The U.S. men’s national team close out its two-match October window on Tuesday night against Ghana and head coach Gregg Berhalter will be hoping for a better all-around performance following Saturday’s loss to Germany.
Despite Christian Pulisic’s opening goal vs. Germany, the American struggled for chances in the final third, eventually succumbing to a 3-1 defeat. Pulisic’s stellar individual effort was the lone bright spot for the USMNT, who received little to nothing from the rest of its attacking players.
In addition to a quiet attacking front, the USMNT also failed to clear its lines defensively on all three of Germany’s goals. Matt Turner made three important saves in between the posts, but overall it was a forgettable performance for the Americans in Connecticut.
Now the scene shifts to Nashville, Tennessee where the Americans will face a Ghanaian side who poses a major threat on the counter attack.
Here is the starting lineup we could see the USMNT deploy against Germany on Tuesday, as well as the lineup we would deploy if we were making the final lineup decisions:
GOALKEEPER
Who will start: Ethan Horvath
Who should start: Ethan Horvath
Ethan Horvath isn’t expected to receive any playing time at club level until January at the earliest and an opportunity against Ghana could be important for his overall confidence.
Horvath is not part of Steve Cooper’s squad for the remainder of the calendar year and may need to find a new club situation come winter time. The veteran shot-stopper should be given the nod by Berhalter this week, knowing he still is a key depth piece in the USMNT squad going forward.
DEFENDERS
Who will start: Sergino Dest, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Tim Ream, Kristoffer Lund
Who should start: Sergino Dest, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Miles Robinson, Kristoffer Lund
The USMNT struggled to deal with Germany’s quick passing sequences in the final third which could lead Berhalter to make major changes against Ghana.
Sergino Dest remains the USMNT’s No. 1 option at right back and although he logged 90 minutes at left back on Saturday, should be given another opportunity to continue working.
Tim Ream continues to bring veteran leadership to the backline and might get the nod over Miles Robinson. Robinson could also use minutes under his belt before heading back to Atlanta United for the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Cameron Carter-Vickers came off the bench on Saturday and will be pushing to start in defense. The Celtic centerback had just back to full fitness prior to the international window and could certainly use 90 minutes before returning to Glasgow.
Chris Richards struggled in Saturday’s loss and might be saved for a role off the bench.
Kristoffer Lund did not feature against Germany and should get the nod at left back over DeJuan Jones. Lund remains a versatile player in the USMNT squad and overall deserves another opportunity to prove himself.
MIDFIELDERS
Who will start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Brenden Aaronson
Who should start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Luca De La Torre
Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah remain the USMNT’s two most important midfielders with Tyler Adams injured and I expect Berhalter to rely on both yet again against Ghana.
Musah’s defensive coverage should see placed just in front of the USMNT backline, allowing McKennie to show his range across the field. Lennard Maloney is still seeking a USMNT debut and Johnny Cardoso could also start if needed, but after Saturday’s loss, Musah and McKennie is the way to go.
Gio Reyna earned an important 45 minutes against Germany and remains an option to start, but overall I don’t see him risked unless off the bench. Reyna had only just made his season debut before the international break and getting him back to Dortmund 100% healthy and fit is important.
Brenden Aaronson and Luca De La Torre will both fight to play in an advanced midfield role. De La Torre logged 45 minutes against Germany while Aaronson played 25 minutes off the bench as well.
I expect both to play against Ghana, but Aaronson will likely get the nod over De La Torre in the XI.
Kevin Paredes is also a candidate in midfield or in a winger role if needed. Paredes played 15 minutes against Germany.
FORWARDS
Who will start: Tim Weah, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic
Who should start: Gio Reyna, , Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic
I don’t expect much to change in the USMNT attack except Ricardo Pepi to earn his opportunity in the starting lineup.
Pepi played 24 minutes against Germany, replacing Folarin Balogun after the hour mark. The PSV man hasn’t started much in the Eredivisie, but overall has been a threat off the bench in UEFA Champions League and domestic competitions.
Berhalter will have Balogun as well, but Tuesday should be Pepi’s chance to lead the line from the opening whistle.
Christian Pulisic excelled against Germany and overall will remain the top option at left wing. Pulisic delivered a sensational goal and overall remains the USMNT’s most creative option going forward.
Gio Reyna’s versatility warrants him a chance on the wing, should Berhalter decide to use him there. Reyna’s playmaking abilities were held in check against Germany, but overall could be needed to break down the Ghanaian defense.
However, Tim Weah is likely to remain at right wing, providing pace and skill in the final third. His vertical running and abilities to take on opposing fullbacks is something that will be needed from the opening whistle.
Alex Zendejas and Folarin Balogun will both fight for minutes as well in this contest.
Who would you start against Ghana? Who are you most excited to see play? Do you think the USMNT earns a victory on Tuesday?
Share your thoughts below.
we’ll have to see how it plays out, but GB going with the dual pivot behind Gio to start vs. Ghana it looks like, some different pieces around him, like I wanted to see 😉
we’ll see what happens
I’m fine with the same lineup except switch out one of the fullbacks with either Lund or Jones. Serge and Pulisic work well if they are on the counter but if they get around the box together they both want to cut in instead of go to the endline. Try either Pulisic or Aaronson as the 10 in the second half assuming Reyna is still on 45 minutes. Honestly I wouldn’t care if he started a complete new 11.
this is silly and self refuting. we just lost a game with most of your lineup. is there any “why” to sanctifying that? beyond some generic “don’t overreact?” and i might swap the wingbacks out — i thought lund should start the first one — but that’s a tiny fraction of the weekend’s problems.
