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USMNT falls to Switzerland for first loss since October 2019

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The U.S. Men’s National Team jumped out to an early lead on the road in St. Gallen on Sunday, but saw its first-half lead evaporate on the way to the team’s first loss since 2019.

Goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Steven Zuber handed 13th-ranked Switzerland a 2-1 victory in its final tuneup before the start of the rescheduled European Championship. Gregg Berhalter’s side struck first, but ultimately finished second best on the afternoon in Europe.

It proved to be a fast start for the USMNT, which took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute after to a failed clearance by Switzerland. Sebastian Lletget made the Swiss pay by hitting a low left-footed shot into the center of the goal after being set up by Brenden Aaronson.

The lead didn’t last long though as the Swiss hit back with the help of a deflection by Reggie Cannon. Ricardo Rodriguez’s shot deflected off the right back’s cleat and went into the bottom corner.

Switzerland could’ve taken a 2-1 lead later in the half after Sergiño Dest was whistled for handball by blocking a cross. Rodriguez stepped up to take the penalty, but missed wide of the right post keeping the score level.

Dest had a good chance to give the Americans a second first-half lead, but was denied by Yann Sommer’s kick save. The Barcelona defender danced past a Swiss defender before hitting a low shot on goal.

Switzerland picked up its play after halftime and forced Ethan Horvath into a pair of good saves. Breel Embolo danced past John Brooks and hit a powerful effort towards goal, but Horvath denied the Borussia Monchengladbach forward with his face.

Gio Reyna put himself into a good situation in the 52nd minute, hitting the right post on a low drive that had Sommer flat footed.

Horvath continued his strong performance later by repelling Embolo’s shot on a breakaway, keeping the teams tied. However, the Swiss eventually took a 2-1 lead after poor defending from the USMNT.

Steven Zuber’s point-blank finish in the 63rd minute moved Vladimir Petrovic’s side back in front after Dest inexplicably tried a back-heel clearance that turned a seemingly harmless ball into a golden chance for the Swiss.

Jordan Siebatcheu and Tim Weah entered the match as second-half substitutes for the Americans, but could not spark a comeback as the USMNT suffered a first defeat since the Concacaf Nations League loss to Canada in Toronto in October of 2019.

The USMNT now heads to Denver for Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Honduras.

Comments

  1. GB just needs to have a team meeting and say “no more hacky sack moves in our own box by anyone” but stare at Dest while he’s saying it. And then let about 10 of dead air go by. That should do it.

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  2. “The good thing is we’re hosting in 2026, so if you can project out over these next five years, we think we can build a team that can really perform well, and potentially shock the world in 2026”.

    I’m not gonna beat around the bush. This comment was made last October by our current men’s national team coach. There is so much wrong with it, most notably the fact that we have a 2022 World Cup to worry about, and this coach of ours is looking beyond, like he’s a prophet or something. Well, I guess Thursday against Honduras is a meaningful game

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    • Perhaps he looks at this squad and where they are in their development and understands that they have zero chance of winning the 2022 WC? The fact he’s even entertaining the possibility of 2026 is dumb for a head coach of a country like the US. Also, considering this generation has won zero international tournaments on any level.

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      • he’s also talking up hype on a generation which while good went out in the u20 quarters. that basis alone you have work to do. much less the mess we look like now. shut up and get to it.

        i also think that indulging a coach on a no-expectations project where they get to coach the host team in a world cup is absurd. you should have to earn the right this cycle to be worthy of continuing to coach us, not just be handed the team for 7 years on a project with no objective sense if you are taking it anywhere between now and then.

        i mean, by 2026 these kids will be in their mid 20s. if he sucks he burns half their careers. they might have one world cup left after that, pushing 30. the right to run this should be earned.

    • I love the attitude, and have no problem wit him saying it out loud. The US winning the World Cup is no more outrageous than Greece winning the Euros, probably less so since we’ll be on home soil.

      We had no chance of beating Portugal in 2002 either.

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      • You didnt watch the 2002 Portugal.match then if thats your analysis….either that or this comment is some narrative based smear campaign….go back and watch that game again and then come back with an objective take

      • Ronniet, I think he means on paper no one thought we’d beat one of the tournament favorites.

      • I watched it live and still have it on tape.

        It was Portugal’s Golden Generation – Figo and a few other world class players. People were talking about them going to the semis if not further. We were coming off a 3 and out in France ’98, and I think we were statistically the worst team in that tournament.

        If you’d have bet on the USA before that game, you’d have made a lot of money. Nobody gave us a chance.

      • teams i was on tended to win more often when they were focused on doing their job and tended to trip up and finish second when they bought their own headlines. and while confidence is nice IMO it’s best to be earned confidence, you do the right things and win enough you expect to keep winnning. thinking you can walk out and win before you prove it to yourself is actually arrogance and gets in the way of learning to play right. far as i am concerned they haven’t done crap yet.

      • It is realistic in that he did not say the USA would win WC2022, but he did say they could (not would) in 2026. It is very unlikely he will be the coach in 2026 so if the US fails to win it, little skin off his nose. In any case faulting GB for something he said when asked about the potential for these players at a time when they were not even playing games is just silly. I’m not sure that the November friendlies were even scheduled before his comments; critisizing him for not be laser focused on the next game is just silly (or plain dumb) at least on 10/7/20 the next game was supposedly with Wales (and 2nd team to be named) during the next international break.

    • to me a good coach focuses on teaching them how to perform and win in the present and punctures the balloon on future hype. it’s more important you learn the little things that help a team win than that you build up confidence you didn’t earn yet. they may in fact have 2026 potential but they have a game with honduras mid week. how about focus on that.

