consistently by Mexico, sometimes badly, and most of us are still coming to terms with the fact that they are simply better than us right now and definitely the best team in concacaf. Which brings me to the final point, Mexico is really good right now. They are coming off a World Cup in which they beat Germany, they have an entire roster full of talent in their prime with some rising young stars mixed in, and now they have an experienced and excellent manager. I think we should be patient and give the manager and system through WC 2022. Hopefully by then our talent pool will have progressed to the point where we can attract a big time manager to take us through the 2026 cycle when we will be a host country.

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  6. At the u20 level it showed during that tournament that the possesion play was possible. At the senior level it’s not it’s just a much faster physical speed of play. We couldn’t do it with klinnsman with a combination of MLS and european players over a cycle of what 6 years it was only noticeable in friendlies vs the Netherlands and germany but I serious competing against mexico against Jamaica we lost in some we had possesion and still lost in others we didn’t and still lost. There is talented players at all levels it showed at this U20 world cup. We only lost against Ecuador because the midfield didn’t pressure defensively and went to high up the field mendez gave the Ecuador player ebough space to let him shoot and that was the 2-1 loss and game winning shot for ecuador but we did eliminate a powerhouse in France so clearly there is hope it’s just taking long since 2014 the usmnt has just been a decline.

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  7. There is one glaring problem with the current USMNT. There was no veteran leadership on the field. Why have we dropped Fabian Johnson or not called in Aaron Johansson? Or, Bobby Wood? He’s better than Zardes and has scored against Mexico. I know everyone wants youth, but it needs some experience on the field mixed with youth.

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  8. I have a number of thoughts. First, I have thought for some time that Zardes is best at wing. As far as this game goes, he almost never got the ball. When his teammates tried to pass him the ball their passes were poor, often completely off target.A couple of times on a break he was running down the middle fairly open, but no one even tried to reach him with a pass. Too often the team looked solely to Pulisic. While understandable, it isn’t always the right move. BTW, back when Klinsmann was coach and rightly put Zardes on the left wing, he established something they obviously spent a lot of practice time on. I noticed it and remarked at the time and everyone seemed to have a ho hum, who cares attitude. When Guzan would take a goal kick, Zardes would perch a little over the half way line, out jump the defender, and head the ball up field to a teammate. It almost always worked. It had the benefit of usually resulting in US possession past the half way line, negating the opponent’s defensive pressure, and, if unsuccessful, the turnover was far away from Guzan’s goal. This is smart coaching. Klinsmann wanted to build out of the back, too, and when that was difficult, came up with this alternative. Berhalter is too doctrinaire–my way or the highway, regardless of whether it works or not. His changes should be phased in with options for when they don’t work, not all or nothing.
    Boyd is not the answer unless we are playing a team like Cuba. Lletget made almost an instant impact with some good passes to attacking players, something that was sorely lacking. One of the big disappointments to me is how anemic are attack was.
    Regarding the defense, Dest had one bad play, but that doesn’t mean much at this point. I qwould certainly keep him in the pool and starty him against weaker opponents until he gets used to the difference in speed of play and intensity. Then you find out if he is tghe answer. As for the CB’s–who left Chicharito wide open for the header leading to the first goal? It looked like the US players in the middle of the box were guilty of ball watching and Chicharito was left virtually alone. That should not happen. As for options, I don’t understand why Ventura Alvarado isn’t given another look. He plays against Mexicans every week and he was originally considered because of his above average passing ability.
    Finally, several posters here and before have said we don’t have the personnel to play possession football. I give you the example of the US U-20 teams under Tab Ramos. Starting about 6 years ago he began implementing a possession style like what Klinsmann wanted. In the first CONCACAF qualifier, we held our own against Mexico in the final, in Mexico, at altitude, and only lost in over time. Since 2016 our U-20’s have been the class of CONCACAF, playing possession style. In the last U-20 WC, we often dominated possession in our games. Tab Ramos can get the players to do it well, so why can’t US pros playing in first division leagues, including top European leagues, do the same?

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    • Gary: I agree with a lot of what you’ve said. I think if you go back and watch the match again you’ll see GGG was as my way or the highway as people thought. We were playing much more direct in the 2nd half both Steffen and the backs were playing balls past the first lines of the press and we actually were beginning to get into a little rhythm. We had some decent build up and Morales hit one off the post. Then Steffen tries to force it back up the middle and gifts a goal and the we have to play short passes out of the back narrative began echoing through US fandom. There was a sequence maybe around 55th minute were we moved the ball up the right and then played it back to Steffen who first timed a diagonal ball to Dest the ball skipped up and hit Dest’s arm. Dest had acres and acres of space and Mexico would have been scrambling but for a bad bounce on a pitch Kaye’s on top of turf. I’m coming around on your Zardes winger play he’s athletic like Morris but a far better defender. Also matches him with usually smaller defenders he can out muscle. Dest had at least one other time that Corona worked him but overall wasn’t bad he kind of went away offensively after being really involved early. It’s like people looked at our 18 year old fullback and were like he’s not a 25 year old Dani Alves so see you later. I’m wait in see on Boyd, maybe sit Canada next month and play Cuba give him some weaker opponent time and work him in. JK didn’t have an alternative as much as he just scrapped it all together and went back to defend and counter. We had 47 or 48 possession against Mexico that’s better than we typically see. I didn’t like CP on the wing with McKennie as the 10, but with wanting to try CP wide and Morales and McKennie only in for Mex the options were limited. Once again Lletget looked good as a 10, I actually think he could play the GGG #6, he’s got a kind of J. Dos Santos quality to his game. Hopefully Mendez, Ledesma, and Llanez can get up to their first teams this season. Sounds like BvB May have plans to include him after U17 WC. Of course if they don’t immediately score a brace they’ll all be judged as “thrash” by certain posters. Finishing above Canada in NL is still the measuring stick, if we don’t do that then significant changes need to happen.

