USMNT
USMNT vs Honduras: Chess not Checkers
Published
4 years agoon
By
Shawn BrooksPositional Play Scholar
We had a competitive game! USMNT won 1-0 vs Honduras in the semi-final of the Nations League. In a fantastic preparation for world qualifiers the super young USMNT got the job done. So why did we leave the game feeling more relieved than excited?
Summary
The biggest reason (aside from my pre workout red bull that didn’t completely get worked off) was that fans overreacted to some nervy moments. After taking some time away and rewatching the game in detail, I came to the conclusion that the US really dominated that game. A few mistakes made it nervy for fans. US couldn’t finish plays. But when you break it down the US had no problem in build up. They had no problem getting into final third. They had no problem except that last pass or shot.
This is just one really good example.
the Reyna chance in the 10th minute came at the end of a 31-pass sequence, Dest is the one who unlocked the door, and if Reyna had made that 32nd pass to Sargent for a tap-in everyone's night would've been happier https://t.co/Q46HUbrpEF
— scuffed (@scuffedpod) June 4, 2021
Honduras could do nothing against the US. There were two, maybe three really dangerous opportunities, all self inflicted. The most dangerous player for Honduras was Ellis. They first tried him in the middle and Brooks aggressively said, “nope.” They thought he could pick on the “weak” defensive option Dest. Dest manned up 1v1 and laughed. He rarely even tried Robinson who seemed to have been brought on as a defensive specialist.
The US did have a few moments that left fans incredulous. The two most obvious were Steffen coming off his line and completely missing the ball on a cross. It led to Sargent’s best play of the night, a defensive header. (oof). The second was Dest leaving his man (what felt like) 10 yards behind Brooks- on sides. Steffen sniffed out the 1v1 fairly easily. These bloopers aside, Honduras had nothing on their own. By the 60th minute mark while fans were fretting, Honduras knew it and started doing every CONCACAF trick in the book to get the game to penalties.
Chess Match
The most surprising thing on the rewatch were not individual players, it was the tactics. The US was in their usual 433.
Set up

Tactical matches between coaches is about predicting how the other team will try to attack/ defend you and developing counters. Ever since the Gold Cup in 2019, when our primary 6 was Michael Bradley, teams focused on man marking the 6. Depending on how they do that, you can counter that in a few ways.
Honduras did that with 2 strikers, zonally keeping Yueill out of the game.


In every game Berhalter depends on a deep lying play maker/ regista to control the tempo of the game and make plays to his attackers from deeper positions. A deep playmaker makes the field bigger.
Defenses want to make the field small and compact.

A deeper playmaker than can hit deeper passes and can stretch the defense both vertically (by playing balls deeper to guys running in behind) and horizontally to spread them wide to create space for combination plays and runners. A deep lying playmaker is crucial to opening up a low block. In the past, Berhalter ran his offense through a 6 as that deep lying playmaker. Mostly notably Michael Bradley
Honduras wanted to take that away. Mexico did it against the US in the GC. Canada did it to the US in first Nations League game. This was expected. It’s not a big deal for anyone that plays with a 6. There is simple tactical adjustment to this. Mexico plays the same way. In the Gold Cup, Berhalter had Mckennie mark their 6 and Tata made the expected adjustment. He dropped an 8 down.

This is why when people say to me the US should just play a 4231, I say not necessarily. The 433 is a very tactically flexible system. The difference in the 433 vs 4231 (or any formation really) is more about personnel selection than shape. This was the obvious adjustment. You can call this a shift to a 4231 if you want or a 433 with one 8 playing closer to the 6 to get number advantages.
Berhalter didn’t do that. Watching the game I was irritated. This was an obvious adjustment. Berhalter was again not adjusting in game. This wasn’t good.
Well I overreacted and was “less right.” (sounds better than flat out wrong).
Berhalter and his staff simply laughed and said JY is not our star player. Throughout the first half they used him as a decoy. Everyone, including myself, were wondering why the 8’s were playing so high. They weren’t just playing high. The whole team were focused on vertical interchange. The tactical adjustment that the US made was not in the form of numbers, they changed their player movement.
They worked to move the opponent with their movement to create space to exploit.



