March is about over and an important period for the USMNT has given us some insight in what to expect this summer. Once again, for a number of factors they did not get to have their full roster in camp. Between a minor injury to Weston McKennie and club travel restrictions imposed on Tyler Adams and Tim Weah some expected stars were missing. But we did have the vast majority of our senior roster present and playing together for the first time in a long, long time. And there is just no way to minimize how important it is for national teams to train and play together. In many cases players are tasked to play a different position, a different formation, and/or with different responsibilities than they do with their respective club teams. The only way to build a strong national team is in repetition. Since the windows when national teams actually get together are few and far between (club teams are only required to release players to their national teams during official FIFA break windows…..and with Covid travel restrictions even that has become more difficult to manage).

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

But this March the team managed to pull off two camps pretty much concurrently. The U23s trained for most of the month and finished their Olyimpic qualifying campaign, while the senior team was together for the better part of two weeks and had two friendlies in Europe. As with most things in life this lead to the proverbial good news/bad news. Lets start with the “bad news.”

U23 Olympic Qualifying

No beating around the bush here. They failed to qualify for the third straight time. They played decently in the group stage finishing second behind Mexico. But they did not look very strong especially in the attack. They just didn’t create the chances they should have. In fact other than some terrific goalkeeping by David Ochoa they might well have lost their first match to Costa Rica. The second match started much the same against the Dominican Republic failing to score until the 62nd minute. But as often happens in these one sided matches one a team finally breaks through the seem to score at will and they ended up winning 4-0 to secure a spot in the semi-finals. In their final group match they again struggled offensively losing to Mexico 1-0. But on to the semi-final against Honduras.

Last night the task was simple to define but hard to execute. Win and go to Japan. Lost and go home. Unfortunately they are going home. The match was fairly evenly played the first half but Honduras took a 1-0 lead in the last minute. But the wheels fell off early into the second half when David Ochoa failed to play a ball quickly enough and allowed the Honduran attacker to get to close to him. When Ochoa tried to play the ball wide it was redirected by the attacker and into the net, down 2-0. Just a horrible mistake. All keepers make them but in this case it couldn’t have come at a worse time. But the guys should a lot of determination and came on hard. Jackson Yueill struck a dazzling ball from 25 yards out and found the upper corner to bring it to 2-1. The last 30 minutes they had numerous chances but just couldn’t find that tying goal. Yueill had a free kick that was on a path to just inside the post but the Honduran keeper fully extended and managed to direct it wide. Then with five minutes left substitute Tanner Tessman beat his defender and sent a dangerous low ball into the 6 yard area to the feet of Jonathan Lewis. But Lewis couldn’t redirect the ball into the open goal. So we go home.

Yes there were some good moments for this young side but the bottom line is that they should had plenty of talent to move on. They just didn’t get it done. Sure we could have fielded a MUCH stronger U23 team but they were all over with the senior team in Europe. But they should have made it fine without those European players. Most of these guys have already had caps for the senior team!

All in all just a disappointing showing. But there were a couple of bright spots. Jackson Yueill and David Ochoa (his gaffe aside) had really good tournaments. Ochoa just turned 20 and will be in the mix for a role with the senior team soon.

But there is a slice of “good news” that goes with missing out on the Olympics. More on this later.

Senior Team

Take a good look at the lead in picture. You will be seeing a lot of those guys in the next several months. The team gathered for 10 days of training and two matches on European soil. Since this window was also a World Cup qualifying window for UEFA (not to mention pandemic travelling issues)scheduling was difficult but they managed to get two friendlies set up. As mentioned McKennie, Adams, and Weah were not available but we did have the majority of what most consider our top 23 players in camp. Since the camp was in Europe and MLS is in its offseason, manager Gregg Berhalter decided to only call in two US based players (Aaron Long and Kellyn Acosta).

The first match went pretty much according to script as they played their normal 4-3-3 formation against Jamaica. This was a decent Jamaican side but we handled them easily winning 4-1. As expected, Jamaica chose to bunker and play a packed defense. That approach was keeping the US attack fairly stymied until the 34th minute when Sergino Dest scored his first international goal.

That is just a world class run and finish.

The second match was against Northern Ireland. Since they were in the midst of qualifying we faced more of a “B” team but they were still comprised of players mostly playing in the English Championship (second level and at least on par with the MLS). And to somewhat of a surprise they came out in a different formation using 3 CBs with a defensive midfielder sitting in front of them. This allowed the 2 wing backs (Antonee Robinson and Dest) to roam forward with less caution. And it worked fairly well. Robinson was especially dangerous on the left side. Gio Reyna found the net from 20 yards out as it was deflected giving the keeper no chance. In the second half Christian Pulisic did what he did best. Beat several defenders on the dribble and dew the foul inside the area and converted the subsequent penalty. The field was sloppy and was fairly torn up by the end of the match and the physical play of the NI side kept it tight. But in the end the guys prevailed for a 2-1 win over a European side on their home turf.

Let’s breakdown the position groups and see what we learned coming into a summer of very important matches.

Goalkeeper

Zach Steffen played the entirety of both matches and did well clearly cementing his role as the #1. The problem is that none of the other keepers in the pool are grabbing onto the #2 spot or pushing Steffen. Ethan Horvath is stuck riding the bench in Belgium. Hopefully he finds a way to transfer this summer. MLS based Matt Turner will likely get some time with the team this summer.

