The USMNT came out on top in a winner take all game against Iran. The team went at Iran right out of the gate. Very much like they did in their game against Wales. There’s an argument to be made that the first halves of each of those games were very similar. With the opposing team on their heels and the US trying to create goal scoring chances.
The Positives
The US midfield is one of the best around collectively. We’d probably love to see more from Weston Mckennie. That’s not to say that he hasn’t had a great World Cup. The problem is his performance seems to drop off from the 60th minute onward. Prompting Gregg Berhalter to take him off in virtually every game. It’s a real shame because Adams, Mckennie and Mussa are the 3 most important players that the USMNT features. They are the strength of the team because each of them can provide that change of pace to move the ball up field and potentially find the likes of Tim Weah or Pulisic in the open space.
Defensively they’ve done a great job to ensure that no team that the US has faced so far has had too many clear 4 or on 4 or 3 on 4 chances against the US backline. Today was great for the likes of Tim Weah. He was all over the field offensively and even defensively. Sergio Dest was also very active, and perhaps that was something that the team was missing. His assist obviously allows the US to pull through to the next round. That’s not the only reason though that we consider that he had a great game.
What We’re Still Worried About
There are 2 things that still have us worried about the USMNT. There’s still no clear answer at the number 9 spot. That ultimately hampers the team’s ability to find the back of the net. It’s not a coincidence that the USMNT has only scored 2 goals in the World Cup. With the amount of time they spend on the opposing team’s end of the field the number of chances created is still rather low. Sargent had a decent game, in the sense that he sacrificed everything for the team. That still seems to be a weakness for the squad.
The fact that we haven’t seen the backline is a great sign. That means that the US has mostly been able to keep things in front of them. There were a few details today though that we didn’t like. The Netherlands aren’t such a high powered team upfront, but they could present more problems to the US back line than all of the other teams that they faced. If the US wants to advance they need another masterclass from the midfield.
Chances To Advance To The Quarter Finals
As second in the group the Netherlands is perhaps one of the best matchups that you can hope to encounter in the second round. That’s not to say that the US are going to be favored in the matchup. That could actually play to bettor’s favor. The US is going to try and make sure that their midfield is able to put enough pressure on the likes of Frankie de Jong and the rest of the Netherlands midfield to ensure that they don’t provide through balls to Cody Gakpo who is without a doubt the most concerning offensive piece for them. We expect this game to be a hard fought battle in that midfield. The US needs to find ways to convert the chances that they generate. Even if they don’t put up a ton of shots on goal. If not it’s going to naturally be a lot more difficult to just ride the game out to penalties.