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      • The quote is from last October when we weren’t even playing games yet. He was asked about this being a Golden generation and they’re chances in 2026.

      • The statement Berhalter made was from last October, so I don’t think he needed to be laser focused on a match with Honduras that was 8 months down the road. And we don’t know the context of what he said; if he was being interviewed and was asked something like what he saw as the group’s potential in 2022 and beyond, what do you want him to say?

        Yeah sure, staying grounded and avoiding overconfidence is an important part of a coach’s job. But any coach also has to inspire his/her players, and has to push them to play to their potential, or even beyond their potential, if only for the duration of a 3 week tournament. Berhalter saying that this group can shock the world in 2026 is maybe him saying that making the second round, or even the quarters, at the WC isn’t good enough. We need to shoot higher, because these guys have that kind of potential.

      • The quote is from in an interview with UCL studio crew on what is now Paramount+. He was asked if there is pressure on him because so many NT players are now in CL. He responded, “of course there is, our first goal as a team is to qualify for the WC and then to do well there.” Then goes on to finish with the quote from Dikranovich.

      • your goal is to win the next game and the next game and the next. if you do that quali becomes a formality. i don’t see the point in making pressure about 2022 or 2026 because those are just the outcome of the hard work already done and the results it achieves. never won a club state title setting out to win a club state title.

    • Did you just compare winning a state club title to qualifying for the WC? Did anyone outside your team even know this title existed? Did you get a lot of media types hanging around doing interviews during your training sessions? A lot of internet chat groups breaking down your tactics? Imagine if Berhalter had answered this way.
      Kate Abdo: Coach with many of your players now playing in the Champions league is there pressure on these guys to succeed.
      Berhalter: Well Kate it’s just like when Claudio Reyna and I were playing for a state championship in high school one game at time. All we’re thinking about is this Wales friendly.

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      • Two Johnny’s, I’m replying to your added context. Johnny, the USA made the second round back in 1994, so we should all hope that our coach is striving for more than that. We made the quarters in 2002. Qatar will be 20 years from that moment. Wouldn’t you like to expect that in 2022, our country will be striving for at least a quarter final berth. From Greg’s comments, it just doesn’t sound like it. “The way we’re looking at this project, it’s a long term project. When you think about how young our team is, we’re going to need that experience playing in a World Cup.” This is what Greg continued with after Johnny added his part. From these comments, we have to infer that berhalter is contracted through 2026. Is that a good move from our federation? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Was US soccer worried they had to lock him up for fear he might be called back to coach Hammarby in Sweden? Let’s face it, berhalters brother was high up in US Soccer, the selection of a coach after we just missed a World Cup was more cloak and dagger rather than a transparent genuine effort to improve. This move by US soccer pretty clearly to me was in the works probably before even the failure to qualify for 2018. An albatross of nepotism hangs over our current golden generation of players, and it will continue to be there as long as this guy is the coach, and results are mixed at best. There’s a process in place, and apparently we have to wait until 2026 when we will have home field advantage to see all this come together. Because we have young players who are going to need the experience of playing in a World Cup in order to really do well on home soil. This coach, and probably not unlike many coaches out there, he sounds like he is already building in excuses. I don’t know, just doesn’t sound like winner talk to me, but maybe Greg’s wife was the prom queen.

      • Dikranovich – I have read that Berhalter’s contract runs through the 2022 WC. Any comments he makes about 2026 aren’t a reflection of some long term plan that he’s implemented knowing that he’ll still be coaching the team then.

  3. What I saw was an immature team with very little *real* experience dancing around the ball in the final third trying to be Brazil.

    The line up featured Reyna, 18(one senior season w/ Dortmund), Aaronson,20 (a partial senior season with RB Salzburg after one season in MLS), Sargent, 21(one and a half seasons with senior Bremen). All who think they are Messi or Neymar.

    Everytime Reyna had things go wrong or didn’t get the pass he wanted he threw up is hands or punched at the air. Not a great recipe for success. Kid needs to time grow up and mature.

    Behind them there was the more experienced McKennie (two full seasons of senior football at Shalke and Juve). And Lleget – an MLSer who showed the most maturity on the field of everyone.

    Dest (one and a half years of senior football) again thinking he’s Messi or Neymar and totally not defending. Thinking he was going up against the bottom half of La Liga or Twente or something.

    Cannon (majority of one senior season in a not top 5 Euro league after basically one as a regular at FC Dallas). Showed like he was inexperienced internationally.

    Yueill – let’s just say he’s not Adams and not what Bradley was pre-GC2019. We are used to that position being the strongest most consistent on the field. Tenativeness was on display. At 24 he is one of the most experienced players in terms of senior football.

    Brooks due to Dest’s positioning was left cover two positions. He’s not a full back he’s a center back. Even so his maturity and experience shone compared to the youth on the field.

    McKenzie- I though despite his lack of senior football experience and playing time in Belgium played well within himself and showed a lot of maturity.

    This team is basically an unexperienced u23 side. They have played together very few times due to injuries and covid. They have played even fewer times against sides the quality of Switzerland. The best players are still learning the constraints of their abilities. There are going to be days like this. This group has never won any international youth trophies. They have just reach the point of regular senior football with their clubs. Losses will happen. Mexico will be a HUGE test for this group – if their over inflated opinions of themselves can find away past Honduras.
    Many of these player’s attitudes remind me of a young Dempsey thinking he could dribble by everyone. It wasn’t until he was humbled by seasons at Fulham that he recognized how and when he could be most effective. Most of this team is just getting to that point. Enjoy watching the maturation process of this team but understand it’s not going to be a straight upward trajectory.