You see it all through the first half on both sides. People said the midfield didn’t play well. That’s simply false. They used their movement to open up spaces to attack.
They then had added wrinkles with Reyna and Pulisic routinely cutting inside. Every fast break, you’ll find Reyna and Pulisic inside on the break together. It was fantastic, the way they planned to get these two 10’s in the right spaces to work together on the counter. It was largely built off these vertical interchanges.
,

Consistently, they had Reyna and Pulisic cut inside off of these vertical interchanges. They used the forward movement of the cms, to create space for them to attack. This was best seen on fast breaks and quick transitions.
Why?
So why? Why did the US focus on these vertical interchanges instead of the simple adaption of dropping a deeper 8? That’s the chess match. In checkers, you think one move ahead. In Chess, you think two (or many more) moves head. The current Us coaching staff may not be good at checkers but they are excellent at chess.
What would be the reaction by Honduras if the US dropped the 8? We don’t have to guess. Honduras adapted to the vertical interchanges by half time and the US were getting fewer chances with their movments. At half time, the the US dropped their 8’s.

The result was Honduras in a deep block much of the second half. This was why Yueill seemed better and calmer. (he still had a bad game as a whole). It’s why the US started getting deeper as a team into Honduras final third.

One of the hardest things to do is break down a deep block. This season Jorginho scored an own goal against Arsenal. Chelsea spent the whole game trying to beat a deep block. One reason the 3 in the back is more popular is that teams are using their CB’s more as passing playmakers. Brooks was that again and again and again against Honduras. By design. Throughout the first half, Jackson Yeuill occupied two attackers high up the pitch and allowed Brooks to pick them apart from deep.
If they had gone early to dropping the 8’s, Honduras would have spent a lot more time in the low block. We would have had to push numbers forwards to break it down and spent a lot more time vulnerable to the counter.
The US intentionally kept Honduras from falling into that low block for the first half by making plays and runs from deeper. They opened several opportunities throughout first half. Then when Honduras stopped biting on the midfield movement, the US adapted by dropping the 8’s and pushing numbers forward.
Late Game adjustments
At the end of the game with the game still tied 0-0 and Honduras mostly in the low block, the US made further adjustments. These are the best in game adjustments I’ve seen from Berhalter since he became the US coach.
Siebatcheu for Sargent because Sargent was horrible. I’ll try to get into that in a later article.
Acosta for Yuiell because Yueill was also very bad. JY was not bad for the reasons most think though. In short he wasn’t bad because he’s not press resistant or because of his technique. His technique was as good as most on the US (who were oddly bad all game) and the US doesn’t ask their 6 to be press resistant. If they get in a situation where they have to be- something went wrong. I’ll try address that later. For now- he was bad because of these.



When the game was on the line, Berhalter couldn’t trust Yueill to hit the pass. He hit some. It wasn’t all bad but in the last 10 minutes it became crucial that Yueill not play tentative with his passing. So he added Acosta for better range and cover and moved Brooks higher for his DLP skills.
Also huge – for me was Cannon for Robinson. These adjustments drove fans crazy. They want, badly, dynamic impact subs that an do something different. Berhalter and his staff are more likely to change how they want to attack the defense than hope on a supersub.
In this case, they moved Dest to left. This is something I was hoping to see. I’ve said before that the understanding of space and movement is superior by our two best players which currently are Pulisic and Dest. Reyna is a fantastic talent who mostly had a very good game. He’s just not to their level of understanding of those things yet. He’s much better than he was. He did a much better job of both cutting into the halfspace and going wide.
That Gio Reyna chance…
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 3, 2021
(@CBSSportsGolazo) pic.twitter.com/85qea3u6yG
This is a classic zonal interchange that we’ve seen since 2019. Very slick movement by Mckennie to pull two defenders to the wide zone. Mckennie goes wide and Reyna goes to the halfspace slot. Great read and run of Reyna to the space and nice pass slotted into that space. This suits Reyna who I’ve said has a magnet attached to him and the goal. This is more of the “system” at work.
He’s not as good wide though and his instincts to go to goal can get a little predictable.

By adding Cannon and moving Dest to the left, they get these types of things more often. They get better overloads on the left that open up space on the right. As Honduras fell back into a deep block, they needed more zonal fluidity on both sides but particularly left;. They needed more than every to spread out Honduras or they would have to start relying on deep crosses which rarely end well.. just ask Chelsea.

https://twitter.com/goal/status/1375150195181285393?s=20
Similar to this- though this was an overlap. Honduras were doubling Pulisic all game. With Dest and Pulisic together that becomes increasingly difficult to do AND keep defensive integrity across the back four.
Then you get this.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1400627001313042433?s=20