How did we do in the first half? So if the starting 11 worked adequately not perfect why not run them out with a minor change or two. The second half with Luca subbing in the defense fell apart so replacing Gio with either Pulisic or Aaronson attempts to fix that problem. Two main problems that led to a cascading effect, both I gave an option for. Your idea of it didn’t work let’s scrap everything everytime we lose is childish would destroy any team culture or continuity.
“So if the starting 11 worked adequately not perfect why not run them out with a minor change or two.”
you are 100% correct dear Sir!
JR, i know there is some consensus someplace it went downhill second half but it was going downhill late first half ie they equalized before half not after. to me we played well for about 30 minutes and even then turner had to make some saves. i don’t get freezing a first half tie in amber. are we trying to “win” soccer games or what?
personally i think we have the mentality backwards. you find what wins germany games. then you implement that back into the schedule. we find stuff that works in a schedule with many teams that won’t make it, then blow off the losses. then get surprised we haven’t taken one of these yet. you’re using the wrong confirmation test.
for example, jedi got dumped c. 2018 for some bad performances in a tough stretch of games. GB left him off a while then brought him back. then apparently got crabby with him. i feel like we are resisting the big game lessons. to be fair, you try the others and scally messes up, etc., at a point we have to say we tried the pool and it is what it is.
I agree but put a natural left footed player at LB
The starting lineup stretched the German midfield in the middle third and edge of the final third. That is why Germany had so many tactical fouls. The US almost got arrogant with the freedom and space available but did not result in shots? Balo needs to do a better job of finding open space in the 6 yd box or get the ball earlier when he makes a run.
US should have scored on two corners, I’m expecting them to score tonight!
The Germany began to press the US and quickly figured out they had no outlet, a shakey CB and owned the midfield and final third around the 18. The US had no answer to play out of the back. McKennie found himself receiving passes inside the defensive 18? The back line had no time or outlets to midfielders or a target to play the ball over the press.
Obviously de La Torre is not a 6 and Johnny just not up to the speed of the game.
Right now I would say the number 6 position is the weakest link even with Adams healthy. The thing is when Adams is healthy he needs other midfielders who can maintain shape as a 6 to ride out difficult moments in a match. Yunas is still learning when playing deep in the midfield and turn it over bad things happen against quality opponents.
There is an important factor everyone has failed to mention–Germany has better players than the US. The US can beat them with an exceptional effort, but if Germany plays well they should beat the US about 75% of the time. Since so many of our players are still so young, it MAY be possible for the US to make the semis in 2026, but the quarters are more realistic. i doubt that Berhalter will be capable of getting the full potential from US players
Gary, hardly everyone; apparently just the posts you chose to read.
“There is an important factor everyone has failed to mention–Germany has better players than the US.” Hmmm…You are not wrong but:
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2022 FIFA World Cup
Germany has better players than Japan
23 November 2022 – Japan beat Germany 2 – 1
Japan finishing the match with only 26% of possession
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Spain Has better players than Japan
1 December 2022 – Japan beat Spain 2 – 1
Japan finishing the match with only 18% of possession!!!!
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While you are right……Its not just all about players. “Exceptional coaching with good players” beats “good coaching with good players”. Proper and quality coaching (mentoring), strong team tactics and strategy execution, mental toughness etc can get the job done in a TOURNAMENT setting. Players have to be good (AC Milan, Juventus, Fulham, Monaco, PSV, Crystal Palace) but the coach has to be good, if not exceptional himself. All plans, system creation and instructions start and success / end and fail the coach
good point, I think it’s been made, but I agree Gary
I would like to see Ream and CCV play together again. I feel currently this would be our best central defense pairing (though I sill believe Brooks needs another look). Richards was out of his depth vs Germany probably due to lack of playtime and inexperience. Miles is not what he used to be before his injury though maybe as a sub to see where he is at – truth be told he was one of our better central defenders pre injury.
Good teams have central defense pairs they consistently go to and play as many games together as possible. Greg needs to figure this out as soon as possible. For me age isn’t so much a factor there as are you good enough. World Cup history is full of hyper successful teams that made it far with a seemingly too old central defender – which is why I believe Ream is the guy until it proves otherwise. In his case I thought Ream sucked for the US when he was younger and for the past couple or years he “got it” and became our defense leader.
CCV just came back from injury and got Pit pocketed by Lazio in UCL this month and made Celtic lose the game. I don’t know why he didn’t call up Mckenzie and Robinson is in better form than CCV.
Perhaps you are correct Striker, you make some valid points. Maybe I’m remembering last year’s CCV.
Haven’t seen Mckenzie in a while but why not? Other options haven’t proven successful.
McKenzie has also been injured. He was just in the last camp. I would imagine it was a matter of which recently off injury CB and it was CCV’s turn.
McKenzie was left at his club because he was suffering from a toe injury
I agree about Brooks coming back also I am not opposed to playing 3 in the back like Brooks, Ream, and Robinson/Ricards.
…continued…3 of 3…
USMNT Subs –
de la Torre – I like Luca, and I think he is very good player, but in this game, he showed that he has not earned the opportunity to be the first midfielder off the bench. He showed little interest in defending, was physically overrun, and was just not up to snuff.