    Reply
    • Although I think your underselling our experience a little, that Swiss team had much more experience Internationally and club. I mean they got significantly better by taking off their best player Shaqiri. Our squad reminds me of Dortmund under Favre everyone trying to make the perfect dribble or pass but often forgetting to put the ball on frame. The Swiss were a better team on paper and for the first 60 minutes we were better or equal, once we added our planned (not tactical subs) we were lost. We have guys playing on good teams in good leagues but they are largely role players with the exception of Pulisic but on the NT they have to be a star not a fourth option. Reyna played better in March with CP on the other side I think we’ll see that again this week when eyes aren’t as focused on him.

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      • The Favre analogy is spot on. I think that kind of goes with my point. That team also featured very much youth. Also agree that the US players are generally role players. My post was directed at the expectations of many US fans. But like you said these players are stars to many of us but the facts don’t bare that out. They are relatively inexperienced young players with a lot of potential yet unrealized playing roles for their clubs. We have yet to see where things pan out for each player due to their age and experience level playing senior football. The next year or two will tell us a lot more with this group. Will Sargent reach the levels Florian Kohlfeld has predicted? Will Dest stay at Barca if Koeman isn’t there? Will Reyna continue to develop and become a regular starter at Dortmund? Does McKennie have a place at Juve now that Pirlo is gone? Can Adams maintain his health and lockdown an actual consistent position now that Marsch is his coach? Will Pulisic become a starter at Chelsea? Does Steffen ever get first team minutes? Those are just the questions surrounding our *star* players.

      • Totally agreed with your view. I missed the game due to traveling, but is watching the full match replay now. For the first 72 minutes, the USMNT was actually playing not too terrible as many here were describing, considering the opponent was a non-minnow Switzerland. We’re a young, inexperienced national team still learning and development at international levels. It’s gonna take years to gel and improve to the next level. The two goals we conceded were kind of freak goals with deflection and unlucky bounce. Crap happens sometimes, even to the best teams in the world. The sky has not fallen.

  4. 49:45 bad turnover by Brooks, US scrambled but recovered their shape, Swiss cannot find any openings recycle the ball twice eventually light pressure from Reyna leads to
    50:47 Wes intercepts bad touch from Sargent stalls the transition attack, US maintains position but not much movement Yueill and Aaronson draw free kicks
    51:38 off FK Sarge heads it to Wes, his ball to Cannon a little behind Cannon dribbles into defender
    51:47 Immediate pressure from Cannon and Aaronson forces turnover, Sargent pounces on ball and passes to Reyna unmarked top of 18, his shot hits outside of the post
    52:22 Brooks intercepts errant pass and US is dangerous again, good 1-2 with Dest and Seb leads to a header from Sargent that puts just wide
    53:11 again Swiss can’t get it out McKenzie intercepts and heads to Sargent poor first touch but turns Dest around the back Seb back heels to Gio but it’s not hit hard enough and Swiss recover. Gio, Dest, Reyna set up a triangle but spacing is poor Dest is dispossessed, all three complain about foul and don’t take off on defense. Brooks stops first outlet ball goes back to Xhaka, Wes should have fouled, Xhake spins and hits Zuber who sees Brooks in back pedal with Mbolo sprinting into the space behind.
    54:00 Horvath stops ball with face.
    54:45 Brooks takes ball from Horvath and hits 50 us ball to Wes who touches it around defender his attempted cross is out for a corner. Despite’s both CBs sprinting up Seb takes it quick and short. McKenzie makes a professional foul to stop play.
    56:05 Sommer under pressure hits good ball to midfield, Seferevic wins the ball with Brooks on his back. Yueill and Embolo misjudge the ball and were jostling for possession Embolo recovers faster and sprints to the space vacated by Brooks and Seferovic. Dest watches Yueill can’t stay with Embolo (not sure Adams could have either). Frueler first times it Embolo, Dest points you guys get him, Brooks says me and what jet pack, Horvath again to the rescue.
    3 minutes were virtually nothing happens until Swiss play the ball back Dest chases all the way to about the 18 and Swiss hit it over the top to Embolo, US scrambles Sargent draws foul.
    61:00 Acosta, Musah, Ream come on
    63:00 Swiss goal.
    US was dangerous in this 15 minute stretch, but weren’t able to finish them. They weren’t professional in their defensive transition especially in a friendly when yellows were going to be few and far between.

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  5. Believe it or not, I don’t think this is as thunderously bad as some people are making out. Some things stick out to me, though. They are:
    – The CBs were left too isolated by the high-press, which is probably due to the lack of time this team has had together, but if you’re going to play a system that requires time to mesh, then maybe this isn’t it
    + Lletget played well, as did Horvath
    – I think Berhalter, if he’s going to play Dest (which he absolutely MUST) needs to play w/ 3CBs and 2 attacking wing backs, or just play Dest as a winger. We have enough good wingers, so I think it’s a wing back solution. It’s compact, and will actually play to the strengths of the squad versus highlighting our weaknesses.
    +/- Jackson Y wasn’t nearly as disruptive as Adams is as a 6, which is fine (it’s a huge and unrealistic expectation for him), but I do wonder if McKennie is a best option as a 6 when the team is without Adams.
    +/- This team better play much better against the teams it should beat (the Swiss are better than our fanbase seems to think) like the other CONCACAF sides, or else it’s Berhalter out.

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    • Yueill was completely absent in defensive transition- hung his backline out to dry. Midfielders have to be much more aware when FBs bomb forward as it will happen often- is a big part of GBs offense for this team. Mexico is excellent in transition and will eat that S alive. In a big match- if Adams is out -we really need to consider/develop much better options. Shift McKennie, Musah- accelerate Busio. I’m not at all convinced Yueill is the guy at this level.

