If you watched US vs Chile last week you probably noticed Arturo Vidal. He’s the best player on the Chile team and one of the best 50(?) or so players in the world. You probably also noticed he was getting the ball in space on the regular.

For some reason, there was a pocket of space between Bradley, Ream and Gonzalez that Vidal was able to find often during the game.

Why?

First of all, Vidal is really good. He’s tormented and bullied teams much better than the US.

Red – Chile

Blue – US

From a tactical perspective though…what was Chile doing to get Vidal into that gap? Here’s the tactics board view of how the teams were set up in the above screen cap.

If you look at the board you can see that Isla, the Chilean RB/RWB, is pinning Tim Ream wide and opening up space there. Castillo (forward) is controlling the two center backs and preventing Gonzalez from stepping out. This leaves Bradley and Arriola to handle Vidal. They don’t.

Bradley and Arriola are cutting off passing angles instead of getting close to the man, but they don’t quite get it right. Pavez (#14) does something with his body shape to fool Arriola into thinking he’s going out wide and Bradley sees the pass coming, but can’t quite get there (*cough* Tyler Adams *cough*).

This scenario and others like it played out repeatedly throughout the game. Chile’s first goal came from a scramble in front of goal, but that whole situation started out with a pass to Vidal in that same pocket of space. Watch.

Vidal slides out into the gap, Pavez finds him again, and Vidal starts the move that eventually leads to the goal. 1-1.

The 4-2-2-2

The US was set up in the 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2) that they have played in defense since Berhalter took over the team. The pic below is taken from the tactical talk Berhalter did with the MLS guys shortly after getting the job. He likes the outside midfielders to push up a little. It sure looks like this is the space Chile was trying to expand and target.

Red circles are my addition

On the brightside, Chile only scored one goal. The US was playing their second string (Who’s a for sure #1 from that lineup? Yedlin? Arriola? Maybe Bradley?) and managed to play Chile to a draw. The USMNT was shook, and basically hanging on from the 20th minute or so until Berhalter changed things up in the second half.

Adjustments

In the 56th minute Berhalter takes off Cory Baird and puts on Daniel Lovitz. And then in the 66th minute Wil Trapp comes on for Paul Arriola. The USMNT is now in a sort of 5-4-1. Look at the screen cap below from the 77th minute. The space that Vidal had been occupying is gone. With the extra man in the backline Ream is able to step to Vidal while Lovitz keeps track of Isla along the sideline. In the first half Ream would have been stretched out trying to cover and Vidal would have moved into that space.

The US would also occasionally defend in a 4-3-3 shape that helped eliminate that pocket of space. In the 4-2-2-2 the two d-mids would have to cover the same ground that three midfielders were covering in the second half.

Lining the players up this way compressed that space. It also helped the US to eliminate the problem Chile had been causing by sending Isla forward for Ream to mark.

Conclusions

With all the pressure/possession Chile had…do you remember any good scoring chances? There really weren’t any. The US actually edged Chile in xG .67 to .56 (NOT a barnburner). It may not have been a lot of fun to watch the team fumble around in possession, but it wasn’t a terrible performance when you consider all the factors in play.

USMNT Grade

While I would have loved to see the US show the ability to control the ball and the game against Chile’s press, that never seemed likely. With a lineup full of backups it became even less likely. The US was much more impotent once Pulisic left, but still threatened on the break a time or two and was able to adjust. When was the last time the USMNT had a manager that could fix a problem? (the answer is Bradley btw) All things considered…I’d say this game gets a solid, “Not bad.”

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