Aaronson – he should have been the sub for Reyna, the team should have stayed in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and he should have played as a 10. A strength of Aaronson is his versatility. That said, he is not fast enough to play as a winger and he won’t dribble by outside backs. He is not strong enough to defend as an 8. His energy and work rate are positives defensively, but that is more suited to a high press farther up the field, rather than having / trying to win balls deep in our own midfield. Aaronson is truly a 10…a floater, someone that plays between the lines, and can find space for himself in tight pockets, and if given the opportunity, he can play a good ball in to our forwards and unlock the opposing defense with slide rule passes. He showed glimpses of this against Germany. That said, he is our 3rd string number 10.
I will withhold comment on Pepi, Carter-Vickers, Cardoso, and Paredes, as they did not have a great deal of time on the field.
Lastly, I will wrap up with this…Berhalter leaves a lot to be desired, and he should not have been re-hired, but he was, and now we are stuck with him…for the moment. The timeline to make a decision on him needs to be Copa America. If we don’t reach the finals, or we reach the semi’s, but don’t show a SIGNIFICANT improvement in multiple areas, most importantly in the area of tactics, it is time to consider making a change after that tournament. I say CONSIDER, because if there is not a better candidate available AND interested in the job, then as much as it hurts, we shouldn’t make a change for change’s sake. That is why Berhalter was rehired, sad as it may be.
there is like some cultist “we were nothing before” “zero year” mentality to the people defending GB. people do realize more than a decade ago – 2011 – we hired JURGEN KLINSMANN — much better resume — and embarked on a similar project of remaking US soccer? and he at least got erratic results in europe before abandoning the project at brazil. he was at least somewhat attentive to is this working and willing to change ideas when it proved underpowered and inconsistent. he rightly assessed that we stood a better chance with jones and bradley playing physical soccer than mixx and gringo playing technical ball. the team then aged, development stunk, and he couldn’t come up with a second set of dual nationals to patch it.
it’s like some weird cult thing to act like this is our first walk down this street, to act like the team never did anything before now, and like we just have to give this more and more time. i think continued time should be based on meeting objective milestones now that suggest the future you wish for is something more than optimistic hope. every team in the world wishes it wins the world cup. i think the mentality of the leadership has regressed.
the “test” this has to pass cannot always be down the road. at some point this needs to actualize. this set of studs is nearing its mid 20s. you wait too long and you will have one world cup left with players pushing 30. the “21” and “23” classes of U20s are not as good as the “19s.” ess or get off the pot because we are running out of time to cash in on this development boom.
i am skeptical this is going anywhere. it’s not that pretty to watch. it’s slow and tentative. the offense can’t find the 9. the defense is leaky. the results are no good out of the region. what objective signs are you looking at where if i just give this another 9 months i can safely assume this is in good hands?
to me these summer windows are the time we can train a while and work on ideas and rapport. if this coach can’t find some traction — and i am skeptical — then someone else deserves 2 summers and not just 1 to fix it.
let me be real. i am sure this coach given his conservative selections and tactics this year has been given 4 years and is under no pressure to change anything. he doesn’t act like a coach with a fire under him. he acts like he owns it and is doing what he means. i expect he has exactly what you think, all sorts of room through copa america and probably beyond. i think we are naive cultists who believe the project must work. if it’s not working it needs more time. we have lost all sense of history or objectivity, which is if this was working, it would work. we would win some upsets. duh.
i think some folks forget in 2018 sarachan was up 2 goals on colombia and a goal on france. and that was a tactical mess. the people acting like this is inevitable or even 1-1 at half was that good, should be ashamed. this is a pimple on what this used to be. the gap to the good teams is opening and not closing.
i mean the same people who were like we need this coach to close the gap to the elite are the ones saying well we were bound to lose that, they were elite.
re this is as good as we can do, really? mourinho didn’t offer? the spaniard wasn’t better than GB? be honest. this is what we could get after a half year lame process of applications and interviews, spending a fraction of what klinsi made. you take the salary back up to klinsi or better, and you make it an agent exercise instead of a corporate application pile that takes 6-12 months, yeah, you can do better.
i think what really happened is it came down to GM poster-on-wall marsch and GB, and given that rotten choice, the players went with the devil they knew who had given them their positions and power. it’s more a commentary on what the players think of marsch than anything else.
IV,
That’s a lot of revisionist history.
Clearly, you don’t recall…Klinsmann was coming off being fired by Bayern Munich in 2009 and being skewered by those players because they said he was tactically clueless. Not only was that true at Bayern, he proved it with the USMNT.
In addition to that, the shine from Germany’s run in the 2006 World Cup had worn off by 2011, and those two things combined resulted in NO ONE WANTING Klinsmann, which is why Sunil was able to have his man crush on Klinsmann manifest itself to the point that we were able to hire him.
I agree, the exercise in rehiring Berhalter was Mickey Mouse, as is US Soccer. That said, ad nauseum, even if we open the checkbook, Pep, Klopp, Zidane, Xavi, and not even Mourinho, are taking our call. It’s not that attractive of a job opportunity relative to the other options those top tier coaches have.
This being the case, who do you know that is available, better than Berhalter, and interested in the job?
To go back to your example of Klinsmann being so smart and tactically adept that HE REALIZED, we needed to have Bradley and Jones play physical soccer, do you think for a second that it might be because we didn’t have the player pool we have now?
We are still way behind the rest of the world, but we have made HUGE strides since then.