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      • Sorry “wasn’t as my way or the highway” bet you thought someone hacked my username when you saw that.

  9. The problem with playing/passing from the back with this set of CBs is they are not accurate enough and most of all too slow to pull the trigger, thus, given a chance for Mexico to close in.

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  10. Five things after Mexico loss

    1.Fire Berhalter
    2.Hire Bob Bradley or Jesse Marsh
    Peter Vermes or Tab Ramos.
    3.Get them playing a 4 4 2 with a
    Solid defensive back and midfield.
    4.Never call Zardes Bring in young
    prospects Soto ledesma.
    5.Fire Berhalter.

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    • He probably is but you were the same guy who said we should call in a Durkin because he’s a better prospect. Dest is ten times better now and a bigger prospect than Durkin so do you want to play prospects or veterans?

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      • I said call him up and he is a better prospect over Trapp, Roldan, and Parks not Dest! please dont ever put words in my mouth. They dont even play the same position like you always point out in others post!

    • You said Durkin should play because he’s a better prospect.
      ———————
      Then you said FJ should play over Dest because he’s a better player. (even though Dest is a bigger prospect than FJ, already starts for a better team than FJ)
      ———————
      So do you want us to play prospects or players? I’m not trying to put words in your mouth I’m just confused what you want.
      ———————
      I then added Dest is currently a better player and a better prospect than Durkin (because you know like he was better at the WC and plays for the Champions League Semi-finalist instead of being a seldom used reserve for an average MLS team who transferred to a bottom half club in Belgium)

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  11. Fact is that we will never be able to lean on Brooks. Mr. Glass is our best CB on paper but.

    Im ok with trying a system against mex in a friendly and failing. What im not ok with is players playing so predictably, especially in final third. Defenders just have to sit back and wait for our guy to try and dribble to outside of them for a cross. Including CP. Pulisic was on the break late, had whole middle to himself if he went left. He didnt take it and screwed up the break. So i dont know if its stress on them to get to outside or what but yes, CP, u are playing scared.

    Case in point, our only shot on goal, that i recall, was Dest. Brave enough cut inside as a FB and be unpredictable.

    Mexico played with us knowing these player flaws. No confidence in either third with the ball. They knew if they were patient, we’d hand them gifts.

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  12. The problem is that we don’t currently have the talent to institute the play the ball out of the back philosophy. It starts with the goalkeeper and Friday night’s game showed that Steffen does not have the ability to distribute the ball under this system. I am sure if Pep saw this game he has probably already contacted the MCFC front office and told them to sell Steffen if at all possible. His distribution with his feet and mental part of this aspect of his game shows that he will never be an elite goalie on the world stage and will only be able to play under a system that bunkers and counters. In other words when he gets the ball he boots it down field instead of playing it out of the back. Let’s face it at his age right now if he cannot pass out of the back now and having played under this system with GB for some time now he can only get marginally better but needs to get radically better in order to succeed.

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    • Steffen is young for a goalkeeper.and is just starting with Dussledorf. Kind of silly to write him off so soon. Most GK’s don’t really hit their potential until their late 20’s. Tim Howard first went to Man U and did okay, but then Sir Alec ditched him, thinking he wasn’t good enough. After a couple of years at Everton he was top notch.

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      • He was in Germany before playing in Columbus and could not crack the first team, I am starting to see why. He is 24 De Gea didnt take long to show he is a beast in his early 20’s.Steff not even best goalkeeper in Concacaf. Navas from Costa Rica is.

    • Yes we should compare Steffen to De Gea who is better than any GK we have ever produced. He’s been on the Bundesliga Best XI 2 out of 3 weeks so maybe he’s not so bad.

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      • All I am pointing out is for the play it out of the back possession football the goalie has to have good feet. Steffen is a good goalie but he lacks the ability to consistently play the ball out from the back. Also it appears that he is too slow mentally in spotting who to play it to and when to to play the ball. In his case it has to be a quicker decision and a quicker release of the ball.

      • Kojo he had a really bad game, I saw probably 75% of his matches with the Crew early on he had at least one of those Morales passes every game by the end he was rarely making those. In one of his quotes he said something about the guys not being in the right spot or not moving enough something like that so maybe that was part of the issue. We did have two new guys and two guys in new positions to them. Still even his direct balls were off Friday. I believe Düsseldorf plays out of the back at least some of the time.

    • In this debate about Steffan’s worth I ask this question. Who do we have who is better? I don’t see a lot of MLS GK’s being given offers from European clubs. Maybe Horvath if he gets a chance, but at the moment he is stuck behind Minolet, who is first class with a lot of EPL experience, including Liverpool. It’s easy to disparage a player, but then I think you have an obligation to give us an alternative with supporting evidence showing he is better.

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      • On aggregate Steffen is a better shot-stopper and Horvath is a better passer. If you had to pick one to play in Berhalter’s system I would pick Horvath becuase of his better distribution/playing out of the back ability and he is a pretty good shot-stopper.

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