Overload of 1v1 talent on the left created a 1v1 with Weston Mckennie and a free man in Cannon. Wes beats his man and it’s a goal.
He brought in Cannon to overload the left. He brought in Acosta to push Brooks up for his DLP skills and he brought in Siebatcheu to get better finishing.
Check Mate.
Concerns
The biggest concern I have is not Jackson Yueil to most fans chagrin. He was mostly a non-factor for me. My biggest concern is related though. My biggest concern is the over reliance on John Brooks. Without Brooks we don’t win that game. We don’t even get half the chances we got and are a lot less dominant.
Mckenzie was pretty poor in deep distribution. He didn’t hit the passes necessary but mostly he didn’t see or try them when they were there. It was not the plan during the vertical interchange to only focus on Brooks. It happened that way because he was the only one that could consistently play the pass.

Sargent is not finishing chances. The below was the worst for me. He finally loses his defender. How does our top striker prospect not beat the cb there? Mount beat Pique in a championship final but our #1 striker prospect can’t beat a Honduras defender. And if you look closely, it looks to me like he just whiffs. Sargent simply wasn’t finishing chances. He got a fantastic ball from Robinson and puts in right at the keeper. I think this is a concern.
This is really nice movement by Sargent. He changes his run and shift to front post. They are a half step/half second off on timing but it’s still really good work that will pay off in goals and an example of good movement… which I’ve been told he never does. pic.twitter.com/JzPDxEqnO8
— USMNT_STAN (@StanUsmnt) June 4, 2021
We need more players than Brooks to unlock teams from deep and we need a 9 who can score. I would be surprised at this point if Sargent starts next game and I’m concerned with what Tata will come up with to shut down Brooks. I expect Adams back at the 6. He was on the bench this game and I think they’ve been saving him and Musah for Mexico.
The positive side is Berhalter and his staff planned an excellent game against Honduras. They adapted well. Despite some poor finishing and lots of wtf play from just about every player on the field, the US dominated. Most optimistic take away from this game was that the coaches got the tactics right from the start and made pin point adjustments throughout. Those adjustments were huge in winning the game. Let’s hope they can do that vs Mexico.
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Club News
American Transfers: Stock Up & Stock Down
Published
5 months agoon
September 9, 2024By
Zach McCabe
The 2024 summer transfer window closed on September 1st and over a dozen Americans made a move in the two-month span. These players range from youth players, like Mathias Albert, to veteran players like John Brooks. Some moves were great, and some were not. This article will review several of these transfers and determine if it was a stock up or stock down.
Sergiño Dest & Malik Tillman to PSV- Stock Up

Both Dest and Malik Tillman went on loan (with option to buy) to PSV in the Eredivisie at the start of last season. Both had a great season where they could have gone to a better league for this season. PSV decided to trigger both player’s buy option, making them permanent players for the Dutch club. These are good moves in my opinion because Dest had a regrettable loan to Milan two seasons ago and a difficult relationship with Xavi Hernandez.

Dest needs another season (in his case, half a season) with the Dutch club to develop, recover his young career, and show clubs that he can compete in the UCL. The same goes for Tillman, who needs to further develop his attacking, work rate, and ability to compete in the UCL. If both can replicate and/or take a step up from their performance from last season, they should return to a top 5 league. (Note: Bayern has a buy-back option for Malik Tillman)
Santiago Castañeda to Paderborn- Stock Up

The Tampa-born Colombian-American spent last season with the 3. Liga with Duisburg where he appeared in 31 matches with 2 goals and 2 assists. This season, he is with Paderborn, a consistent 2. Bundesliga club and he already has a goal in 5 starts across all competitions. This is impressive when you realize that Santiago will be turning 20 years old on November 13th. US fans (who do not follow USL closely) are just now learning about him and some probably have already written him off because of his background.
He is taking a similar path as Lennard Maloney, who played in both 3. Liga and 2. Bundesliga before moving back up to the Bundesliga. In Santiago’s case, he started with Tampa Bay Rowdies in the USL Championship before moving to Duisburg. To add to the move being a stock up because of moving up a league, he is also a CDM, a position that the US is lacking depth at. Other American CDMs who are in about his age (+/- 1 years old) are Daniel Edelman, Moses Nyeman, Marcel Ruszel, and Ethan Kohler (although, he is being converted to an RB) to name a few. If he continues down this path, he can become the #1 American CDM in his age group followed by Pedro Soma (who is 2 years younger than Santiago) in the next age group.
Paxten Aaronson to Utrecht- Stock Up

