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Jeff Carlisle
As the United States men’s national team trudged off the field at half-time, boos rang out at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee. And every single last one of them was deserved.
The U.S. was already down 4-0 to Switzerland, and went on to lose by that same score. The first half looked a scrimmage between the varsity and the junior varsity; young players being thrown into the lion’s den and getting mauled. Already utilizing a roster bereft of over a dozen experienced players, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino is operating with a green roster. But he wanted to see what they had, so he made nine changes to the team that lost to Turkey 2-1 last Saturday. Five of those changes saw players with fewer than five caps at the start of this camp enter the line-up.
The move proved fatal. the visitors broke on top in the 13th minute on a goal by Dan Ndoye and didn’t take their foot off the gas for the rest of the half with strikes from Michel Aebischer (23rd minute), Breel Embolo (32nd minute) and Johan Manzambi (35th minute). The U.S. defense was cut to pieces with ease.
A flurry of substitutions at half-time, five in all, as well as a move to three center backs, helped staunch the bleeding. Pochettino said on TNT’s broadcast that the changes were planned, but what choice did he have? Regardless, it provided no consolation at all given what transpired in the first half.
Afterwards, Pochettino admitted that his desire to get everyone playing time over the last two matches before the Gold Cup was a step too far.
“That was my decision, and it was my fault,” Pochettino said in his post-game press conference. “The first half, all the critics should be, or could be for me because I think that was my decision. But at the same time, it was the good intention to provide all the players the possibility to play and try to compete for a place the World Cup.”
How bad was this performance? In terms of losing streaks and goals conceded, it makes for grim reading. Per ESPN Stats and Information, the U.S. conceded four goals in the first 40 minutes of a match for the first time since Nov. 9, 1980 in Mexico. It was the first time this had ever happened at home. The last time the U.S. lost this many matches in a row came in 2007 during a five-game stretch under Bob Bradley. Those included three consecutive losses at the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela with a less than full strength roster, as well as friendly defeats to Sweden and Brazil. The USMNT hadn’t lost four consecutive games at home since 1988 when it lost two games each to Chile and Ecuador. We’re talking about a time near the end of U.S. soccer’s dark ages.
Among the head-shaking developments — and there were a lot of them — was that what Switzerland was doing offensively wasn’t all that complicated. Simple diagonal passes out of the back completely flummoxed the U.S. defense. Playing out of the back seemed beyond what the U.S. was capable of. And then there were the basic errors. Failing to track runners. A lack of pressure on the ball in midfield. The U.S. press looked completely uncoordinated. The list goes on.
Was the youth of the starting a lineup a factor? You bet. But it wasn’t just the youth that was a problem. It was the lack of competitiveness. Pochettino praised his team for that aspect following the Turkey game last Saturday. Against Switzerland it was largely absent. Combine that with the gulf in quality between the two sides and you get a result like Tuesday’s.
The most sobering realization of all is that the USMNT’s depth, at least the kind that can help them in next year’s World Cup, is threadbare. Outside backs Nathan Harriel and Max Arfsten looked completely overmatched. The same went for midfielders Sebastian Berhalter and Quinn Sullivan. It was the latter’s giveaway that led to Switzerland’s fourth by Manzambi.
The only sliver of hope was the play of the substitutes, led by Diego Luna and Tim Ream, but it would be foolish to read too much into what was essentially 45 minutes of garbage time. The thought that this starting line-up will never see the field together again provides some encouragement. There also seems to be a clear demarcation line between the players that can contribute in the Gold Cup, and those who can’t. That data is valuable, no matter how painfully it was acquired.
Afterwards, Ream did what he could to maintain a semblance of composure over the result.
“I think there’s some individual errors that we make, and we get punished for them at this level, and you see it all around the world,” he said during TNT’s postgame coverage.
“And that’s a learning process for a lot of guys who are earning very, very few caps, very first caps. And again, it’s a learning experience. We have to be calm; we have to keep our head on right, analyze what the first half especially, and even things in the second half that we can do better. And if we do that, we will be all right.”
And what of the upcoming Gold Cup? Expectations were already heading in a downward trajectory in terms of how far the U.S. can make it in the tournament. At this stage, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the U.S. eliminated before the final.
Avoiding that outcome will require Pochettino tilting his line-up towards more experience rather than going hell-bent on youth. He’ll also be hoping that midfielder Tyler Adams, who sat out the game with a foot injury, manages to heal up and stay that way. His veteran presence in the center of midfield will do plenty to help some of the younger players work through tough spots.
But the U.S. enters the Gold Cup with tons of questions about its quality, its mettle, and its willingness to adapt to situations. There are questions about the manager too. Right now, none of them can be answered positively. The next four weeks will see if this version of the USMNT can change that.
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