I don’t mean to offend you, but if you have a man crush on Klinsmann, let me know, I’ll give you his cell number, buy you a one way ticket to Seoul, so that you can root for South Korea and Klinsi.
papi: spare me the man crush gibberish. GB is the worst NT coach we have had in decades because he has one malfunctioning tactical idea and poor personnel sense. my point re klinsi — who i will admit was plenty flawed — is (a) he was trying cutesy continental soccer before GB was (at first) and achieved better but limited results and (b) he was flexible and aware “enough” to drop a big picture idea he didn’t think was working.
your complaint that he had a mixed bag history with germany and bayern, i would agree, but that doesn’t really speak to my points, re tactical awareness and flexibility. whatever you think of him, and i don’t think he was the greatest, i think this is far worse. klinsi at least had some clue of what his player types were, and how they fit the big pictures, and of what big pictures suited us best to succeed. first cycle at least, he could adapt. second cycle, with worsening personnel, not so much.
i mean, dude, if you want to complain about klinsi, fine, he rode his ageing dual nationals and the muddled russia cycle team right off the cliff. he also got this fanboy stuff into the bloodstream where people can’t accept NT performance is more telling than club form.
no, far from perfect — JUST BETTER THAN THIS. you get “better than GB,” right?
“I say CONSIDER, because if there is not a better candidate available AND interested in the job, then as much as it hurts, we shouldn’t make a change for change’s sake. That is why Berhalter was rehired, sad as it may be.”
Papi Grande,
I don’t believe that. Looking back at his hiring in December of 2018 now almost five years ago, it now appears that he was hired to remake the USMNT into his vision of CLUB USMNT and then take that Club USMNT into the 2026 World Cup. Qatar was supposed to be where Gregg would test his young CLUB USMNT. I believe the idea was that, as unremarkable as Gregg’s track record was to that point, the powers that be figured Uncle Gregg would use those two cycles to sharpen his game and be elite by 2026.
Whatever anyone thought of Qatar it was enough to let Gregg continue with experiment. Until the Reyna’s.
Given the scale and nature of that fiasco, much of it initiated and exacerbated by Uncle Gregg, if the USSF had even the slightest thought of getting rid of Gregg the scandal gave them all the cover they needed.
Instead, they slow walked the whole thing, letting the fire die down. They hired a law firm to put on a farce of an investigation allegedly “clearing and whitewashing “Gregg for duty and then did a smart thing in letting Hudson and BJ manage things for a while until they could ease Gregg in through the back door.
All of this tells you that Gregg would have to do something reprehensible and illegal to get fired before the 2030 World Cup.. The USSF want him. He’s affordable, will keep his mouth shut and has been domesticated. Ask JR, he’s tight with those people.
As much Teflon as this guy has he should run for office. He’d fit right in.
This may be the wrong thread, but it needs to be said…
Germany didn’t win. We / the USMNT lost.
Biggest and most glaring issues…in order of priority…lack of tactical awareness and tactical execution, defense in transition after losing the ball, lack of focus when defending as a team, which lulled us into a false sense of security because we had numbers behind the ball.
Biggest positives – the 4-3-2-1 formation, the first half,
Berhalter has culpability for the loss, but most of it lies with the players. Berhalter got the formation and the starting lineup, well, most of it, correct, in the first half, but his in game change in formation ( halftime ), second half tactics, and second half subs, were wrong, and left a lot to be desired.
Behalter, and in turn, this team, is tactically deficient, both going forward, and defending, and it was exposed in this game against a higher level opponent.
Turner – good shot stopper, nice guy, not a strong enough presence to be a leader on the field, not tactically proficient enough to recognize, organize, and / or adjust his defense during the game. Additionally, he is a nightmare with the ball at his feet.
Dest – has no interest in defending, severely lacks intensity, and is completely void of any tactical awareness, going forward, but most importantly defending. It was clear that he was given instructions to make Sane go to his right, yet he kept letting him cut inside to his preferred left foot. Our outside backs should be able to defend and focus on that, first and foremost. This is why, after just 3 short years, he is back in the Eredivisie and didn’t cut it a Barca or Milan.
Scally – he gave the ball away in dangerous spots a few too many times, but he defended well, and he represents what the USMNT needs from it’s outside backs more than anything…defense first, attacking, forays forward, and fancy stepovers last.
Ream – Age is just a number, but he is not in good form. Of late, it has shown with Fulham. Last window it showed with the USMNT. This window, it reared its ugly head again, most surprisingly, with his struggles technically.
Richards – This is everybody’s central defender darling, but there are serious and glaring issues. He is a physical and athletic specimen, but is significantly deficient from a tactical standpoint and it showed with his poor positioning on multiple occasions. Additionally, he displayed no leadership during this game and was not sharp. This can be chalked up to him not currently playing at Crystal Palace.
Papi Grande
“Germany didn’t win. We / the USMNT lost. Berhalter has culpability for the loss, but most of it lies with the players.”
Now we’re sliding right into the “is it the Chicken nuggets or the Egg McMuffin ?” thing . Always trying to set a clear line of demarcation between Gregg and his little Frankenstiens. There’s no separation. If Gregg plays a guy he knows has a flaw and then the Germans exploit that flaw to win the game whose fault is that?
“Berhalter got the formation and the starting lineup, well, most of it, correct, in the first half, but his in game change in formation ( halftime ), second half tactics, and second half subs, were wrong, and left a lot to be desired.”
I hear this a lot. The game is 90 minutes . Even if the USMNT “WINS” the first half, if they lose the second half by more goals than they scored in the first half then they are done. When are people going to stop talking about a good half?? When are people going to stop talking about getting the starters right but the subs wrong or the subs right but the starters wrong?
A good game is what matters not a good 45 minutes. Unless you’re betting, in which case this matters.