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  6. Hit my channel up(Twitch.tv/renegademan1991) for the game replay and some FIFA 19 all, I know this will be deleted cause Ives dont like me -__- Happy Memorial Day Weekend all! Peace and gaming!

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  7. For some reason, this game reminded me of something Bob Bradley said over 25 years ago regarding formations. He felt that the reason that so many national teams played a 4-4-2 in the WC was that a conservative defensive setup is what would be rewarded in the ultimate elimination tournament. He favored a 3-4-3 for player development because it forced the 3 in the back to stay organized and be responsible for defending, at the same time it allowed 5 players, the 3 forwards and the 2 outside mids license to get into the attack frequently, while the 2 central mids had to be the most active to win the ball back and get the ball forward.

    GB’s approach is too much like that youth team approach (you could even argue it was a 2-5-3) and too little like the 1990’s defense first approach. I don’t think most national teams use a 4-4-2 now, but in important games their approach is more defensive than attacking.

    I know the idea is depending on the situation a 4-3-3 should look more like a 5-4-1 when defending and like a 2-3-5 or a 3-2-5 when attacking. However, the US was woefully slow when making the transition to defense.

    On a more positive note, the frequency of easy give-a-ways the US used to make to quality teams was much less than in years past. And the US was able to maintain possession for good stretches.

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    • i agree to a point. i don’t think 433 is wise tournament soccer. nor does it seem to make us look better. i grew up playing 442 or 532 and think i am watching fashionable nonsense. the obvious responses to teams running through your midfield this bad are push numbers back in the formation or replace your mids and backs. but we are on a “project” so any other tactical option is heresy. even though for most teams a system is not an aesthetic or aspirational choice, but rather a formation and tactics that leverage your player pool into more than they seem.

      to me we should have cognitive dissonance to be this loaded and yet this shabby. i vote in favor of we are not freeing the kids to just play, nor do we have enough defense on the field.

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      • Croatia used it to get to the WC Final in 2018, France used it in the WC but not the final. Mexico used it to win the 2019 GC. Chile Copa America Centenario, Brazil and Peru 2019 Copa America finalists. It’s not your formation it’s how organized you are in each phase of the game.

      • this is not one size fits all. they do not seem to flourish in this array. what works for someone else is not our team, and at some point maybe acknowledge with a bunch of kids out there you can help them with the tactics as opposed to just take your lumps.

      • Actually the Swiss did not run through our midfield that much, instead they used the wings where both Dest and Cannon were repeatedly caught too far up-field to defend in transition, especially Dest. That forced Brooks especially to defend out wide, which opened up space in the middle for the Swiss; when McKenzie moved over to stay closer to Brooks with Dest and Cannon still chasing, the Swiss easily found a cross-field pass to a wide open wing who had time to settle as the US defense scrambled to get back but really failed to exert serious pressure. The real problems were mostly created by both outside backs and Yuell’s inexperience (I never saw him drop back to fill in when Brooks was drawn out; that is something both Adams, Bradley and probably McKennie would have done, that might have not helped, but it would at least have clogged up the middle a bit.)

    • Dennis: I rewatched portions of the match and I’m not sure Yueill was the issue. At times Lleget would leave and join the forwards in pressing, Yueill then would rotate up and cover for Lleget. If he doesn’t then Xaka has the ball in open space leading the counter that is 4 on 3 the other way in tons of space. Most of the time in the first half that led to McKenzie or Brooks intercepting and the US regaining possession. In the second half instead of Shaqiri being up with the forwards Zuber sat deeper making it 3 on 2 when we pressed in MF if Lleget went up. The second half we won fewer of the 50/50 balls and didn’t get to the second ball that won in the first. After the subs we tried to sit deeper but we were caught between two minds and didn’t provide enough pressure or sit in a compact enough block.

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  8. I always thought our defense was suspect when we always give a goal or two to the minion teams. Today proved my point. Against good teams we are going to be exposed with just 2 CBs

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    • If we were to be playing in the European Cup, Copa Sudamerica or the World Cup, I’d agree. However I think CONCACAF is weaker this time around, specifically Costa Rica and Panama. So, even with our defensive problems most
      CONCACAF teams won’t take big advantage of our problems. But, Mexico could really beat us up.

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  9. The defense is a real concern. We lack anything like a cohesive foundation. If we’re going to play with 2 very attack minded outside backs than we need to look at changing formations to provide the necessary defensive coverage. Either we go to a 3-5-2 or a 4-2-3-1. Yes we’ll have to juggle some of our attacking talent, but we’ll have a stronger foundation to work from.
    Yes, having Adams would have helped….but with his injury history we need somehow to address the problem when he’s not available.

    Nice to see Horvath get the nod and perform well. This should help his confidence and will hopefully get him an offer from somewhere he’ll get 1st team minutes.

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    • i would go 451. i think the 5 back stuff is silliness. a lot of what we need is more midfield bodies, not more defense. defense you have to decide you want people who can mark before we worry if they get forward. you can get that done with 4 people. but you have to pick like their job is defense.

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      • What you’re really saying is that you want our FBs to stay and our WB to not press but drop off when the other team gains possession. You basically want us to go back to how we played in 2019. The problem wasn’t formation it was effective in the first half it was the decisions that players made once the Swiss changed their patterns of play. That’s also on the manager for not being able to get the players to adjust and on the captain to a lesser extent. But either Dest has to realize what is going on or Lletget has to drop and cover, you can’t leave Brooks alone like that in 50 yards of space. On the second Embolo break away you can see Dest who is closer, point to Brooks to take Embolo’s run and I swear you can see both Brooks and McKenzie say “WTF” with their body language.

