The USMNT is riding high after having played a very good game against England in their second match of the World Cup. Reality has to kick in at some point for the USMNT though. They need to win their game against Iran to be able to make it out of the first round. If we judge Iran from the first game in which they got embarrassed by England, the US win would seem like a formality. After the big loss though Iran bounced back and beat Wales. This left the USMNT with no choice but to beat Iran to be able to make it to the next round.
There are plenty of things that Iran does well that the USMNT needs to be ready for. At the same time there are some things that the US is lacking. They need to get better at these things quickly if they want to stay in the tournament.
What Iran Does Well
Iran has proven to be one of those teams with offensive firepower. They’ve been able to score goals at the World Cup despite conceding 6 to this point in the tournament. Against Wales they proved that they have players that are able to find the back of the net from outside the box. Essentially with very few true goal scoring chances they’ve been able to find the back of the net multiple times. The US needs to make sure that they don’t underestimate Iran in that sense. Logic dictates that the US is going to carry the weight of the game possession wise. They have to be very careful though in transition defense and make sure that they don’t leave Iran players open outside the box.
The US Needs To Find More Goal Scoring Chances
The US was able to maintain possession for large portions of their game against England. Something that a lot of people probably didn’t think that they were going to be able to do. They weren’t able to convert that possession though into too many goal scoring chances. It could be argued that they ended up sending way too many crosses into the box. Without a fixed presence at the striker spot it doesn’t make a lot of sense for crosses into the box to be your main source of offense.
What the US would probably like to do is get Pulisic to play through balls to Tim Weah like he did in the US’ only goal in the tournament. Another thing that the US would probably love would be to get a consistent offensive presence from any of their true number 9 options. At this point though Sargent has not been consistent up front. He had some chances versus Wales, but again he’s not the true box number 9 that you could just send crosses to. This is a spot where the US needs to find better answers.
Keep Calm And Carry On
If the game heads into the 70th minute in a tie that US youth is going to be tested. Really what they should be looking to do is keep calm and carry on. Usually US teams have been known for not being overly emotional. The US has historically fielded cerebral teams that were able to stay even keel throughout the entirety of a game. This current US team seemed to lack that traditional calm demeanor of its predecessors even though this squad is perhaps the most talented.
With the way that the World Cup games are going there’s a chance that this game is going to go long in a tie. It’s just one goal that the USMNT needs, and they need to hang on to the lead. Emotional discipline is going to be key for this young team, and for Gregg Berhalter who hasn’t shown a lot of that throughout his tenure.