The Paris Olympian will be heading back to the Eredivisie, but this time, he will be joining fellow Americans Taylor Booth and Rickson van Hees at Utrecht. Paxten had a successful half season with Vitesse where he had 4 goals in 14 appearances. As a CAM, he is competing against Gio Reyna and Malik Tillman (both being only a year older) for a spot on the USMNT. Right now, he is not beating either one of them out, even with Gio being injury prone and Tillman’s lack of producibility for the USMNT.
Gio has had several occasions of great moments with the national team and Tillman is coming off a 24-goal contribution season. Going back to the Eredivisie would greatly help his development before heading back to Eintracht Frankfurt. Also, if he has a more productive season than Tillman, then there is an argument to make Paxten the #2 CAM for the USMNT. Currently, Tillman has 4 goal contributions in 5 matches across all competitions to Paxten’s 1 assist in 4 matches.
Caleb Wiley to Chelsea with loan to Strasbourg- Stock Up

This is one of the players who needed a move this summer and who was able to get an upgrade. Caleb Wiley arguably has the highest ceiling amongst our U23 LBs. Now, Strasbourg is employing him more as an LWB, which is, in my opinion, his best position. Last season at Atlanta, Wiley started as a LW that led to a fantastic form. When he moved to LB, he became inconsistent and stagnated, but he played more as a LWB and his form went back up. Along with that and with him turning 20 in December, he needed to get out of MLS.
We see what happens to players who stay in the MLS too long, i.e. John Tolkin, who has struggled to transition his club form to the USMNT, and Brandon Vazquez, who is now struggling to start for Monterrey and out of the USMNT picture. Playing in a top 5 league and being developed into an LWB can help him unlock his full potential. To add, Wiley already has 2 starts, a halftime substitution, and an assist for Strasbourg.
Rodrigo Neri to Atlanta 2- Stock Down

This is one of the most disappointing moves for those who follow the USYNT U20 team and the future state of the USMNT striker position. Neri’s young career has dramatically fallen in just one year. He was part of the Atletico de Madrid academy since 2021 but left their U19 team for Valencia U19 to now Atlanta 2. Based on Be Soccer, Neri had 0 goal contributions in just only 11 matches for both Spanish U19 teams. 7 games in and Neri already has 3 goals and 1 assist for Atlanta 2. This can either mean he has improved, returned to his Atletico U19 B form (where he had 17 goals in 32 matches), and/or that MLSNP is weaker than División de Honor Juvenil (the league that Atleti U19 is part of). Either way, we can already see that his lack of goals has impacted his international career.
The last time that he was part of the team was the U19/20 March camp against Morocco and England. He was left off the CONCACAF U20 Championship for Keyrol Figueroa and Marcos Zambrano. This is after being part of the U19 team that participated in the 2023 PanAm Games where he had 1 goal in 5 matches. Besides that, he had scored a goal against England and a brace against Norway when he was part of the U17 team in 2022. AS USA even had a piece on Neri back in 2022 calling him the next big thing for the US.
Usually, this far of a drop would almost take you out of the international conversation but knowing US Soccer’s habit of calling up MLSNP players like Sergio Oregel Jr., there is still a chance that Neri can be back in the conversation in time of the 2025 U20 World Cup. The only positive thing about this move is that it could help him get his career back on track.
Vaughn Covil to Las Vegas- Stock Down

For Covil’s career, this was the right move to make. For his international career, it only leaves the Philippines for him. His chances with England were never going to happen. 2-3 years ago, you could have said he had a chance with the US and even more with Canada with the right development. Now, he is better off committing to the Philippines if he wants to have an international career.
It’s a stock down move because it would’ve been better if he had made a deal with an EFL League 2 club than coming to the USL Championship and because he is limited to just one national team instead of four. Hopefully, he does well at Las Vegas and can get a call-up by the Philippines.
Jonathan Gomez to PAOK- Stock Down

This move is one of the most disappointing of all the transfers this summer by an American. While at Louisville and with the USYNT, he looked like a future LB/LWB option for the USMNT and another dual national battle with Mexico. When he went to Real Sociedad and after his successful loan to Mirandes in La Liga 2, things were in an upward trajectory. He left Real Sociedad (likely because they didn’t want to extend his contract, so they opt to sell him to make a profit) for reigning Greek champions, PAOK. When it should have been a positive that he will be playing in his first season at a 1st division, it is a negative because of it being the Greek Super League 1. PAOK is also in the Europa League and that should’ve been a positive for his career, but the Greek champions left him off their UEL roster.
He is still only 21 years old and if he does well enough for them, then he can move up to a better league in a season or two. At this moment, he has slipped out of the conversation to compete with Lund, Tolkin, and Wiley to be the future #1 LB/LWB. To make matters worse, Caleb Wiley’s 2024/25 season has started off well at Strasbourg with 2 starts and an assist. You could argue that during the 2023 U20 World Cup that JoGo was the better of the two at the LB/LWB position but now Wiley is above him on the depth chart.
Aidan Morris to Middlesborough- Stock Up

