NFL
By: Luke Johnson
Brenden Aaronson jumped with glee, captains Pulisic and Adams sprint towards him, and the rest of the United States Men’s National Team joins in to celebrate. Aaronson had just broken the seal for the USMNT in the 55th minute by putting away a cross from Antonee Robinson. After a disappointing draw in El Salvador and a tense first half in Nashville, it looked like the United States was finally gaining momentum. Despite losing Gio Reyna to injury and having Weston Mckennie suspended, the United States had the lead early in the 2nd half. It looked like the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was behind us. Nashville was electric.
That feeling lasted for 7 minutes. Yes, 7. S-E-V-E-N. With Sergino Dest getting injured late in the first half, Alphonso Davies was able to make light work of the right side of the US defense. He cut down that side of the pitch and was able to whip a ball into Cyle Larin who was wide open and easily finished it off. A Nissan Stadium-sized vacuum sucked the air out of the building.
Short-manned and having just given up an equalizer, things were starting to look bad once more. Canada had all the momentum and the US was starting to look tired. Despite that, substitutes wouldn’t come until the 83rd minute when Lletget, Aaronson, and Pefok would come off for Roldan, Sargent, and Konrad. Pulisic, who just came back from COVID-19 ended up playing the entire game. A few more chances would come for the US, including a Miles Robinson header that went wide off a corner, but nothing found the back of the net. 1-1 final. 2 points through 2 games. Disappointment.
The United States finished the game with 72% of possession and outshot Canada 11 to 6. Things would get worse the following morning, as news broke that Dest would not be available for the Honduras match due to his ankle injury and Weston Mckennie would be returning to Italy due to disciplinary reasons. Just when we thought the shadow of an underachieving 2018 WCQ was about to be behind us, it feels darker than ever.
Despite having arguably the most talented roster in CONCACAF, the US offense has looked stagnant. The primary strategy on offense was to ping the ball into whoever our #9 was (Pefok or Sargent) where they would either try to take it on half-turn or lay it off to a wing. The other strategy through the first two games has been to let Gio or Pulisic cook and draw a foul. The team has failed to work in triangles downfield and hasn’t had anyone to occupy the space that a #10 would hold behind the striker. For a team that featured 6 Champions League players in the starting XI, the USMNT was really struggling to put together a cohesive attack. Despite being flush with possession, they only got two shots on goal.
Gregg Berhalter has a lot of questions to answer as we enter the third and final match of this international window. He’s going to need to figure out how to rotate his players to keep everyone healthy after seemingly mismanaging his substitutes in Nashville. He’s going to need to install new offensive tactics to get the ball moving. And he’s going to need to get 3 points. If the USMNT leaves Honduras after Wednesday night’s match, Berhalter’s seat is going to get quite warm