“Behalter, and in turn, this team, is tactically deficient, both going forward, and defending, and it was exposed in this game against a higher level opponent.”
It was not “EXPOSED”. Everyone here has known it for years. That’s like saying you are a great boxer until you meet someone who actually knows how to box. No one should be surprised if you get your ass kicked. Gregg’s crap tactics work against , for example, Belize because they are crap. It’s pretty simple.
News flash, CONCACAF prepares you beat teams that suck worse than you that’s about all it does. And since we mostly play CONCACAF games why is everyone surprised we can’t beat better teams? The occasional friendly against a Germany doesn’t cut it.
“Turner – good shot stopper, nice guy, not a strong enough presence to be a leader on the field, not tactically proficient enough to recognize, organize, and / or adjust his defense during the game. Additionally, he is a nightmare with the ball at his feet.”
Turner was nowhere near the reason the USMNT lost, not even close.
“Dest – has no interest in defending, severely lacks intensity, and is completely void of any tactical awareness, going forward, but most importantly defending. It was clear that he was given instructions to make Sane go to his right, yet he kept letting him cut inside to his preferred left foot. Our outside backs should be able to defend and focus on that, first and foremost. This is why, after just 3 short years, he is back in the Eredivisie and didn’t cut it a Barca or Milan.”
Sane makes better players than Dest look bad. If he’s feeling it, we don’t have anyone to stop him or mark him one on one. Especially when you have Musiala in the same lineup feeling it too.
“Scally – he gave the ball away in dangerous spots a few too many times, but he defended well, and he represents what the USMNT needs from it’s outside backs more than anything…defense first, attacking, forays forward, and fancy stepovers last.”
That’s false, the USMNT needs both attack and defense from their defenders. A good defender who gives the ball away a lot is constantly shooting himself and the team in the foot. We don’t need that. Drop Scally until he learns how to take care of the ball.
“Ream – Age is just a number, but he is not in good form. Of late, it has shown with Fulham. Last window it showed with the USMNT. This window, it reared its ugly head again, most surprisingly, with his struggles technically.”
He does not look as good without Jedi next to him. That is not a coincidence
“Richards – This is everybody’s central defender darling, but there are serious and glaring issues. He is a physical and athletic specimen but is significantly deficient from a tactical standpoint and it showed with his poor positioning on multiple occasions. Additionally, he displayed no leadership during this game and was not sharp. This can be chalked up to him not currently playing at Crystal Palace.”
Why is he significantly deficient from a tactical standpoint? Because he’s rusty. Why does he have poor positioning? Because he’s rusty and he doesn’t normally play with Ream or any of the other guys.
Why a lack of leadership and sharpness? Because he’s rusty and he doesn’t normally play with Ream or any of the other guys and he lacks confidence.
Why is he rusty, deficient in tactical awareness, lacking in leadership, sharpness, positioning and familiarity with other USMNT players?
Because he doesn’t play at Palace. Or anywhere really.
So what is he going to do about it? I dunno. They should just drop him until he makes somebody somewhere play him regularly because whatever he’s doing now, it ain’t working.
I see this often on fan sites. When their team loses, the fan’s assumption is that the other team had nothing to do with it. If only our team hadn’t screwed up so bad, we would have won. There is a truism in sports–your record reflects how good you are, or aren’t.
Papi, I would say that the 4321 was a mixed bag. The advantage is it allowed Reyna to attack with little defensive responsibility but it relies on having two 6s to work. McKennie and Musah were both pretty lost defensively and McKennie has never looked good as a 6 and I don’t think he ever will; he is too much of an attacking player. The drop off between Reyna to Aaronson at the 10 is pretty huge and I don’t think that would have made any difference because the holes in front of the centerbacks were there in the first half also. I do think Musah’s best position is the 6 and he has shown he can defend in that position well against lesser competition like Mexico, Wales, Iran and even against a poorly managed team with much better players like England but thay doesn’t mean he can do it well against the top teams in the world with good managers. Ultimately, to play a 4231, I think you need a lot more depth at the 6. Contrary to most people, I do think Reyna is a good defender, and playing he and McKennie as 8s is probably the best option against top teams right now. He can still do the things he does as a 10 offensively as an 8, just not as often and with a lot more defensive responsibility but right now any version of a 4231 they play is going to have a lot of holes in front of the centerbacks against teams full of elite players. If you can get me someone’s cell number, I’ll take Gregg’s because I think I have some ideas on how better to attack against a bunker I’d like to share with him.
Agree with most of that…the caveat being: Reyna is a good defender when he is interested and a complete zero when he isn’t; I’ve seen him (repeatedly) just stop cold and let a guy go because he didn’t care to expend the energy chasing him. I see that on one of my youth teams, that kid is on the bench for a good long think almost instantly, with me in his ear asking: “DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING BETTER TO DO THAN STOPPING THAT GUY FROM SCORING A GOAL?” In an, uhm, not-quiet tone. Grr. Pet coaching peeve, there.
BJ was actually able to get Reyna interested in that aspect of the game…we’ll see if Gregg can. Does he feel he’s even allowed to light Gio up for defensive indifference? That could be a problem.
Also, I really like Musah as a 6 in a double pivot, but his best attribute is his ability to knife right through lines and in a single-6 setup he doesn’t have license to do that. Against better attacking teams Musah needs to be paired with a pure defensive mid like Tyler Adams so he can do what he does. Which is exactly why we desperately need to find a pure destroyer at the 6 because right now Tyler’s our one true dog at D-mid and he’s so often hurt…and as you mentioned, McKennie is absolutely not that guy.
