The U.S. men’s national team has a long way to go and not much time to get there.
With eight weeks left until the World Cup kicks off, the scale of the USMNT’s challenge was laid bare after two subpar performances in its final tune-up matches.
The USMNT was abysmal against Japan and on Tuesday, it was only marginally better in a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia in Murcia, Spain.
Facing an intense Japanese press, the U.S. was forced into a number of turnovers in Friday’s 2-0 defeat. Against a Saudi side that dropped off more, the U.S. was unable to break down the defense of a team most expect to be among the worst at the World Cup.
The problems for the USMNT were myriad and consistent across both games: center backs unable to avoid turnovers, a midfield unable to progress the ball forward, forwards and wingers unable to get on the ball in dangerous positions.
The U.S. did improve against Saudi Arabia — an admittedly low bar after a game in which Gregg Berhalter admitted his side got their “butts kicked.” There were some solutions to the press on display with more long balls, switches of play and runs forward from the midfield.
But after generating zero shots on goal against Japan, the U.S. had two against the Saudis. At the World Cup, that simply won’t be good enough.
The USMNT’s performance in these two games helped to highlight the importance of a few players who missed out with injuries.
Yunus Musah in particular was a big miss, as the U.S. failed to frequently progress the ball through midfield pressure — something that happens to be one of Musah’s best qualities.
Antonee Robinson is another absolutely vital player for the USMNT, who did not get enough from Sam Vines or Sergiño Dest at left back to suggest that the team can afford to rest a healthy Robinson for a single minute in Qatar.
Tim Weah’s ability to stretch defenses was also badly missed. Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna play much more withdrawn on the wings, which can be effective if it’s balanced out by a field-expander like Weah.
If — and this is obviously a huge if – Berhalter has a full arsenal of players at his disposal in Qatar, this USMNT has the ability to do some damage.
But right now it appears there are too many needles that need to be threaded in order for the USMNT to even reach the knockout stage. The goalkeeping situation is still in the air, and neither Matt Turner nor Zack Steffen are at the same level as USMNT goalkeeping greats of the past. No center back has stepped up to fill the void left by Miles Robinson. The midfield has too many piano movers and not enough piano players. There still isn’t an ideal solution at striker.
And if there are any injuries to key players? That could be fatal.
The clock is ticking for Berhalter. He’s got real work to do, but the time to make wholesale changes has come to an end. He’s got the team and the system that he wants, and now he can only hope that a healthy and motivated USMNT can perform when the lights shine the brightest.
[lawrence-related id=7711,7697,7676]