      • we weren’t playing 451 in 2019, that’s a fib. the problem in 2019 is the problem now, zero midfield defense, poorly chosen backs.

    • The difference in a 4-5-1 and a 4-3-3 is whether you call Arriola a LM or a LW.
      ———-Zardes———–
      Arriola—Pulisic–Roldan–
      —-Bradley——Wes——-
      Ream-Long–Miazga–Cannon
      Hmmm looks like we were in a 4-5-1 against Mexico when they played through the middle and best us 1-0 in the GC Final.
      Formations are only worth the paper they are written on. You can use any formation and be defensive or any formation and be offensive or more balanced. In 2019 when in possession we would drop off with forward giving token pressure and Ream or Lovitz always staying deep. Lima and Cannon had freedom moving forward in possession but when we lost the ball the outside midfielder dropped deep.Wes and CP dropped off conceding possession.We defended in a 4-5-1 sometimes as a 4-2-3-1 2nd half against Mexico and sometimes a 4-1-4-1 against weaker opponents.

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      • no, the difference is your default position on defense. it’s whether you are 10-20 yards higher on defense, which increases numbers for team defense but places you deeper for initial outlet plays. also, you may be told to mark the opposing wing which can take pressure off the wingback.

  10. must be noted that the swiss are preparing for their regional championships, while we are merely preparing for our twin regional championships. totally different situations and they should obviously be sharper. /s/

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  11. I hate to ask such a dumb question on the wrong thread, but am I seeing this correctly that the semifinal game Wednesday is only on Paramount Plus & Univision? #arewereallythatstoopid?

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    • Sorry the US semi-final and the final are also on CBS Sports Network. The other two matches are only on Paramount+. I foolishly looked at MLS website that only lists Paramount+. Unless it’s also changed Paramount+ will be the coverage for away WCQ but maybe they’ll put those on CBS SN too.

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      • Bac–
        I hear what you are saying. The only reason I knew is programming the DVR. They also could (a) give the actual kickoff instead of/in addition to the pregame and (b) give the time for other time zones. Also while they are at it solve the “softball” issue — I lucked out on streaming — don’t schedule during the Indy 500, and in soccer terms maybe if you have a brain don’t schedule a game in Switzerland when you play in 4 days in Colorado.

    • .
      The Concacaf semifinal games are apparently both due to be on Univisión Thursday night, yes. I call that at least a good thing, if less good for those who don’t understand much Spanish. (Though how you can be in soccer and not have learned at least a little Spanish …) Remember you can always turn on CC, closed captioning. The analysts are good, even if the play-by-play may seem too frenetic or too nasal for Anglo tastes. And they enjoy hearing from viewers on social media, so if you appreciate them airing the game, you could let them know.
      .
      Sometimes games don’t show up on electronic schedules, whether on cable or online, until the beginning of the week. So something might yet change about the English feed.
      .
      But if the refusal to air the games by CBS is true, then yes, whoever sold the rights to a company that would only offer premium cable or streaming in English was indeed stupid. How would you shoot US soccer in the foot? Start by making it harder and more expensive for fans to watch important games, thus deliberately narrowing rather than broadening your viewing audience. Duh, not that many of us haven’t said that before.
      .
      At a guess, they may think their prime demographic is well-off Anglo boys who already spend their whole lives on their devices. At least the Spanish-language games can still reach families who can’t afford a computer or smartphone for every kid, not to mention people who simply don’t want a lot of streaming subscriptions.
      .

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      • On reason a company might do this is US soccer has a smaller but passionate fan base. This is the type of consumer that would be tempted to buy your service if that was the only way to watch.

    • Apparently the CBS Sports Network coverage was added when they announced the coverage team a couple weeks ago with Dempsey, Mo Edu etc… I guess MLS and US Soccer are slow to update their websites.

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  12. why is dest scorpion kicking for a ball behind him when his man is in front of him? he stretched to play a ball back into the middle of his own area.

    more broadly, i believe 3-4 of the backs at any one time need to be good at marking. i will indulge the snobs maybe one back “to get forward.” what you saw today it’s like maybe mckenzie kind of showed up to do their primary job, and it was too easy to create chances.

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    • A couple of years ago I wrote that coaches who focus on using their fullbacks in attack soon become ex-coaches. It’s why Lampard is out of a job and Tuchel is celebrating a Championship trophy. Our center backs aren’t good enough and our fullbacks don’t get back on defense quickly enough. Brooks, who seems to shine in the Bundesliga has a habit of making mistakes in international play. He made a terrible pass right to a Swiss player in our third and was beaten easily when he rushed an attacker in the box. Maybe we can get away with that style in most CONCACAF games, but not with a good European or South American team.

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      • Well Reece James and Ben Chillwell or Alonso get into attack just as much under Tuchel as Lampard it’s just everyone else is a o much more organized when they do. No one cover for our FBs today and of course we had 1 less CB than Tuchel uses.

  13. you have people moaning about our tempo but were you watching the swiss? slow and methodical. i think we confuse activity with creativity. the swiss looked more relaxed, let plays develop, and found someone to pass to feet. we seemed to have a countdown clock in our heads and made endless one-touch giveaways.

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  14. embolo was going by brooks like he was not there. i find amusing the suggestions he’s our best defender. he is best marking air in a zone. i don’t think he can mark a man to save his life.

