HARRISON, N.J. – Nine months out from a World Cup, it is unrealistic to expect most national teams to be the finished product, especially in a friendly where experimentation should be encouraged. World Cup-bound teams, though, should be offering a preview of what that finished product might be and in the U.S. men’s national team’s case, that might be the organized chaos head coach Mauricio Pochettino described as the ideal look for his team. As the USMNT dragged themselves through a 2-0 defeat to South Korea on Saturday, though, organization and stylistic chaos were in short supply.
Nearly a year into the job, Pochettino’s USMNT have started to move to a familiar rhythm. The starting lineup is an unusual mix of veterans and players who few would have guessed would be in the mix when the Argentine officially accepted the job. Each game essentially becomes a sink-or-swim test for whichever fringe players take to the field, the varying levels of individual performance almost completely muddying the team’s tactical plan in the process. The cast of characters rotates and the in-game errors change but with seven losses in 17 matches, watching Pochettino’s version of the USMNT has become an arduous experience.
“I think we should learn a lot,” Pochettino said post-match – before trying to focus on the positives.
He was not necessarily wrong when listing some sources of optimism. The USMNT outshot South Korea 17-5 and generated 2.27 expected goals to the opponent’s 0.74, and in a second half that saw Pochettino form a back three with Tim Ream and Tristan Blackmon and substitute Chris Richards, the hosts conceded just one shot on target. It was a game of moments in some ways, the visitors making the most of their four shots on target with two first half goals and the USMNT perhaps unlucky not to have a goal of their own.
“Overall, I think we were better than South Korea but [in] the end, if you are not clinical in your own area and then in the opposite box, it’s difficult and because we create more chances, we have the feeling that we controlled the game but in some actions, we concede,” Pochettino said. “I am so pleased, if I put the result on another side. I am so pleased in the way that we are evolving from the Gold Cup today with different players, different roster from the Gold Cup but also the players [are] starting to understand what we want from them. I think the attitude was great. The capacity to be [in] the game after 2-0, that was difficult against a team that was really good.”
Those small moments were costly, though, and did nothing to help Pochettino’s case on Saturday. The head coach had deemed this month’s friendlies, which includes a Tuesday clash against Japan, as the last chance to vet inexperienced players but Saturday’s performance suggested that Pochettino’s experiment has perhaps already run its course. The performance offered fresh reminders of well-known USMNT habits, both in defense and attack. The USA’s backline still looks fairly uncomfortable without Richards, who could not start because of a small issue he arrived to camp with, and Antonee Robinson, who got this international break off. Sergino Dest is a thrill to watch with the ball at his feet and the opponent’s goal in his sights but is lax in defense, most notably on Son Heung-min’s 18th minute goal.
The player singled out the most was Blackmon, who did not impress on either goal in his USMNT debut and has done little to unseat Ream or Richards. The Vancouver Whitecaps defender was the latest in a string of fringe players who have earned playing time during Pochettino’s time at the helm, the results mixed – at best – for the inexperienced contenders thrown into the deep end of playing for a national team stuck in a yearslong rut. Midfielder Tyler Adams argued that first impressions are can be deceiving, using himself as an example.
“I think it’s up to the leaders in the group and the core guys in the group to get them feeling comfortable and have them playing at their best,” Adams said. “It’s not always easy to come into a national team. I remember what it was like when I came into my first national team camp and I played like shit so I understand what it’s like right now in the lead-up. Only nine months until a World Cup, they might feel pressure, they might feel nerves. That’s the environment. That’s the difference of playing with the national team compared to playing in your club in Europe where you can get comfortable every single day.”
Pochettino, perhaps fairly, that playing time is the only way to truly vet their talents, the disjointed performances a natural result of the mix-and-match approach the head coach has taken to preparing this team for a World Cup on home soil.
“We are testing too many things,” Pochettino said. “You say today, ‘Why Tristan?’ But Tristan, we wanted to see because we’d seen in Vancouver, I think, [he] has the profile to be in the national team but also he needs to live the experience to be in this level.”
Pochettino has taken an extreme approach to tinkering, listing 14 different starting lineups in his 17 matches in charge. Sometimes the changes work, like the back three Pochettino said could be an option for the team in the future. Sometimes, though, those tinkers come when it’s too late and for a notable chunk of time, create an untenable game state. Pochettino’s USMNT may have recovered well from a 2-0 deficit but the 2-0 deficit itself raised alarm bells, the organized chaos he teased pushed to the wayside by chaos from a lack of defensive organization.
There is a constant sense of catch-up the USMNT seems to be playing in this period of experimentation, a valiant project but one that may have lasted a few weeks too long. With each passing performance, preconceived notions seem to be winning the battle.
“We knew the idea, I think our rules got a little bit twisted,” Adams said. “They found some issues pretty easily in the first half. We talked about it at half time. We said if we would go three in the back — Diego [Luna] stepped out, Josh [Sargent] joined them in, Christian [Pulisic] to man-to-man and I think we were just missing triggers on a lot of them and then we were a little bit too late to jump. If you’re too late to jump, you end up chasing shadows. That’s what it felt like at times.”
Saturday’s outing deserves some of the leniency of a friendly match but even then, it is the latest sign of a worrying trend – the USMNT have been outscored 11-2 in their last seven first halves against opponents ranked in the top 25 and Pochettino has just one win against a team ranked in FIFA’s top 30. The trend predates Pochettino, his predecessor Gregg Berhalter not boasting a terrific record against top 20 opponents – he had five wins in that category, four against Mexico.
It forces the question: Was there anything new and of value to be gathered from the USMNT’s latest loss, or was it another bump in the road that only added additional hand-wringing as this group’s high-stakes summer inches closer and closer?
