The USMNT boss largely stacked his lineup against Ecuador, and got a glimpse into what a successful World Cup run could look like
In 2013, then-Manchester United manager David Moyes was asked in a news conference where his Red Devils needed to improve. It was simple, he admitted.
"We'd like to pass it better. We'd like to create more chances, we'd like to defend better when those moments arise. I don't think it's any one area, we're just trying to improve all around," Moyes said.
That clip went viral. The easy summary: Man United were rubbish, and their out-of-depth manager needed his team to improve in every possible footballing capacity. They were underperforming. Everything, yes, needed to be better.
And over much of the past year, it's been hard not to feel that way about Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT, too. There were countless individual ideas at play – especially in the Gold Cup and September's friendly with South Korea – but nothing really cohensive to be found. He had a sort of system, with a sort of full strength squad, playing sort of soccer.
It was all seemingly verging on a vanity project. Here was Pochettino, "changing the culture" doing things his way, and, well, losing nearly as often as winning. And no, Pochettino didn't win against Ecuador on Friday. But he certainly came a lot closer.
It was about as close to a complete performance as the U.S. have turned in during his tenure. Some of it, to be sure, is tactical. There is a formation now, a clear set of ideas to work with. Some of it is man-management. But perhaps most importantly, Pochettino has loosened his grip – albeit slightly.
"We are here talking about actions, concepts, formations, things like this now," Pochettino said. "After one year, I am so happy that we don't talk about other things like commitment, attitude or things that, in the past, we've had to talk about. I think that is a massive step up."
The U.S. has a lot of good players to work with, and Pochettino, finally, has elected to use them. And even if the result wasn't quite there, the soccer was. And that might mean more than any individual win.
Getty ImagesThe starting XI
What about that starting XI? In soccer is, everyone seems to have an opinion. One person's 3-4-2-1 is another's 4-2-3-1. Give us attacking midfielders, double pivots, inverting fullbacks, Mauricio. We crave it. It is the manager's prerogative to set up the USMNT as he sees fit – regardless of the general furor around the team.
And Friday night, the soccer world all got to feel like Pochettino listened.
The roster had been promising from early on. The Christian Pulisic drama of the summer was gone. Folarin Balogun is here. Weston McKennie and his last-chance-saloon vibes was selected. Tim Weah, in excellent form at Marseille, was brought into the fold.
With Tyler Adams out, Pochettino avoided the MLS temptation and instead brought in Tanner Tessmann, who has enjoyed a solid spell at Lyon. Even Antonee Robinson, clearly not fully fit, was brought into the group. There is every chance that he's there to keep the culture together.
It is, at this point, time to think more about getting your best players in a training facility and hoping that they start to get on. Whether they do or not isn't available to the public. Their relationships exist in 15-minute previews of training, curated social media clips, and body language experts during games.
But one thing is for sure: there is some chemistry building here. Pochettino's starting XI was pretty low fuss. Pulisic wasn't available from the start, after picking a slight ankle injury. Elsewhere, though, things looked good: McKennie, Malik Tillman and Weah all started. Miles Robinson, arguably the U.S.'s weakest performer, lasted an hour before being hooked.
AdvertisementImagnThe players that didn't make it
Perhaps more importantly – and more indicative of Pochettino's head space – were the players that failed to make the starting lineup. Pochettino had made it clear from early on that he valued MLS talent. Alex Freeman and Diego Luna were some of his early favorites. He also handed chances to Patrick Agyemang early in his tenure.
All three were benched to begin with against Ecuador. And while Luna and Freeman both came off the bench with 30 minutes to play, it seemed more like an half an hour to try-out for the big boy team than a statement of intent from the manager.
When the U.S. needed a late goal, Pochettino, crucially, relied to EFL Championship talent rather than former MLS stalwarts. Sure, there was a domestic presence on the bench, but just three of the six subs to appear made it .
Some of this is down to rotation. Pochettino knows what Agyemang is. James Sands is there to round out the numbers. But in the 87th minute, in a 1-1 game, when you're chasing a winner, you call on the player that you trust the most. Pochettino went with the big name, not the MLS guy who had made an impact for him before.
This, of course, raises some questions about fairness. Every manager likes to push the play-on-merit agenda. And that's a valid point. Could Luna have not earned more minutes here, for example? Perhaps.
But Tillman is a bona fide European talent, signed to replace Florian Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen. That he has never quite made it happen for the U.S. is largely irrelevant. Pochettino didn't necessarily bring in guys. He looked for talent.
Getty ImagesWhat it all meant
The result of all of this was a far more compelling performance than Pochettino's U.S. have provided in quite some time. Balogun was excellent, stretching the defense with clever runs and a wonderful turn of pace.
"His work ethic is amazing in the way that he always is available in every single aspect of the game, with and without the ball," Pochettino said of Balogun after the match. "I'm so pleased with his performance."
McKennie picked a few lovely passes. Tillman was another standout, all tight turns and cute flicks – a style of play that runs in such contrast with his 6-3 frame. He created six chances, by far the most on the pitch. In the middle of the park, Tessmann went about his duty efficiently. The stats were fine: a few tackles won, 91% of his passes completed.
But he also just looked like a big guy doing big guy things: tackling, cutting passing lanes. There will be a real competition for this side to see who gets into the lineup to play alongside Adams. Tessmann made a fairly compelling case. At the back, the void in class was clear. Richards is probably now a bit too good for Crystal Palace, and showed why with another impervious performance. Tim Ream was as reliable as ever.
The three weakest links? Miles Robinson at left center back, who picked up a yellow card early and never recovered; Aidan Morris in central midfield, who looked a step slow; and Max Arfsten at left wing back, who lacked the attacking guile for the role.
By the end of it all, the U.S. outpassed, outshot and pretty much outplayed their visitors. A couple of immense saves from Ecuador's 28-year-old keeper Hernan Galindez prevented what might of been a 4-1 win.
Getty Images SportPulisic and his potential impact
There is also the wider reality here: the U.S. did all of this (mostly) without Pulisic. The full extent of his injury situation isn't clear. Pochettino mentioned that he had picked up a knock. He missed a day of training. You could have guessed that he wouldn't start. It was really a question of would he be seen, and, if so, when?
It's tough to speculate here. If the U.S. had been up, Pochettino likely would not have risked him. But with a goal needed, he threw his man on. And as soon as he entered the fray, the energy of everything changed. Pulisic is playing his best soccer in some time, and has a real presence about him that he lacked in previous years.
Here, he wanted to ball. He drove when he had it. He pointed and shouted and let the pieces form around him when he had the ball. Spanish football often references the concept of "pausa" – effectively slowing the game down when you have the ball, Matrix style. It's an ineffible thing that can't really be taught. Pulisic has it.
A full 90 of the American in this match, and the scoreline might have been radically different.