Lennard Maloney interests me there…for a couple reasons. One, the dude’s an absolute destroyer, that’s all he does, and JR found a stat that showed he had literally one of the 2-3 lowest ratio of forward-to-backward passes in the Bundesliga this season…and he also led the league in distance covered.
As we say down South…intrestin’. That’s a specialty piece but maybe the right one for us. Even better, the guy has also played center back, which means he’d slot right into a 3-man backline if we care to switch up to a 3-5-2. So I’m genuinely curious to get a look at him. We don’t need a pure attack-dog Doberman out there every game – against a defensive team in a low block, no – but we absolutely do need to have a couple of them available and right now we don’t.
I said the same thing. Between ball watching and failure to step up for offsides…that game could easily have been 1-0. The US were second best on the day but could have came away with the win. As Berhalter said…poor execution cost them that game…poor defensive execution.
Brady
Tolkin, Craig, Dietz, Reynolds
Morris, Vargas, Aaronson
Kamungo, McGuire, Gutierrez
Supposedly streaming on USSoccer.com and their YouTube channel.
Put out the same 11 as against Germany. Let’s see if either the coach or the team is capable of improvement, and lets compare results to Mexico which is a team we are supposedly better than.
Put our strongest team out there. The USMNT is not an “everybody gets to play” team. Fix the mistakes of the first game first before trying to reinvent something different with a new selection of players. USMNT needs to start capitalizing on “lessons learned” from our defeats. There was a disconnect in defense….look at the tape, make adjustments, fix it, then reapply it. There was a mismatch in midfield when Gio was replaced with LDT….look at the damn tape, make the necessary adjustments, fix it, then reapply it. Our best striker was an island out there with no real service…….look at the damn tape, make adjustments, then reapply it.
Start the same players…..throw them back in the fire to see where exactly the “wheels will fall off” again after PROPER INSTRUCTIONS when playing at a fast pace, which will better highlight the capabilities and limitations of OUR STRONGEST TEAM (both players and Coaches). If that includes changing a few players out of necessity, then so be it, but our main players that are considered our main starters, should be on the field.
Whatever the coaching staff learned in the first game against Germany should be corrected first, and then adjustments reapplied in the new and improved tactics against Ghana (though a lesser opponent) to see if those strategical adjustments and tactical concepts made from the first game are corrected and properly understood by the players.
Changing things up should happened after the 65th minute
The thing is, though, I’m not sure what our strongest lineup is at the moment. My argument is that just IMHO you don’t use a Dest – who is far more wingback than fullback – against a team with dominant wingers, which Germany had and which Ghana has with Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace) and Ernest Nuamah (Lyon.) I’d go for defensive solidity there and put in Jones and Scally. Ghana has some firepower on the wings.
Similarly, we need some help at DM…other than Tyler Adams we don’t have a pure 6 and as injury-prone as he is, we absolutely have to find at least one more. The only way we can find out if Maloney or Cardoso can be that guy is to plug them in and see. Maloney in particular intrigues me because he’s a pure destroyer who would offer Gio and Musah some serious cover to do what they do.
i think people misunderstand what i want. what i would like is spend the first year and change determining who ARE in fact the consistently best players to draw upon, and how BEST to deploy them. the problem we have is we pick the tactics/formation before anyone shows up, and then we seem to assume we have about 90% of the roster sorted. we pretty clearly don’t on either account. it’s arrogant. games like holland and germany expose the arrogance, and then i see the same system and most of the same faces again.
side point but you pretend we can learn lessons from the “lesser” game but IMO we routinely disregard or limit the learning from the “ghana game” of the pair. some nominal B teamer looks excellent, eg, lund, and yet gets treated like a bench player the next time. conversely, ream had a nightmare last window, he’s back. do the games matter? less than even your model pretends. the B game doesn’t seem to count.
what i want is slow down right now, figure out all these position battles and who we can rely on. the way the backline played the other night it’s like, can i even rely on any of that bunch? who is the best 9? is there a better mix of mids? who are the reliable backup keepers? etc. as opposed to assuming the answers even after a holland game that screamed we had it wrong. or this germany game. this is how you end up in the world cup not sure if your keeper is ready, who his backups are, which strikers to take.
the normal approach is then, having identified 20-30 guys i can work with, i customize build tactics around them rather than shoehorn them into some sort of aesthetic concept i wish we could play. pep ball can be cool to watch with elite players. we don’t have his team and we can just have the emir buy a new team. we have to work within the confines of the players who stand out. what works for them. this is how most NT in the world operate is optimizing the effectiveness of the type and talent of players they have — not that they wish they had.
bottom line i don’t think we actually know what our best chance to win is. i think the coach has his ideas in his head but i think games like this show he’s wrong. and then half the problem is the GB fanboys circling wagons around him without acknowledging a lot of their favorites are so because they get to play a lot for the coach. the coach plays them a lot because they are his idea how to win. we then don’t win enough. the gaggle of you have not considered your assumptions. games like this should make one do so.
Ream was not bad last window we shut out Oman 🇴🇲 and Uzbekistan 🇺🇿. Richards is the reason we did bad against ze Germans, that lack of game time was showing. I wish Palace would give him more playing time.
