ATLANTA — The United States men’s national team’s preparation for the World Cup has entered its final phase. Not only will individual performance be scrutinized, but teamwide cohesion will also be scrutinized.
Thus, Saturday’s match against Belgium provided a thorough assessment of where the USMNT currently stands, with the Americans suffering a heavy 5-2 loss. Granted, it was a game, but America doesn’t seem remotely prepared for when the games actually start in June.
America looked competitive in the first half. Weston McKenney He continued his great performance and scored a goal for the Americans to put them up 1–0. But while the American back line performed well in the second half, they had no answer to the Belgian winger’s electric performance. jeremy doku And his five-match unbeaten streak suddenly ended.
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This was a match where the deployment of the USMNT’s center backs was the main area of ​​focus. fc cincinnati miles robinson and crystal palace chris richards The FC Augsburg defender was injured with groin and knee ailments respectively Nuhkai Bank Not committed to US squad. There are other reasons to be concerned about the back line. charlotte fc tim ream However, he has not been at his best this season Mark McKenzie The USMNT still have some levels to climb. Those factors left manager Mauricio Pochettino to revert to the old standby formation of 4–3–3, with Ream and McKenzie anchoring the defence.
In the end, the issue wasn’t so much the centre-backs. It was a teamwide politeness that will do little to inspire confidence in this American side. In particular, the Americans’ defense on the flanks was extremely poor. Belgium repeatedly found Doku isolated in transition or through a big switch of point of attack and, even when he was double-teamed, he found a way to torment the USMNT. the matter was amadou onanaNext goal in the 53rd minute. McKenzie didn’t do bad stopping Doku’s run, but the Belgian managed to draw almost the entire American defense, leaving space for others. doku played the ball charles de catelareWho handed the ball to Onana to fire home.
To be fair, Doku is an excellent player. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t be on Manchester City’s books. But it’s the USMNT team that has set bigger goals for itself at this summer’s World Cup. If the US is to advance, it will have to beat a team of Belgium’s caliber, perhaps more than one. He timothy weah Whether that player is usually Doku’s victim is somewhat surprising, because he has played as an outside back many times this season. It makes one wonder whether anyone on the American team could have done better. alex freeman Surely nothing could be worse than this.
That said, the U.S. also needs to do a better job of providing help as well as getting late runners into the box, rather than just resorting to ball watching. This depends on the entire team, not just the back row, and is a fairly basic defensive concept. That the US seemed so unable to execute in this area is perhaps the most worrying aspect of the performance. A return to a back three – despite the lack of a centre-back – is probably in order.
There are also questions to be answered about the US midfield. with tyler adams Even though he couldn’t travel abroad due to a quad injury, this was an opportunity johnny cardoso. After a difficult first five months of the season with Atlético Madrid due to his illnesses, Cardoso has raised his performance levels at his club to such an extent that he appears indispensable. The problem with the USMNT is that Cardoso has never come close to replicating that level of form.
Cardoso shined on Saturday. He was 13 for 13 with his passes. His shrewd selection allowed McKenzie to break free of his target and redirect antony robinsoncorner of. He also made a crucial tackle in the 17th minute which thwarted Belgium’s counterattack. Then it was a surprise to see him substituted at halftime cristian roldan replacing him, however, Pochettino explained after the match that the change was pre-planned due to the discomfort the player had experienced earlier in the week.
For a team that didn’t have the ball that well in the first half, it was a strange decision, one that raises questions about the team’s level of depth. The second half saw a flurry of goals from Belgium and the United States’ inability to consistently defend one-on-one positions. goalkeeper matt turnerJoe, who was a surprise starter in place of Matt Freese, continues to stand out. What should give Pochettino pause is that he used his bench liberally and things actually got worse. The only bright spot was when ricardo pepi diverted a pass from behind which allowed patrick agyemang To score a consolation goal.
Is there any reason to panic? not yet. Four years ago, the U.S. lost 2-0 to Japan in its final friendly before the 2022 World Cup, which was nowhere close to the indicated score. In that instance, then-manager Greg Berhalter got some data on who he could expect to perform well in the World Cup and who not. Pochettino will have to do the same.
