We said last week that it didn’t make a lot of sense for the USMNT to face Japan in this international break. The Japanese team does not have a play style that mimics any of the teams that the US is going to face in the World Cup. Now we are looking at the worst case scenario though, the USMNT faced a tough squad and got exposed. Now what should they look for in their game against Saudi Arabia to fix some of the issues that were on clear display against Japan?
Sure Up The Back & The Middle Of The Field
This is something that Concacaf coaches probably need to hear. None of the 4 teams from Concacaf that are going to be playing the World Cup are good enough to play as loose as Mexico and the USMNT have looked in their last couple of games and hope to compete in the World Cup. Costa Rica, seem to understand who they are a lot better, and that’s one of the reasons why they’ve been the most successful Concacaf team in the World Cup over the last few editions. Similar to Mexico, the US 4-3-3 system just doesn’t play to their strength at all. At this point it doesn’t seem like Berhalter is going to change the formation though. What needs to change then?
A good idea could be not to press the Saudi team on their third of the field as they tried to do with Japan quite a bit. Also, the US back line isn’t overly talented either to try and play out from the back on every single play. Don’t be afraid of the long balls to your wing players from the back line. It could be argued that this is potentially a more effective way to play with a 4-3-3 formation anyway. What could actually be worse for the US is if they are able to be effective playing with such a high pressure against Saudi Arabia. That then may give Berhalter a false sense of confidence to think that playing with such a spread out high 4-3-3 formation he’ll be effective in the World Cup.
Players Need To Play With More Urgency
Quite a few of Japan’s most dangerous plays came from bad passes that the US midfield tried to play back to their defensive line. Those are just lazy passes, and there were a couple of guys particularly in that middle third of the field that need to put in more effort. Mark McKenzie for example, loses a ball in the middle of the field, and he almost walks back on defense. He had come on a sub, you can’t be relying on these guys in the World Cup if they are going to be giving that kind of effort.
Sure the hope is McKenzie and whoever plays that position will be more motivated in the tournament, but overall the intensity that you hope to see a month from the World Cup was not there from a lot of players during the game against Japan. That could actually help some of the guys currently on the bubble to make the roster who are willing to put in the effort.
Go With The Players Up Top That You Feel Are Going To Start
It was important for Gio Reyna to get minutes with the team. Also Tim Weah, and Christian Pulisic were not available for the game against Japan. We expect these two to start in the World Cup opener. Still you have to be concerned that the team looked uninspiring up front. Aaronson put in some individual effort, but overall no one seemed like a true answer or even an emergency spark plug that can help the team if things go south in the World Cup. Certainly Berhalter should keep looking for a striker in decent form or at least a twitchy wing player that can provide some type of offense when the team is stuck. Which it seemingly was all game against Japan.