S: ream was ok uzbek game poor oman game. that got lost in the improved result. he was making giveaways and they were getting after him. my deal is no one is spotless in the back right now which is a problem. and if ream in particular isn’t superior then IMO he should get dropped as we need to invest in longer term options. his justification is being smarter than the average bear despite his age. if he isn’t actually better, just fancier address, then we are walking into an age risk with a player who isn’t so much better as buzzier. which to me is setting up a claudio reyna scenario, ageing player already being exploited sometimes but we cast a blind eye, and it only gets worse when the games get real.
my two cents richards was on the hook and that’s worrisome, there is no safe “bottom,” but ream was also on the hook for german goals too. to me at that point we need to re-expand the pool for other options and not just debate which troublesome back is less of a mess. even consider converting weston backwards or something.
and to be blunt, we may figure out 50-60% of the players are in fact the right ones or best we can do for now. the issue to me is i think enough are wrong, plus the system isn’t value added, where this is driving with the parking brake on, and as with last cycle, maybe we figure it out over several years, or maybe not all of it in time, which is stunning.
to me the conservatism resonates as complacency we haven’t earned. to me we should be trying things in friendly windows and then each summer should be when we dial in what tactics and personnel are emerging. i think we are a little too concerned with winning friendlies.
Dear Baby Jesus don’t let Beerholder put DeJaun Jones into this game.
I like the guy, myself. I was curious what the pro scouts thought so I nosed on over to Transfermrkt…they’ve got his market value at €4.5..or pretty close to $5 million US – and this despite the fact that he’s already 26. Nobody will confuse him with Alphonso Davies – who Transfermrkt has valued at €70 million! – but that’s still pretty decent. I think he’d do fine in the Championship at the least.
i mean, do these friendlies matter? yes, he scouted well, and then……we perseverate…..
The fact that he is already 26 years old, has not had even a trial in Europe and only got his first CAP with a C+ team this year tells me all I need to know. He is a MLS defender, will always be a MLS defender and should only play on C+ filler national team. Or simpler put he is not good enough to play World Cup calibur football.
Owen,
26 year old MLS players may not have as much mileage and wear and tear on them as 26 year old Championship veterans.
That’s all that that means
Clint, late of Furman and the cheapskate Revs, was 24 when he finally signed for Fulham. McBride, now a Fulham legend was 50 years old when he signed for them.
Note how Gio, Pulisic and Tyler, our hospital trio, all went into the European meat grinder at 20 or younger and all have had lengthy injury spells.. In comparison DeJuan has missed 4 games through injury. FOUR frickin games. There is something to be said about pushing younger players too much.
If DeJuan is physically sound and in good shape and some Championship team or the equivalent is willing to take a flyer on him, I see no reason why he can’t succeed. He’s not likely to produce much sell on value but if you think he’s good enough now, at 26 there’s no reason to think he can’t last a year or two and be a good buy for a team that needs a solid player.
Many players who never play in a World Cup can still make a very good living.
Aaronson at 5-10 million might have been a good buy for Leeds but at 30 million, he was a friking disaster.
It’s about expectations. Right player right price.
You may say, why is such a player even in the USMNT picture? This is a case where the fact that he is in the picture tells you what you want to know.
he can’t be any worse than how Dest and Scally looked out there versus Germany, so I disagree. I do agree however that we need to run it mostly back with the team from the Germany game but change out Gio(for obvious reasons), and insert either Lund or DaJuan Jones at LB so we can see if any of those 2 can competently backup Jedi if and when needed.
Let me state this in terms that everyone will understand….DeJaun Jones SUCKS. He can play MLS soccer and that is it. If he plays against Ghana he will be devoured.
This is similar to Dak Prescott on the Dallas Cowboys. He sucks right? There is a reason he was a fourth round pick….because he sucked then too.
Scally was not bad vs Germany he was not responsible for none of the goals.
Ronnie, he could be significantly worse. Think of Bornstein in the Gold Cup final against Mexico. That would be significantly worse.
saying “if” and “could” doesn’t answer any questions about what he “will” do against Ghana, and bringing MLS into the equation definitely doesn’t answer the question, it’s a narrative and it’s a tired one! Scally turned the ball over several times in bad areas of the field, so why he may not have been a fault for any of the goals, consistently giving the ball away in our own half contributes to more pressure and opportunities against the defense. To be fair, I think Scally is a good player, but he’s young and has found minutes hard to come by lately sans the spectacular goal before the international break, so I’ll chalk his performance up to rust
Just some thoughts…
-Germany showed us clearly we have some guys who are liabilities defensively because they’re either undisciplined or indifferent. Foremost among those are Dest and – I know some will argue – McKennie. Dest gets exposed defensively time and again, and McKennie’s a turnover machine who doesn’t work overly hard on his D. They’re both smurf stompers who dominate against lesser opponents but leave gaping holes against better ones.
Mind, those two are definitely in any 23 I draw up because they have massive plusses when put in the right situations…but I wouldn’t start either guy against better teams. To me they’re supersubs. When we need to tighten it up defensively I start Scally and a pure defensive 6 alongside Musah…who we absolutely can’t take off.
-Aaronson’s a supersub for us too but Gregg has already figured that out. He’s small and not overly fast and you can hack him out of a game…but he’s instant juice when he comes off the bench with fresh legs and his workrate jumps off the field at you. Against Germany he seemed to be everywhere, and even the Germans were struggling with Aaronson’s skill on the ball.
-It’s been obvious to everybody with eyes we need a 10 to supply our forwards, who are generally the loneliest guy on the field for us. Which means Gio to start…and I’d plug in Zendejas there in the second half and see how he does because we have to find somebody other than Gio who can get it done because Gio is (cough) made of glass.