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  15. Some good some not so good. The never Berhalter group will find plenty to find fault with. They’ll have been salivating over the Swiss and their sit 9 behind the ball and try to hit quick balls ove the top in transition.,
    – when we forced the Swiss to build out of the back we were very good defensively when we didn’t and they were able to play a good ball to Embolo we were in trouble.
    – I thought we controlled the game for big stretches but just weren’t able to quite connect the final ball. The portions of the match the Swiss we were really poor.
    -Switzerland isn’t a team that casual fans would know but that was a solid 17 guys most of whom are Bundesliga starters for good clubs.
    —————————————
    Horvath: good defensively, good passing
    Brooks: Some really good moments but struggled when isolated in space on Embolo. Passing was not as good as usual.
    McKenzie: solid good performance
    Cannon: not much good, not great defensively just doesn’t seem connected to Reyna
    Dest: best scoring chance in 2nd half but left Brooks alone a lot
    Lletget, Yueill, Acosta: Seb and Jackson did well Acosta was ok no major errors team was disjointed when all the subs
    Aaronson some good moments just edged off the ball too easily a lot
    Reyna: needed to put his stamp on the game but didn’t get on the ball enough
    Wes: solid performance his pass to Weah wow!
    Sarge: mhhh
    Ream: once again goal not his fault but not not his fault.
    Musah: his worse performance never settled in
    Yedlin and Siebatcheu: didn’t do much
    Gregg: subs were clearly scheduled not meant as adjustments never got Dest to help CBs not a great performance from the skipper.

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    • cut the crap and get to basics. what was the plan to score goals? what was the plan for defense? best i could tell the idea seemed to be to build all the way from our endline and then for 2-3 guys to pass the ball back and forth on a wing and hope the defense shifted out of position. if you are sitting unscary on a wing i am not moving anywhere. and the one functional aspect of the defense seemed to be the front 3 chasing, which is a gimmick that risks number mismatches if they break the press. i didn’t see how we hoped to win balls in the middle third. teams transition through us like a warm butter knife.

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      • i mean, i thought when he came in with this 433 with all these multiposition players we’d do more of a positionless soccer thing with more running around and overlap and combination play. we kind of run straight up and down the field in formation. we are very predictable. there was very little of the sort of direct diagonal throughball we tried to weah. you could see us coming a mile away.

    • and as with my john brooks theory, it’s like the berhalter advocates want to make negative arguments against other choices (“tear down”) as opposed to the non-existent positive case (“see when it worked”). which relates to my theory too much of this is the coach perseverating about paper theories rather than rewarding tactics and personnel that show well. the poor results of which are tolerated way too much because this is framed as a “project” where poor results are indulged as growing pains rather than as a sign of malfunction and poor selection.

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      • Losing 2-1 to the #13 ranked team in the world somewhat an away game but not really is hardly a result to scream the sky is falling. This wasn’t like 2014 and 2018 getting totally dominated by Ireland. It wasn’t losing 3-0 at England in 2019. It wasn’t good enough but we faced their best squad without our 2 best players and certainly held our own.

      • the consistent losses against good teams aren’t any concern? you’re comparing that to chicken little?

        you mock critics but can offer no positive case based on any wins in games like this. where are the big wins? you act like we never beat good teams in our history. this is regression.

    • Ummm consistent losses to good teams is what we do! That didn’t cost us qualifying for 2018, losing to not good teams did.

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      • this used to be a team that whatever problems the snobs had with it, got as good as it gave to teams like spain germany holland mexico brazil. arena tied in azteca. klinsi won in italy. like you want us to forget this was ever any good and pretend we’re canada or something.

        this is important because this malfunctioning System TM should be judged by whether it is better or worse than what we could accomplish the old hustling team discipline way. heck, sarachan tied france and beat mexico. if you can’t match that you are wasting my time.

    • That is completely false we have one win and no draws against Brazil in 19 matches. One win each against Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. England we are 2 wins 2 draws 8 losses, 1-1-4 since 1990. Germany is the only respectable at 4-7, 1-4 in competitive matches. Colombia 3-3-14, Argentina 2-2-6.

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      • Going further, the old way… those results are the ceiling.

        This way the ceiling is higher, but it is more difficult. We need an Italian American coach to reach maximum (I remember Bradley being shocked that his team spent several hours positioning just for the kickoff).

        Team needs that tactical juice, the skill is there.

  16. At the end of the day it’s been what 3 years or so since GB took over, and we’ve yet to see any type of convincing performance against good opposition, if we are being 100% honest. Do we really believe this is the right coach to lead the best generation ot USMNT players ever? I’m not sold so far.

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  17. i got lectured about how we’d evolved but what i saw was like the bad mexico games and wales, build all the way from a keeper and defenders on the endline, soft team defense. team looking befuddled and mechanical — like they have to think about what they are supposed to do — rather than just playing flowing soccer. right back to vintage 2018 berhalter ball. one might argue that the recent games that looked better unfortunately reflected experimental sides insufficiently indoctrinated in the new way, rather than the coach shifting.

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    • totally agree about the stubborn insistence to constantly play out of the back even when the opposition presses all their players into our half. But then again Sargent’s hold up play was not good, and I like him, but a lead touch today

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      • We didn’t really give it away in our own half though either. In fact Switzerland especially in the first half had more trouble playing out. They had the bad turnover that I think it was Lletget just put wide. Their success came from playing the ball long to Embolo in the half space, those stand out but a lot of times they kicked it long under pressure and Yueill, McKenzie or Brooks easily won the ball.

      • are you really trying to suggest embolo only ever had a half chance off a richochet and not a series of chances that should have been about 3 goals? and while ironically the goals were often funky bounces it wasn’t like we dominated them and gave up two softies. horvath bailed us out all night. that they scored on the funky ones is more an anecdote than a telling truth of how it was secretly a close game decided by weird deflections.

