A year ago, not even the famously bold Zlatan Ibrahimovic believed that the United States could contend for the World Cup title. His view changed after the cohosts won their first two games to clinch top spot in Group D less than 10 days into the tournament.
“If you didn’t believe before, I will repeat: start believing,” Ibrahimovic said on a recent television broadcast.
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Ibra – as the Swedish football icon is known – and the USA were handed a reality check in a 3-2 loss to Turkiye on Thursday night in Inglewood, California. However, the result did little to dampen the team’s enthusiasm.
“Next round is a clean slate,” USA defender Mark McKenzie said. “Again, we want to go far in this thing; we want to win the whole thing. We understand there’s work to be done. We’ve got a team full of hungry guys ready to make that happen.”
The USA have a chance to regain momentum and credibility against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday.
Faces, formation and flair
Last June, though, USA were in the midst of a four-game losing streak that included a 2-1 defeat to Turkiye in front of a predominantly Turkish crowd of 34,023 in East Hartford, Connecticut. While USA still cannot defeat the Turks, they did not face any problems against Paraguay and Australia, winning their first two World Cup matches for the first time since 1930.
So, what changed?
First, Mauricio Pochettino figured out his lineup. Only four players remain in the starting XI from a year ago: goalkeeper Matt Freese, defenders Alex Freeman and Chris Richards, and midfielder Malik Tillman.
Pochettino prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation on the pitch but has used a three-at-the-back setup instead, allowing Freeman and Antonee Robinson to add wing support for Christian Pulisic and Sergino Dest. Freeman earned his first cap at right-back against Turkiye last year, and has seldom been out of the lineup since.
Robinson, slowed by injury a year ago, is coming off a strong English Premier League season with Fulham. In central defence, veteran Tim Ream, 38, adds composure, paired with Richards. Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie team with Tillman in midfield. Up front, it is Folarin Balogun, flanked by Dest and Pulisic, or Ricardo Pepi.
Also, Pochettino adjusted tactics to personnel. Forget building out of the back or playing patiently through midfield. This USA team signals its all-out, high-pressing approach from the outset.
The plan is to concede a throw-in, daring opponents to try a way out of the press. Pochettino copied the launch-it-over-the-touchline idea from one of his former teams, Paris Saint-Germain.
So, it is all-out, over-aggressive chasing, double- and triple-teaming. And that poses risks, chief among them, players being nutmeg victims.
Several times against Paraguay, USA players were left flat-footed as the ball went under their legs, but it mattered little, since a teammate or two was usually there to help out.
Does Pochettino’s team risk making it a habit of getting nutmegged? It happened on a deciding sequence against Turkiye, as Arda Guler got through Christian Pulisic to help set up Kaan Ayhan’s winner.
It ended in a second loss in a year against Turkiye, this time before a celebrity-studded, 70,492 crowd fully expecting another USA success.
One step further
The hosts will need to be able to switch gears, exhibit patience, and vary the speed of the game. High energy and high pressing are not enough to bring down better competition.
The USA now have three wins, 15 losses and seven draws against European teams, and only one victory since 1950.
The Americans will not be able to avoid European foes for much longer, starting with Bosnia on Wednesday.
They can look for inspiration towards the 2002 team, which also started the tournament in Qatar strongly and reached the quarterfinals.
In the group stage then, the USA surprised Portugal (3-2), drew with South Korea (1-1), then fell to Poland (3-1). In the round of 16, they blanked southern neighbours Mexico (2-0), before falling to Germany (1-0), a potential Gregg Berhalter equaliser cleared off the line on a Torsten Frings suspected handball.
Winning the whole thing might be a stretch, and former USA, Everton and Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard’s reasoning probably should be considered.
“The US cannot, unequivocally, win the World Cup,” Howard said on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast.
“The US will have to play the greatest game they’ve ever played, four games in a row: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, finals. It’s literally impossible for the USA to win the World Cup. That’s just the reality.”
There is a visible and obvious surge in support for the team, and it has put an extra spring in its step as USA presses forward. All the yelling, screaming and exhortations have been energising, but that does not necessarily encourage skilful play or tactical awareness.
And, wholesale lineup changes or not, the loss should serve as a wake-up call.