Like Caleb Wiley, Morris needed to leave MLS to further his development and avoid the situation that John Tolkin is in. Even though Morris has been underwhelming for the USMNT, he has the potential to be a consistent player of the 23-26 men roster. So far this season with Boro, he has been a standout and quick favorite amongst the fans. Going to the EFL Championship was one of the best choices he could have made as his next stop. The physicality of the league will teach him how to become more physical and his quick decision-making. The development could easily put him in the top 4 CDM options for 2026.
The biggest question for him is, can he transition his great club form to the national team. If he can pull it off, he can jump ahead of Lennard Maloney and Tanner Tessmann, depending on how he does with Lyon this season. This is a top 3 move by an American player not just because how the season is going so far for him but because Boro will be competing for promotion and development potential.
Tanner Tessman to Lyon- Stock Up

Tessmann’s transfer saga is one for the books. He was closely linked to Inter Milan and Fiorentina until both fell apart because of disagreements. Towards the end of the transfer window, he got a move to a top Ligue 1 club, Lyon. If he had stayed with Venezia, he still would’ve been playing in a top-five league, but Lyon is the better option. Venezia will be fighting to stay in the Serie A like they did in 2021/22, whereas Lyon is consistently a top 10 French club, and in many cases a top 5 club.
To add to that, Lyon is in the UEL. The season is not going well for Lyon right now, but they can recover and compete for UEFA qualification. The club and the fans will be more demanding than Venezia because of their prestige, he can learn from veteran players like Matic and Veretout and it would require him to compete for starts. It’ll be a real test for him after his last time in a top 5 league did not go as well and two great seasons in the Serie B.
All of these will help him take the next step and help him be in the top 3 CDM USMNT conversation. The battle Tessmann, Aidan Morris, Maloney, Johnny Cardoso, and Tyler Adams (once he returns) for the top 2 CDM spots on the USMNT will be a joy to watch this season.

Thomas Deschaine (@uskeeper on X and us_keeper on Instagram)
The USMNT has had a solid track record with goalkeepers over the last three decades. There seems to be a problematic situation with their current group. Is this an overreaction or a real concern for the USMNT which is less than 2 years away from hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
The average age of the last seven USMNT goalkeepers to regularly start in one of the top two tiers in Europe is 27.5 years old and while it took several seasons for Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, Tim Howard, and Brad Guzan to settle and have continued success they did while all having the opportunity to be the number goalkeeper for the USMNT.
Where there has been a lot of deserved criticism towards Matt Turner’s play with the USMNT lately it’s clear that he remains the best shot-stopper in the pool, but also clear that a transfer from Nottingham Forest is desperately needed to provide regular playing for Turner. Turner’s foot skills remain weak along with the rest of the USMNT goalkeeper pool very much an area that needs improving. Something they could learn from Tony Meola who was hands down the best USMNT goalkeeper with his feet.
Struggles also continue for Ethan Horvath whose transfer to Cardiff City last February was supposed to provide him with the needed playing time to push Turner for the number one goalkeeper spot of the USMNT but, his performance at Copa America didn’t inspire many, along with a recent match for Cardiff City where he conceded five goals.

November 27, 2022, in Doha, Qatar (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
USMNT Youth Goalkeepers
The current group of USMNT goalkeeper prospects appears to be solid, but if history has proven anything there are no guarantees. The list of the failed USMNT youth keepers over the last decade is long. It includes names like Joe Bendik, Alex Bono, Cody Cropper, Tally Hall, Clint Irwin, Dan Kennedy, and Luis Robles, of the over 15 USMNT prospect goalkeepers who have only been capped 18 times, eight of those held by Bill Hamid.

