The USMNT played Mexico on Sunday and once again, the USA beat El Tri and won another international tournament. This latest dos a cero added to a streak of the USMNT going undefeated against their rivals for the seventh straight game in which the Americans have won five and drawn two. That includes a 0-0 draw at El Azteca in World Cup qualifying and wins that brought home two trophies.
For the current USA team, the rivalry has been a game that they have routinely met or exceeded expectations in. This latest unbeaten streak has lasted from 2021 and most of the players who are now regular starters on the team were teenagers or barely in their 20s when it began. At this stage the USMNT is still incredibly young with 17 of the 23 players on the roster 25 or younger but are veterans in terms of knowing what to expect in matches like this and rising to the occasion.
This is a great sign for the USMNT and one that the team must build on going into the summer for Copa America. Gregg Berhalter has been much maligned for being Gregg Berhalter and while some criticism of him is exhausting, there is validity to it. The fact that he hasn’t gotten his team over the hurdle of beating a team ranked higher than it in the FIFA rankings won’t help expectations of a deep World Cup run and the USA is sorely lacking a signature win against a top opponent under the current manager.
While the win against Mexico was impressive, it’s contrasted with the game against Jamaica which was not… until it was. Stepping back to look at the match, Jamaica scored on a play where a young player fell asleep then one of the best minds in the history of putting 10 players behind the ball put on a master class of putting 10 players behind the ball. It was really, really effective for Iceland and it was really, really effective for Jamaica. One of, if not the most, difficult things to do in soccer is “break down a low block.” Teams using this tactic are not interested in anything, they’d rather the ball be out of play or roll on the ground pretending to be hurt than have possession for more than three passes, arguably “breaking down a low block” doesn’t really happen.
Most teams on the pro level can’t do it unless they have 3⁄4 of a billion dollars worth of transfer fees and salaries on the field. Teams that bunker are rarely broken down and more give up goals on set pieces, wonder strikes, or to inexplicable scrum goals. It takes some luck and the USA got it against Jamaica. Once the game was level again, the Americans dominated in extra time and score two terrific open play goals.
Gio was doing this all night, he’s so special and I don’t know that we’ve seen a player that can keep possession in and around the box to set up through balls like this in an American shirt before.
Without getting too carried away, this is beautiful soccer.
Furthermore, against Mexico Berhalter has gotten the best out of his team. The first win against El Tri for him came in a wild affair where the USA came back twice to win the 2021 Nations League. The other results include a dominant win in World Cup qualifying and the USA keeping four straight clean sheets in competitive games under Berhalter. Without a doubt, the games against the rivals have been the best performances that the manager has conjured from his young team against a high level opponent.
Against Mexico on Sunday, the USA dominated possession and used it to their advantage to score two more great goals. Tyler Adams may have cashed in his one career thundergolazo, but if the USA isn’t trying to play possession and isn’t trying to find space behind the backline, he probably doesn’t receive that ball.
Mexico might have been taking the back seat on possession purposefully to try to hit on the counter, but it obviously didn’t work for them and future opponents should be on notice that they do so now at their own peril against the USA. Not to mention stuff like this.
So, the USA can get Christian Pulisic dribbling past defenders in the box to send a ball into two targets in the box and if it doesn’t find one of them Gio Reyna is just casually lurking outside the area to score a super satisfying volley that’s banked off of the grass right in front of the keeper that’s nearly impossible to stop?
This is what we’ve been waiting for.
This is an exciting moment for the USMNT, these are good wins against difficult opponents who played to their strengths and then fell at the feet of the red, white, and blue. Copa America is the next step and will be a huge test for this team. When the tournament rolls around it will be almost exactly two years until the World Cup and after that, there won’t be much in terms of competitive games against high level teams to take that step.
The USA is young and has show that it’s capable of meeting expectations and even doing so in dominant fashion at times. Obviously, there needs to be progress and it needs to come in the form of a win against a top team at Copa America. The third group game will come against Uruguay who, as of now, sits two spots ahead of the Stars and Stripes in the FIFA rankings. This will be a solid test of the team and at home is one that it should pass if not ace. Beyond that, winning elimination games at home will be a useful metric for showing what this team can do at a significant international tournament that it is hosting.
There’s been much talk from Berhalter and the team about changing how the world sees American soccer and this year is when the team can back up those words.
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