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The USMNT went to Honduras last night and managed to react after falling behind in the 1st half, scoring 4 in the 2nd to win 4-1. This puts the United States in a tie for 2nd in the octagonal standings. What can we learn from this wild match?
A tale of two halves
In the What we have learned play for the Canada game, I explained that I didn’t think the Klinsmann / Berhalter comparison for the first two qualifying games was working. Well, here’s a comparison that I think works a lot better. In an important qualifying game in 2016, Klinsmann cornered his team in an unknown formation with a 3 backside. After conceding a goal, Klinsmann was forced to adjust to a more familiar formation to try to get back into the match.
Likewise, last night Berhalter cornered his team in an unknown formation with a back 3. After conceding a goal, Berhalter was forced to adjust to a more familiar formation to try to get back into the game.
Yeah, that really sounds like me. And it’s really, really bad. Given the context, I didn’t think this match against Honduras was a must. It turned out that if the United States had simply gotten a draw, they would still have been 4th (the playoff spot) and behind only the teams that got two home games in the round (and Mexico). A loss would have been a serious setback, but would only have left the team with a victory in the qualifying places.
However, the problem in this first half was not only the result. It was the way of playing, the complete disconnect between defense and midfield, and the way the team seemed to be breaking up. At halftime I thought the USMNT would be lucky to see the game come out 2-0 with the way they were playing. People were asking for Berhalter’s work. Someone even tweeted me with one of my own posts suggesting Berhalter’s sacking two years ago. And frankly, it was deserved. If a coach is going to create a situation where they need a result, then tinker with it in a way that makes the team look terrible, so, yes, that coach should be sacked.
The difference between Klinsmann and Berhalter is that after Berhalter made his changes, the team went and actually won the game. While the first half was an abject mess, the second half featured the most dominant display I’ve seen of USMNT playing in Central America in the final round of World Cup qualifying. . The roster change and the substitutes that came into the game brought new life to the squad, and they almost immediately equalized. From there, they thwarted an increasingly desperate Honduras, before securing three opportunistic goals. During the half-time, the United States returned to the game, tightened their defense, scored four goals and completely demoralized the opposition. It was an incredible turnaround – and frankly unforeseen. And Berhalter should be credited for it.
I will focus on two problems from the first half that Berhalter successfully solved.
- The Bottom Line Three and John Brooks
- A lack of aggressive vertical play
Strange man
This is the goal Honduras scored.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t give the build set, so you can’t really see how Brooks reacted during the build. Before the goal, Honduras had the ball trying to develop the game through possession. They returned the ball to their baseline, before playing it to their man between the US defensive and midline. At this point Miles Robinson, Brooks, Mark McKenzie and George Bello are all back on defense, forming a defensive line of 4. As the ball is played in midfield, they have a choice: either the whole line goes up and a defender challenges for the ball, or everyone backs up and filters the goal, leaving the midfielder to challenge the ball. Here, Brooks steps forward, while everyone else steps back. Brooks doesn’t win the ball. The ball is played to Diego RodrÃguez on the left. RodrÃguez crosses and Brayan Moya scores from where Brooks should have been. Because Brooks advanced aggressively and didn’t win the ball, he wasn’t in position for the center.
In the end, this was just one example of Brooks playing too aggressively. He has been repeatedly sucked into midfield to challenge a duel or shut down an attacker, only for Honduras to target the space they have left.
To fix that, we had to eliminate Brooks and adjust the formation so that there was more body in the midfield. With Sebastian Lletget in the midfield alongside Kellyn Acosta and James Sands, the US midfielder could now more easily challenge the ball and shield the defense. The midfielder looked even stronger when Sands (who had an insanely bad night) was substituted and Tyler Adams switched positions.