Center Backs

John Brooks is the established guy in the back. A number of players will see time alongside him but short of injury he’ll man the left side. Aaron Long played both matches and accounted himself well. And clearly is comfortable playing alongside Brooks. Matt Miazga is a good option as well. But keep and eye on Chris Richards. He is starting in the Bundesliga now and may soon take over on the right. And much of who plays will also be governed by the formation. Depending on who the opponent is we may well use 3 CBs. Another youngster, Brian Reynolds, got their first cap yesterday and may well be a key moving forward. He looked good in his time yesterday.

Outside/Wing Backs

After these two matches, generally speaking the two guys are going to be Antonee Robinson on the left and Sergino Dest on the right. They both just looked very good and Robinson looked strong defensively which has been his critics concern historically. Put that to rest. He is one of the better left backs in the EPL. His forte may be his speed and attacking runs down the left flank but the boy can defende. As to Dest? He is in the conversation as to just who is the best player on the team. Depth wise much here would depend on the formation but Reggie Cannon, Tim Ream, and Sam Vines are solid depth.

Midfield

One could use a whole list of adjectives to describe our pool of midfielders. Let’s make it short. World Class and that’s not used lightly.

Missing our two best midfielders (Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig) and Weston McKennie (Juventus)) gave some more time to look at other guys. Newly committed Yunus Musah played solidly both matches. This kid is barely 18. As he matures in our system he’s going to be really, really good. Filing in for Adams at the defensive midfield spot, Kellyn Acosta played ok but may have been the weak link (ok most teams would love to have a player at his caliber be their weak link!). Sebastian Lleget scored twice against Jamaica and clearly established himself as a fixture in the 23 man roster. Luca De La Torre played really well and may have moved into 2nd on the depth chart as the dmid behind Adams. Kid is good. But of all we got to see this past two matches the one who probably upped his stock the most was Brenden Aaronson. He can defend, dribble, shoot but my oh my can he pass the ball. His passes have laser accuracy and just spot on pace. He is going to cause teams fits.

Forwards

On the outside we will typically line up with Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna. Pulisic , wide left, was on top of his game this past week. Clearly the man of the match yesterday. He just shredded the NI midfield with his dribbling in tight space creating open gaps for his teammates. He is so fun to watch when he is healthy and on his game. Lets see how he does in the next few Chelsea matches; if manager Thomas Tuchel was paying attention he’s got to get him on the field. On the right flank, Reyna had a very good two games. Scored a goal and was heavily involved in the attack. Tim Weah will play a bunch this summer too.

In the middle it seems like Josh Sargent is the current starter but both Daryl Dike and Jordan Siebatcheu saw plenty of minutes and will have a shot to earn a starting role. None of them have scored like you’d like to see from your striker but they all look like they have the makings of a solid shot maker.

What’s Next?

Time will go fast now. MLS starts up in a few weeks and May will be here before we know it. And then things get interesting in a hurry,

On May 30th they will have a friendly against the Swiss and hopefully a second friendly as final tune ups for the big stretch.

CONCACAF Nations League – The US will face Honduras and Mexico will face Costa Rica in the semifianls then hopefully the final several days later. This will take place in June.

CONCACAF Gold Cup – July 10 to August 1st are the dates for this years Gold Cup. The US will be in Group with Canada, Martinique, and the winner of match 7 in the final qualifying play. The top two teams will then move on to the knockout matches.

World Cup 2022 Qualifying – The US has already qualified for the final round of CONCACF matches along with Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Honduras. Three additional teams will join them based upon ongoing play. These 8 teams will play a home and home series against each team from September through March of 2022 in what’s being called “The Ocho.” The top 3 teams will qualify for WC 2022 with the fourth place team facing a home and home from a team in another federation to earn a potential 4th CONCACAF spot at the WC. The round robin play is standard for this stage of qualifying, however, there is one huge change this time. The windows will be in September, October, November, January 2022, and March 2022 during the FIFA windows. But each window will be extended by one day to allow for 3 matchdays during each window. This is where depth is going to be critical. All US players will be in the midst of their club seasons for the September, October and November windows and all but MLS players will be with their clubs for the January and March windows (although this is also MLS preseason.) They will play 3 matches during 4 of these windows and the normal 2 matches during one window. This is a ton of high level matches in a short time frame.

So the minor “good news” alluded to earlier in missing out on the Olympics? It is going to be very difficult to manage the roster for all of these matches. Having to fit the Olympics (July 21 – August 7) in on top of that would have been even tougher. Certainly the US could have sent their “B” U23 squad to Japan, basically the same squad that failed to qualify. But several key senior players, including Christian Pulisic had already stated their desire to play in the Olympics. Not having to make the tough roster juggling moves is no small blessing.

While we have still not gotten to see what many feel are our best starting XI play together the last couple of matches have given us a pretty good glimpse of what we can expect come this summer and especially starting in September. The senior team has more talent playing in top leagues than ever. And almost as important this qualifying time is that we are deep and that depth is also comprised of capable players. The bottom line is that there is every reason to be optimistic heading toward WC 2022 in Qatar.

Steve Birrer
Steve Birrer

Soccer Analyst

Steve is an avid fan of all things soccer and the O’s. Originally from the west, he grew up in the Baltimore area. He returned to the west for college where he earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent 36 years working at the Idaho National Laboratory prior to retiring in 2013. It was during his school years in Baltimore where he learned to play soccer and that developed into a life long passion. He played competitively for over 40 years and was a four year starting goalkeeper at MSU. He also coached and refereed in the Idaho premier soccer and High School programs for many years.

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