    • That wasn’t what I said at all. They didn’t break us down at all in the first half by being slow and methodical the broke us down by playing quickly. The second half especially after Yueill was subbed off they became more methodical as we lost our legs and our cohesion. I think the big takeaway is that we can’t press a good team for 90 minutes especially at altitude even if it was just 2500 ft. Like maybe if they’ve played long balls into the channel for Embolo three times in 5 minutes, Dest shouldn’t sprint up and high press on the fourth time.

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    • You’re mentioning the chances that Embolo had, but not the 2nd one that Lleget should habe scored or the one Gio Reyna clanked off the post….both side had good to great chances, so what is your point? We controlled the first half, should have scored 3 goals, while the Swiss controlled the 2nd half and should have put 3 in….simple as that imho

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  18. Not bad, but too many misses in front of goal and poor turnovers in front of goal. Reyna and Sargent were turnover machines. The midfield was fine, Yueill was one of the best on the pitch. Anybody else got the guts to say that? Lletget McKennie Yueill got it done, Reyna and Sargent did not. Once Brooks came off, so did the wheels. Ream…please no more. But our strikers are going to have to play WAY better, and I don’t care if they play champions league ball or MLS or pub

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    • Dest for me was bad today, aside from his tricks and cleverness on the ball. He was called for a hand ball that should have probably been converted at the penalty spot, he tried god knows what in our box with a spider kick that never got cleared and culminated in a goal. We controlled the first half comfortably and should have been up at least 2 goals but converting chances has been our achilles heel for as long as i can remember

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  19. yueill was useless as a 6. i think he bears a lot of the first goal responsibility because he gets sucked up out of his space and they then get a jailbreak the other way. brooks then jogs and does not close down the crosser — pattern you can see in colombia and england, and cannon is giving away space weak side.

    it’s not just one play, either, like the play before the goal he mis-traps a ball into a counter and the play after he’s not where he’s supposed to be either.

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    • ridiculous comment on Yueill. If Reyna and Sargent didn’t turn it over almost every time they touched it OR finished some of their chances, Aaronsen too. Our strikers SUCKED

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      • you’re confused what yueill is out there to do, which is win the ball and turn attacks around. if you think a 6 is out there to pass you don’t understand what 6s do and why the swiss could get end to end so easy all day. without adams we become midfield swiss cheese. someone has to sweep up the midfield.

    • if adams can’t get healthy fast enough we are set to have an awful DM group and he might as well push mckennie back. against this level team there need to be 1-2 mids who actually thwart attacks.

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      • There really isn’t anyone in the pool that can equal Adams. You like to brag on Cardoso but he was awful in Guadalajara. No one can cover the ground Tyler does, tackle as well and connect passes. That player just doesn’t exist.

      • holmes, morales, johnny, and before i’d have yueill or bradley or trapp or acosta out there i’d simply push musah or mckennie back. just like before i’d run out an unproven striker i’d have pulisic as the 9.

        you are simply wrong. you have the same blinders on the coach does. if you don’t see your pool or you have odd ideas what a 6 does then you will miss half the freaking pool with your dark glasses and your cane tapping around.

      • c’mon dude, be real, what the real problem is, is he wants a “type” — a pirlo passer we don’t have. all you have to do is read his comments. he tried real hard to make bradley work, and trapp, and now yeuill. he only grudgingly accepted adams could play and wanted to turn him into a right back. adams does not actually reflect his dream DM. which is scary because when healthy he is one of our best and i wouldn’t change a thing about how physical he plays. and amusingly he can pass better than the supposed IQ players.

    • Your comment is so 18 months ago and was the plan when Adams was going to hybrid RB and tuck in to breakup attacks. Then Adams got hurt and we had to scramble. Morales is no where near Adams, he’s basically Acosta and he was hurt just returning as a sub yesterday. McKennie doesn’t have the positional discipline to play as a 6. Johnny is nowhere near ready, I know your first experience with Johnny was seeing him with a “bone crushing” tackle but after seeing him at OQ it’s pretty clear it was just luck because he was never anywhere near the ball and let the DR carve up our defense by having the positional discipline of a squirrel. Musah I’d give is an interesting possibility but not a position he’s ever played from what I’ve read.

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    • It sounds like Leon Flach may get the chance in the GC. I’m not sure James Sands is athletic enough to play DM at the international level but he’s an interesting possibility at CB.

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  20. i have been pimping horvath for years and been lectured about club form. does he look like club form matters? no? exactly. thanks.

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  21. Some good comments here, but some things I thought I would add. It improved in the 2nd half, but in the first half we needed to pass more quickly in order to break the press effectively. In the first half the defense was far too slow to get back on counter attacks. They seemed to hustle more in the second half, but Brooks and then Ream got beaten very easily as there were individual breakdowns. If the defense isn’t improved I fear the Mexicans can slice through it easily. I don’t know if Berhalter is tied to Dest, but he seemed to be a problem in defending. As Twellman pointed out, he seems more suited to attack than defense.. I wish Robinson had been brought onto see how well he would hold up. I’m also not convinced about Cannon at RB. When I watch him since he moved to Portugal I don’t notice any real improvement in his play , unlike Aronson, for example. Neither forward did much, we need to see Dike. And I saw a lot of poor first touches and Zardes wasn’t playing. I’m sure that Pulisic and Adams will help, but this team still needs work . One good sign is that Horvath looks top notch and I would have no hesitation about bringing him in if Steffan isnt available.