Attack space
The first half saw surprisingly passive play from the American attackers. In the 2nd minute of the first half stoppage time there was a particularly flabby play which, in my opinion, sums it all up. With the United States losing a goal and only a minute left until half-time, Josh Sargent recovered the ball and launched into the Honduran attack. And when he clashed with a Honduran defender, he handed the ball to Adams, who passed the ball to Sargent, who returned it to Adams. Finally, Pulisic crossed the pitch, put the ball on the ball and placed it in the box, where no one attacked him until he came out for a goal kick. With the United States in dire need of something, your attacking players replay the ball against defenders instead of rushing them. You have your attacking players standing instead of running errands.
I know everyone likes to blame the coach for the team’s bad attack. And while Berhalter deserves a blame there, you can’t really blame him entirely when the Premier League striker he’s put on the pitch just stands there, doing nothing. If you are an elite offensive player, you should know that you have to do something instead of standing by the ball. You have to know that if the team needs the goal, you have to attack space towards the goal.
Indeed, it is what the submarines did that was so effective. Sebastian Lletget and Antonee Robinson (and later DeAndre Yedlin) attacked space towards goal. When the United States had the ball, they ran forward, toward the goal, into an empty space where they could receive the ball. Lletget’s parallel run saw Pulisic pass to someone when he ran to defense for the opening goal, while Jedi’s full-length punch was rewarded with his name on the match sheet.
Why does FC Dallas forward Ricardo Pepi have more international goals this year than Bundesliga man Josh Sargent? Because Pepi attacks space in front of the goal and not Sargent. Why did Antonee Robinson score a goal and get an assist in two games? Because it attacks space. Why does Lletget keep getting called out, sometimes even against players based in Europe? Because it attacks space.
Closing thoughts
3-4-3 is bad; Kill him with fire.
Instead of playing all of your right-backs until you have to play Adams there, maybe bring another fullback or two. At least one of Reggie Cannons, Shaq Moore or Joe Scally should have been on this list. Keeping Adams in midfield is just too important. If Adams had been in the middle in the first half, he likely would have stifled play before the Honduran goal. His mobility and ability to anticipate play are just too good to place him at the full back.
26 players was not a large enough roster for this window. Listen, I understand that you can’t predict that players will be injured or otherwise be unavailable. But you can’t run over players with so many minutes. Tyler Adams and Miles Robinson both missed international matches with injuries. Adams missed a whole year. And despite that, both players played every minute of three games in less than a week, having played for their club teams. Kellyn Acosta and DeAndre Yedlin have played all 3 games. Christian Pulisic went to play 150 minutes in 3 days after returning from Covid, and now he could have an injury. Berhalter needs to manage the minutes better. Julian Green and Luca de la Torre should have been called. Waiting until someone is not available is not enough. When this happens, you are forced to call only the part of your list based on MLS because you cannot call someone to fly from Europe to Central America and expect them to play. the next day.
This game was a total showcase for the talents of MLS Academy. The best player in Honduras was Andy Najar, a DC United academy product. Yedlin (Sounders), Pepi (FC Dallas) and Brendan Aaronson (Union) all had at least one goal or one assist. Acosta (FC Dallas), Adams (NYRB) and McKenzie (Union) all passed 90 minutes. James Sands (NYCFC) got about an hour. Among the players replaced at half-time, only Bello (Atlanta) was a local player.
No goals from set pieces this match. The first goal came on a counter. The second came through the construction game. The third was a quick break after a high press. And the fourth came after the Honduran midfielder went offline and let the United States pick up a second ball and lead to goal. However, we still have to work on scoring goals earlier in the game.
Ricardo Pepi is expected to be the attacker. The child drives to the goal and does dangerous errands. And he scores! In contrast, Sargent just seems lost there, playing way too shy. To me, this is what the depth chart at position currently looks like:
Pepi
Zards
Pefok
Sargent
Dike
I would still love to see Hoppe try out there someday, but if Pepi can be constantly dangerous, then he has the place locked.
I hit The ghost for Pepi here. Because this kid is just ghosting his brand. Defenders just can’t see where he’s going.
It’s all about me. USMNT return for a World Cup home qualifier against Jamaica on October 7. As always, we want to hear what you think. Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
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