A year ago, even the famously brave Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t believe the United States could compete for a World Cup title. His perspective changed after the co-hosts won their first two games to seal top spot in Group D less than 10 days into the tournament.
“If you didn’t believe before, I repeat, start believing,” Ibrahimovic said on a recent television broadcast.
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Ibra, known as a soccer icon in Sweden, and the United States were given a reality check Thursday night in Inglewood, Calif., with a 3-2 loss to Tolkier. However, this result did little to dampen the team’s enthusiasm.
“Next round is a clean slate,” U.S. national team defender Mark McKenzie said. “Again, we want to go further in this effort. We want to win it all. We know we have work to do. We have a team full of hungry guys ready to make it happen.”
The United States has a chance to regain momentum and confidence when it faces Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday.
face, formation, sense
But last June, the U.S. was in the midst of a four-game losing streak, including a 2-1 loss to Turkiye in front of a mostly Turkish crowd of 34,023 in East Hartford, Conn. Although the United States has not yet been able to defeat Turkey, they had no problems against Paraguay and Australia, winning the first two games of a World Cup for the first time since 1930.
So what has changed?
First, Mauricio Pochettino came up with his lineup. Only four players remain in the starting lineup from a year ago: goaltender Matt Freese, defenders Alex Freeman and Chris Richards, and midfielder Malik Tillman.
Pochettino prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation on the pitch, but instead opted for a three-back set-up, allowing Freeman and Anthony Robinson to add support on the flanks of Christian Pulisic and Sergino Dest. Freeman earned his first cap as a right-back against Tolkien last year and has rarely been absent from the starting lineup since.
Robinson has just completed a strong season in the English Premier League with Fulham after suffering a setback due to injury a year ago. In central defense, veteran Tim Ream (38 years old) has been partnering with Richards, adding to the calm. Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie will team up with Tillman in midfield. Up front is Folarin Balogun, flanked by Dest and Pulisic or Ricardo Pepi.
Pochettino also adjusted his tactics to suit his personnel. Forget about building from the back or playing patiently in midfield. This American team exhibits an all-out, high-pressing approach from the get-go.
The plan is to allow a throw-in and make a bold attempt to let the opponent escape the press. Pochettino copied the idea of “launching over the touchline” from one of his former teams, Paris Saint-Germain.
That means going after them with all their might and being overly aggressive, double-teaming and triple-teaming them. And it poses risks, the main of which is that the player becomes a victim of nutmeg.
Several times against Paraguay, American players got tripped by the ball under their feet, but it didn’t really matter because usually one or two teammates came to help.
Is Pochettino’s team at risk of becoming accustomed to chaos? It happened in the deciding sequence against Turkiye, when Arda Güler burst past Christian Pulisic to set up Khan Ayhan’s winning goal.
It was the second loss of the year against Tolkier, but this time in front of a celebrity-studded crowd of 70,492 hoping for more success for the United States.
Go one step further
The host must be able to switch gears, exhibit patience and change the speed of the game. High energy and high press alone are not enough to beat better competition.
The United States currently has three wins, 15 losses, and seven ties against European teams, with only one win since 1950.
The Americans won’t be able to avoid European enemies for long, starting with Wednesday’s battle against Bosnia.
They can take inspiration from the 2002 team, which also started the tournament in Qatar well and reached the quarter-finals.
In the group stage at the time, the United States surprised Portugal (3-2), drew with South Korea (1-1), and then lost to Poland (3-1). In the round of 16, they defeated their southern neighbor Mexico 2-0, but lost 1-0 to Germany, with Gregg Berhalter’s equalizing goal going off the line due to a handballing suspicion from Torsten Frings.
It may not be possible to win them all, but one should consider the reasoning of former USA, Everton and Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard.
“It’s not obvious that the United States is going to win the World Cup,” Howard said on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast.
“The U.S. has to play its best game ever in four consecutive games: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. It’s literally impossible for the U.S. to win the World Cup. That’s the reality.”
There was a visible and obvious surge in support for the team, which gained even more momentum as the U.S. moved forward. The yelling, yelling, and exhortations all provided energy, but they didn’t necessarily encourage skillful play or tactical awareness.
And whether or not the extensive lineup changes, this loss should serve as a wake-up call.