-Against better teams it’s obvious we need a pure defensive-minded 6…that was Adams for us, but he’s injury-prone too and we absolutely need another. I’d give Maloney a long, long look there because he’s exactly the sort of 5/6 tweener I personally want for that spot. (I’ve been a big advocate of a 3-5-2 for awhile now and Maloney would split the difference.)
-Se need to find a backup for Jedi so Lund and DeJuan Jones each play 45 for me against Ghana. I have been very impressed by Jones every time I’ve seen him and I want to see how he looks with the starters.
-I’d probably also start Robinson alongside Richards against Ghana. Richards is a lock starter when healthy but we need to find a sidekick for when Ream ages out. And CCV is just coming off injury.
So for me it’s…
Pulisic/Balogun/Weah
Gio/Musah/Maloney
Jones/Robinson/Richards/Scally
Turner
Re: the McKennie conundrum. I think some of his defensive deficiences have to do with fitness. In the first half, he was busting back all the way to our goal line to break up counters but was noticeably slower in the second. Maybe asked to do too much in that spot. But he is one of only guys that is capable of playmaking and making big plays offensively. Maybe why Juve stuck him at WB, less def duty but still can get involved attacking. Anyway I just don’t think we have enough top talent to afford leaving him off. Berhalter needs to earn his pay by tweaking his role/position.
It’s hard, though. The game really does lend itself to having a 10, an 8, and a 6 on the field in some form, all with clearly defined roles. You pull one of those and you lose some capability – we didn’t have a 6 this past game but two natural 8’s playing behind a natural 10, and our defense was a sieve. We played without a 10 all last cycle and could do almost nothing in the final third in the middle of the field.
Musah’s our best box-to-box 8 – by a fair bit, actually – and our next best is Luca, IMHO. They both advance the ball very well. McKennie’s sort of a wild card who needs to be allowed to wander and find the game. In the second half against Germany we had not one but three natural 8’s on the field (and no 10 and no 6) and we stunk it up on both defense and the final third.
We badly need to find a destroyer. To me that screams “Maloney”, that is basically all he does. If he’s effective there it would give a ton more cover to the guys in front of him.
Can’t argue with any of that. Definitely was the space in front of our back four that Germany waltzed through all game long, with an almost comical lack of pressure from us at times. From what I’ve seen with Cardoso w the US, it’s hard to believe he could hold that down against a Germany. Never seen Maloney, so I will cross fingers you are right about him. Like many on this site, I can’t help but wonder if a 3-5-2 would be a better way to get our best players on the field together, including McKennie.
“Mind, those two are definitely in any 23 I draw up because they have massive plusses when put in the right situations…but I wouldn’t start either guy against better teams. To me they’re supersubs.”
Okay. So who do we have better that you would start against better teams? Gressel and Djorde? DeAndre and Zendejas or Sonora? Roldan looks like Gundogan but does not play like him.
All players have plusses and minuses. If we play our usual CONCACAF punching bag or some low to mid level team from anywhere, we’re usually better than them so no one notices.
But when we play better teams like this in form Germany, MOST of our guys are just “super subs”. Weston blows hot and cold. Right now, we’re not beating a Germany unless Weston is hot. Maybe Pulisic and Musah are edging towards full time respectability status with their clubs. Otherwise you’re talking Turner, Flo, Jedi and Timmy .
Brenden has fallen into Dan James territory, a player who is remarkable for only one reason, his speed.
Brenden is on mostly because he can run all day ( why does that matter in a late sub?) , goes at defenses ( but literally crashes into them and gets nowhere.), and can’t finish. He’s on this roster because, well he always has been and I don’t think that’s good enough anymore. Until he gets over how awful he was at Leeds, he should not be capped.
Am I the only one who think Flo’s lack of service had more to do with the Germans recognizing the danger and making sure Flo was not open as opposed to us not feeding him he ball?
I don’t think so, I remember several times Balo was starting to make runs between the backs and nobody looked at him.
I think it was more of – We need to play through CP
Regarding Aronson and our forwards, I saw a fiendlly between Costa Rica and Belgium before the 2018 WC.Costa Rica. CR had Navas in goal and their usual suspects while they were still under 30–in short a pretty good team. They parked the bus against Belgium, but Belgium won 4-1 anyway. Here’s how they did it. One of their players with good ball skills, like Hazard, ran at a defender and got a little past him. That caused the defense to send another 1 or 2 players to contain the attacker. Then, as the defenders ran over to plug that hole, Belgium played a give and go and got a good shot on goal. Germany did that in the second half. We now have some layers with enough skill that we can do that against teams and we should work on that, IMO.
Roldan does look like Gundogan. Maybe if Roldanngree a beard he would play more like him.
horvath
weston miles CCV lund
maloney
dest puli aaronson
balogun pepi
One thing I want to mention is ARONSON. I think he has shown well in the last couple of games. When the usual starters are out there, too often on attack they pass around the perimeter and probe the defense. Aronson goes at players
and attacks the defense He may not score but he makes things happen and puts more pressure on the defense, opening cracks and holes.
even puli’s goal was like where we normally do some 2 man soft shoe tap dance routine out wide then cross, he instead goes to goal and uses his defender as a screen and wraps it in. like i said recently, just make it less predictable where the play is going and IMO emphasize chances over pointless possession.
aaronson was sloppy but he was trying to make things happen. it says something the players people liked watching the other day were puli reyna aaronson. i continue to believe that when we talked reboot a decade ago what the average US fan hoped for was more like messi’s argentina — get the ball forward and take people on the dribble — and not this keepaway passing malarkey. we play like an arena team up 2-0 without the lead.
Anybody but Berhalter.