At the moment goalkeepers Antonio Carrera (20), Matt Freese (25), Chituru Odunze (21), and John Pulskamp (23) are on the outside looking in compared to the goalkeepers listed below.
Currently playing for Fulham U-21 Premier League 2 (Reserve League) Alex Borto (20) who was part of the 2023 U-20 World in May and June, but didn’t receive any playing time will need to increase his current playing time to get more opportunities but, I feel Borto is much lower on the youth USMNT depth chart at the moment.
A regular starter for the Chicago Fire over the last couple of seasons Chris Brady (20) is another highly touted USMNT goalkeeper, who has been held back from regularly being called into USMNT youth camps by his club. A move to Europe would provide him with the next level of competition needed to continue his growth as a goalkeeper.
Who would trust a now 18-year-old who hasn’t had any professional experience to start for the USMNT? Not many but Diego Kochen (18) who is currently with FC Barcelona Atlètic in the Third Division is a name that continues to be mentioned, but highly unlikely in my opinion.
As the starter for all four of the U-23 USMNT Olympic matches Patrick Schulte (23) has earned a call-up to the USMNT. Schulte has had a very strong season with the Columbus Crew which accounts for 8 clean sheets over all matches at the time of this article.
Many fans think Gaga Slonina (20) is the best U-23 goalkeeper in the player pool and is destined to be the number-one goalkeeper after the 2026 cycle. Slonina is currently playing in EFL League One the third division in England. Slonina was the starting goalkeeper for U-20 USMNT where he had four straight clean sheets helping lead the US to the quarter-finals. He also was part of the U-23 USA Olympic team but failed to receive any playing time.

October 4, 2022, (Photo by Christian Hansen/Chicago Fire FC)
Aging or Bridge Goalkeeper Options
The list of recent third and often injured USMNT goalkeepers Drake Callender (26), Roman Celentano (23), Sean Johnson (35), and Zack Steffen (29) provide little to no confidence when looking at a current solution and none are likely to break into the top two of the depth chart but, stranger things have happened in the world of USMNT goalkeepers.

Looking Ahead
With less than 2 years until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it’s unlikely that any of the younger USMNT goalkeepers will be able to play at higher levels and contend for the number one spot, which I believe still belongs to Matt Turner, but, Turner needs to do whatever possible to get a transfer to another top five leagues or worse case Eredivisie or EFL Championship as he needs to be playing matches every week to ensure he’s in form and improving headed into the World Cup with the backup position is up for grabs.