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    • I really wanted Cannon to do well, anywhere, after what he went through from those horrible racist comments — even death threats! — from his own supposed fans in Dallas, less than a year ago. But I can’t imagine that it’s been easy for him in Portugal either. Boavista seems to be the second team in Porto, not high in the table, Portuguese is not as easy a language as Spanish, and after all, the pandemic …
      .
      Neither he nor Dest seemed all that secure today, so who knows, Yedlin might get a start against Honduras. I’m glad he’s at least playing again for a club after being dropped by Steve Bruce at Newcastle. He too makes the occasional positioning error as well, but he’s often still basically fast enough to make up for it.
      .
      Basically, don’t all left and right backs, even the best ones in the game, tend to do better going forward than getting back to defend? Is it partly a coaching challenge, to organize and drill other players to be ready to help out when needed? If so, the guys may just still need more time playing together, which is exactly what the national team never really seems to get. I’d like to see McKenzie get some more time next to Brooks eventually, but there too, Miazga and Brooks might be more used to each other.
      .

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    • i don’t think we have any business playing a 433. you’re like, we need to pass faster and defend better, well, if we played a less aggressive more balanced formation then the mids have more nearby options and the sheer amount of mids also shields the defense. on a basic level i don’t see where the formation and tactics are helping the team.

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      • While I disagree with the approach Berhalter has used with pushing his fullbacks both upfield, more important than formations are players and how well they execute. If you don’t turn the ball over, have fullbacks who can get back on defense quickly enough and defensive mids who will cover for them, then Berhalter’s system can work. I’m pretty sure Dest is fast enough an d Yedlin, who didn’t start, is probably fast enough and McKennie can be a decent defender, but too many players didn’t play as well as they should have. Part of that is tactics and managerial style, but I think if we had played a different formation, we still would have lost because Switzerland is a better team.

  22. Actually thought we were the better squad for the first 60 or so, though our defensive frailties were indeed obvious. The Swiss were on the back foot for big chunks of the game.

    We need a more clinical striker. Even a slightly better finisher and the USA is an entirely different animal because our midfield and skill on the ball was giving the Swiss fits. Can’t help but wonder “maybe Dike…”. And if you add Pulisic to that….

    We’re still very much a work in progress, but the makings of a Top-10 squad are assuredly there.

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      • Might actually be that simple, though I’d like an actual out-and-out striker. Call me old-fashioned but I do like somebody who can hold the ball up and bully and shoulder some in the box…especially with all this flash and dazzle and all these guys we have who can dribble anybody, sometimes I think all they really need is an end point at which to aim and put the ball and Dike might be the one who best gives them that.

        For all the talk about how well Siebetcheu “combines” once again I thought he was largely invisible. And once again with Weah I saw a slightly-better version of Gyasi Zardes with the same wooden paddles for feet.

      • i am a wood fan but he’s like a cypher at this point unless he gets gold cup. so pulisic and then the best 2 PRODUCING kids. the kids get experience but the expectations fall on the veteran’s shoulders.

        one of my problems with GB is wasting most of his first year on jozy and zardes means we haven’t really sorted which of the kids are ready to handle serious opposition. i am not sold sargent ends up the best young option.

  23. The defense looked like Swiss cheese out there…

    The risk reward of Dest playing as a wing in hopes of creating some magic near the goal has to be weighed against what we saw today. Yikes. Swiss could have put up 5-6 goals easily.

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    • ANYONE ELSE WANT TO TELL ME I AM WRONG ABOUT THE DEFENSE AND THE COACH SOME MORE?? MOCK ME ALL YOU WANT I HAVE IT PEGGED. PEGGED.

      THANKS.

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      • If you the US beats Honduras and Mexico will you admit you were wrong? I’m going to guess no so one result in a friendly without our two best players doesn’t prove you right either.

  24. Finally we play a strong, worthy opponent in Switzerland.

    Positives:
    – Horvath looked good between the posts
    – Teenagers Aaronson and Reyna held their own against a good European side
    – McKenzie played the whole game and put in a good outing
    – For all the criticism Lletget receives for playing in MLS, he was our best MF on the afternoon

    Negatives:
    – Yueill remains a good distributor but lacks in supporting the defense, and remains a steep drop from Adams. Someone else (Perea, Cardozo) will improve over time and likely become the backup to Adams.
    – Sargent was average, but 2nd half sub Sibateau was no better
    – Defensive tactics were badly lacking. The Swiss press caused a number of errant passes and giveaways. Horvath stepped up to deny maybe 2 goals by the Swiss.

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    • When you mention teenagers Reyna and Aronson, it brings up something that came to me. We have a team with a lot of very good young players who have real potential. Switzerland has a lot of very good and internationally experienced players and that difference showed. Twellman put his finger on it when he said that our players were missing little details like committing fouls to stop attacks. A while before that I applauded when McKenzie did just that. I think it was Embolo that he pushed over just outside the Swiss box. You can often do that and avoid a card and it is the sort of thing our young players need to learn. Like Klinsmann said years ago, our players need to get a little nasty.

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  25. I thought the game showed that the US is asking a lot of its outside backs to get forward and to defend as well. The Swiss were able to use the wide space that the US was trying to hold down with a single defender effectively. That put the back line under a lot of pressure, especially in the 2nd half when Switzerland subbed in new attackers. OTOH, the US attack seemed pretty effective in creating some good chances and the fullbacks were part of that. I simply think the tension between trying to push up in the attack and staying back to defend was weighted too much in favor of the attack at the expense of safety. That might not be a bad experiment in a friendly, but a better balance must be struck when the games matter.

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  26. Just a friendly yada yada, but we looked pretty bad and flat and uninspired out there. Not convinced by Berhalter’s approach until he proves he can win against better opposition. So far only wins against pushovers.

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