Gregg Berhalter’s time as the USMNT manager has come to an end. USSF has made the announcement that they have terminated Berhalter’s contract after 5 years in charge of the USMNT. There are many highs and lows during his time as manager with just as many praises and controversies. After the humiliating defeat at Couva during the 2018 World Cup Qualifying, there needed to be a change and the goal for 2022 was to qualify no matter what and how. It was understandable for many fans to let bad results during Berhalter’s first cycle because of the goal we had set for 2022. Now that we made it out of the group during the 2022 WC, the expectations for the USMNT would increase. Those expectations have not been fulfilled since the rehiring of Gregg Berhalter. Here are the top 10 reasons he had to go.
Crashing out of the 2024 Copa America
We were invited and given the rights to host the 2024, Copa America. The USMNT’s first time participating and hosting the tournament since 2016. The only players to appear in both tournaments were Christian Pulisic and Ethan Horvath. On paper, the 2024 squad was better than the 2016 squad in almost every position. Jürgen Klinsmann had a weaker squad but managed to reach the Semi-Finals in the 2016 Copa America. It is one of the biggest accomplishments for the USMNT in recent history. When you look at this year’s roster and what they did last year, the minimum goal should be the Quarterfinals and at most a Semi-Final appearance. The USMNT did not come anywhere close.
Players like Weston McKennie and Musah greatly underperformed. A lack of discipline cost us games, like Tim Weah’s red card, and the foul that led to the Uruguay goal. Against Bolivia, the USMNT only scored 2 goals against the worst team in CONMEBOL (1 win and a -10 GD in their WCQ campaign). Giving up a lead when a man down and ultimately losing to Panama should never have happened, especially against a team that the USMNT has only lost to at home 3 times since 1993. This put the USMNT in the worst possible situation in the tournament, a result against Uruguay and a win or draw for Bolivia.
Good news did arrive for the USMNT when Bolivia tied the game, but this led to Berhalter informing our players prior to a set piece about the score. This gave the indication that he wanted to chase for a draw, which has been a common theme during his tenure. You cannot rely on Bolivia to bail you out. You MUST go for the win. As Herculez Gomez said, it is a loser mentality.
People will blame the refs, Weah’s red card, or not having Dest, but that is not an excuse for poor in-game management by Berhalter. After the firing of Gregg Berhalter, ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle wrote an article where he said that our group exit from the 2024 Copa America is the first time the USMNT had been eliminated in the group stage of a tournament that was being hosted in the US. That is just one more stain on the legacy of Gregg Berhalter.
Poor Match Results
As mentioned, the poor result against Panama, a team we should have defeated even with a man down. There are plenty more matches to talk about. Since being rehired, Berhalter has a 7-1-6 record. The most infamous would be against Trinidad & Tobago away. Again, people will use the excuse that Dest got a red card, and it does not matter since we had qualified for the next round of the 2024 Nations League. That was a game you should not have lost even with a man down, more so than the Panama match. There are many other games that can be mentioned but let’s look at more record first. Berhalter has an overall record of 44-13-17. When playing outside of the US, the record is 4-7-8.
Against top 20 FIFA ranked teams, the record is 5-5-8. Four of those wins came against Mexico and the other being against Iran. When we compare him to Klinsmann and Bob Bradley against top 20 FIFA ranked teams, Klinsmann was 10-6-14 and Bradley was 9-5-15. For Bradley, only 3 of those wins were against the same team (Mexico) and 6 in total were against the same teams (2 times against Ecuador, Germany, and Mexico each) for Klinsmann. This record would make Berhalter the winningest coach by percentage in USMNT history, but there are important contexts to include. Jamaica was just seconds away from eliminating us in the NL Semi-Finals until an own goal by Cory Burke. The USMNT did rally to defeat them 3-1 in extra time, but it was still humiliating for the team.
Then you have the loss against Colombia before the Copa America where we lost 1-5. The last time the team conceded 5 goals was in 2009. A 1-3 defeat against Germany back in Oct of 2023 where we were not competitive at all. From June 5 to November 25, 2022, the US had a 1-5-1 record. The last match I will reference is the match against Honduras in San Pedro Sula where we had no control over the game in the 1st half. It was not until Ricardo Pepi helped save Berhalter’s job with 2 assists and 1 goal to give us a 1-4 win.
Tactics
One of the biggest problems that Gregg Berhalter has is in-game management and pre-game tactics. His go to formation is a 4-3-3, which is not always bad, but it is defensive minded and creates little chances. We have seen that over the 5 years of having him as a manager. During the 2022 WCQ, our goals per match were 1.5 and 1.8 during the 2021 Gold Cup. The goals conceded per match was 0.2 during that Gold Cup and 0.7 during the WCQ. Yes, statistically we would not concede a goal, but the USMNT was likely to only win 1-0. No one likes a 1-0 game, because not only is it boring, but it is risky. All it would take is for the opposition to score 1 goal to take 2 points from you. Make it a mission to get 2 goals every game to give you some breathing space. Berhalter also looks to park the bus, even when it is a tie.
Against Panama in the Copa America, Berhalter decided to park the bus when it was tied and with a man down at the start of the 2nd half. That is a high toll to ask the players to park it for 45+ minutes. You knew you were playing Uruguay next, and that Panama has a very good chance of beating Bolivia. A draw against Uruguay was going to be very difficult. Yes, we were a man down, but that does not mean we should have given up getting the 2nd goal. As we saw, we conceded a 2nd goal and it cost us to be in the worst possible situation in the group stage.
Besides parking the bus, Berhalter wants us to score primarily off the wings and from crosses. Against Jamaica during the 2024 NL, we attempted 41 crosses with only 11 being accurate. None of the 3 goals in that match came from a cross. Against Trinadad & Tobago at home during the QF of the 2024 NL, they went 11 for 39 on crosses. The first goal did not come until the 80th minute mark, which should never have come close to being a draw against Trinadad & Tobago at home. Only 1 of the 3 goals we scored in the last 10 minutes were from a cross. When BJ Callaghan led the team during the 2023 NL, our crosses were reduced to 17 attempts in both matches. In both matches, the goals came from up the middle where the team scored a total of 5 goals and 0 goals conceded.
It was some of the best football that this group of guys have played in the last 5 years. The players can score more goals than 1 and can score goals without crossing the ball. As we can see, Berhalter does not know how to react when things do not go to plan as we saw against Panama and against Colombia. A coach needs to be able to react and make the right call when things go sideways. That is a major weakness of his and pundits have pointed it out in the past. After Wales got their goal in the 2022 WC against the USMNT, Berhalter responded by substituting in Jordan Morris instead of Gio Reyna. Gio Reyna is a playmaker, Jordan Morris is not. At the time, the US did not have a playmaker on the pitch and that would be the time to use our best player in that role, Gio Reyna. That is not the first time.
During his 2nd cycle, Berhalter would commonly substitute Gio Reyna off when he decides to hold a draw or goes a man down. The US did not win a single game when Gio was subbed off. During the Copa America, Berhalter left Johnny Cardoso on the bench for Tyler Adams. Johnny was developed in Brazil and played in several Copa Libertadores and was a standout in LaLiga once he arrived. Tyler Adams only played a total of 138 minutes between the EPL and the EFL Cup last season (Adams was out for majority of the season due to injuries). Common sense would say to start Johnny Cardoso, but Gregg Berhalter did the complete opposite. Besides that, Weston McKennie had been playing poorly for the USMNT all year and looked visibly unfit during the Copa America.
Berhalter continued to start McKennie and gave him a total of 258 minutes. Berhalter continued to award McKennie with starts and minutes when common sense would say that he must be benched. Berhalter also had a major problem with rotating players and that had a major impact on the endurance of the players when it came to tournaments. It was noticeable during the 2022 WC and Copa America. These are all things that will be remembered by fans.
Player Selection
During his 1st cycle, Gregg Berhalter called up an astounding 65 different players in just competitive matches alone. During the WCQ, he called up 39 different players to the camps. Yes, after the 2018 cycle, the USMNT had to rebuild, but does it really require trying out 65 different players to figure that out? For the WCQ, 13 of the 39 did not make the final cut. I can understand making 2-3 changes every camp at the youth level, but this is the senior level. He had already been with the team for 2 years. He should have had a better idea who he needed to bring with him to the WCQ, which started in the Fall of 2021.
The changes in the WCQ roster make sense if there is an injury, but not all the changes were made due to injuries, i.e., Gianluca Busio and Paul Arriola. Berhalter had from 2019 to the Summer of 2021 to determine his WCQ roster and the alternate players. When creating a team, either for business or sports, you need cohesion, or brotherhood to Berhalter, to get the best out of the team when the results matter.
Continuously making changes for the most important competitive matches in your tenure will lead to problems. By the end of the WCQ, the USMNT tied for 3rd in points and only qualified through goal differential. The USMNT had a record of 7-4-3 with the away record being 1-3-3. Who knows what that record could have been if the roster was more consistent. Berhalter has improved his roster selection by focusing more on the players in Europe than the players in the MLS. The argument for having half the roster or more being MLS players because they were veteran players and the players in Europe were too young. It is an understandable reason, if that is the case.
He did make significant changes to the roster when he took back control of the team by removing Jordan Morris, Jesus Ferreira, and Cristian Roldan from the team. In this current cycle, Berhalter called up 36 different players in the 14 matches he oversaw. To note, 7 of the 36 are or were MLS-based players.
Achievements
Gregg Berhalter does deserve big credit to the achievements he made while the manager of the USMNT. While in charge of the team, he won the CONCACAF Gold Cup and won the CONCACAF Nations League in 2021 and 2024. Now, you can make an argument that the players had a bigger part in that, when this is the best generation of players we have ever had. Berhalter was still the manager and deserves the credit as well.
After the US failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2018, Gregg Berhalter accomplished qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. It might not have been the prettiest World Cup for the USMNT, but the team did advance to the first round of the knockout stage. That will be a positive note for his legacy as a USMNT manager. The only thing that is missing from his list of achievements is a signature win.
There is one more piece to Gregg Berhalter’s legacy that will be remembered by many fans, but I doubt would be a footnote to his legacy (it would eventually be forgotten). That being his relationship with the players. I touched a little on in the “Tactics” section by awarding players starts and minutes when they did not deserve it, but it goes further than that. It is known and visible that Berhalter showed favoritism towards certain players, those being the players on the “leadership committee”. These players continued to play match after match when they did not deserve it or were too physically tired to continue.
Tyler Adams mentioned in a press conference during the 2024 Copa America that he never speaks to Berhalter about soccer outside of the camps. Whether with just a few or everyone, it is a concern that a coach does not speak to his players about the sport, on or off the field. During the Copa America, it began to look like the players saw Berhalter as more of a friend than a coach. It can be seen just as a fan by comparing the discipline of the players in the 2022 cycle to the 2024 cycle. That is a huge concern within a team because it creates complacency and that was visible during the 2024 Nations League and the Copa America.
On paper, Gregg Berhalter will appear to be a top USMNT manager in its history, but once you peel those away and look deeper, he would be ranked below the likes of Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena, and Jürgen Klinsmann.


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