It’s been a busy week between two USMNT teams in action, as the U20 team saw its impressive World Cup campaign come to an end in the quarterfinals vs. Ecuador, while the senior squad took on Jamaica and Venezuela in a final round of preparations ahead of the Gold Cup. But before we get into the U20 and Senior games, we want to provide a few quick comments on the final Gold Cup roster that was announced earlier this week and was met with some hefty criticism in the USMNT community.

Our quick take is fairly simple: we’ve always known that a USMNT transition will take time, but some of the exclusions - mainly Josh Sargent, Jonathan Amon and Cameron Carter-Vickers - are tough to accept. We understand that Berhalter values consistency and wants to build a lasting culture within the team, but what leaves us most excited is our talent among some of the younger players that will hit their prime for the 2022/2026 World Cups. As we’ve said before, our emerging USMNT player pool is perhaps as good as it’s ever been, but at some point Berhalter and his team need to more aggressively integrate those guys into the senior team. With that said, some thoughts on this week’s USMNT action. The positives (U20s) first

U20 vs. France (3-2 Win): In a stunning 3-2 win over France that included coming back from a goal down in the 55th minute, the U20s showed real perseverance against one of the best youth teams in the world. While France admittedly controlled much of the ball, the US was decisive in defense and was able to shock the French in transition with well executed counter attacks via the wingers Ledezma or Sergino Dest, who often joined the attack on the right flank.

As such, it wasn’t surprising to see the US pull ahead from a counter when Ledezma laid a beautiful through ball to Sebastian Soto, who curled the ball past Lafont into the far post for his third goal of the tournament. A bit shocked by the concession, France responded with a counter attack of their own before scoring again after putting intense pressure on the US defense at the start of the second half. In perhaps the most difficult period of the game for the United States, it was Timothy Weah who provided a moment of brilliance to find Sebastian Soto with a skillful pass, who did not miss from point blank range. The victory was emphatically secured after super sub Rennicks smashed a spilled rebound into the roof of the net.

Overall, the U20s were inferior to France’s possession game, but the resilience they showed to come back from being down a goal, a few moments of brilliance, and clinical finishing in front of goal surely signals that our U20s can compete with the best players of the world.

Among the top performers of the match were Richy Ledezma, Sebastian Soto, Sergino Dest, and Rennicks (for his game-winning goal).

U20 vs. Ecuador (1-2 Loss): Both teams had tough journeys, defeating favorites of the competition to get through to the second stage of the knockout rounds. From the start of the match, the U20s seemed to be on their heels a bit, maybe a bit overwhelmed by the occasion. There were many mistakes made trying to pass forward out of the back, which Ecuador failed to capitalize on. Ecuador punished the USA’s shakiness with a bullet shot from Cifuentes after he was given acres of space outside the box. Timothy Weah continuously pushed the US forward by feeding Soto and aggressively taking on defenders. His persistence was rewarded after he latched on a loose ball in the box after a corner, but Ecuador regained the lead soon after on a close offside tap in. Besides a missed Soto chance to level the score, the US seemed to lack fitness and creativity to build a comeback.

All in all, we can be proud of what this U20 team achieved in Poland. As exciting as a victory would have been, at the junior level, results are hardly ever the end all be all.

Instead, we can take away the excitement of seeing young USMNT players show grit and determination, possess the ball out of the back, and beat some of the best of the world’s best talents. Without a doubt, US Youth soccer is on the rise.

Now to the Senior team, which left us feeling the exact opposite of our U20s.

USMNT vs. Jamaica (0-1 Loss): The senior team started its week of friendlies with a sobering 0-1 loss to Jamaica, in what can be considered an “experimental” game ahead of the Gold Cup that saw several debuts, including Duane Holmes and Jackson Yueill. Let’s be honest, there was not much to write home about during this game, as Berhalter’s usual possession-oriented style was far from effective against a well organized Jamaican side that proved tough to break down. On the other hand, the USMNT seemed sluggish in transition and did not press the Jamaican players hard enough. This ultimately led to the only goal of the game when Shamar Nicholson fired a cracking long range effort into the USMNT net after having been afforded too much space at the top of the box. The one bright spot on the night was Duane Holmes, who provided some spark on offense for the 20+ minutes he was minutes on the field. We get it - we were hesitant to put too much stock into the result of this game, as the match was frequently interrupted with subsitions and it was far from an “A” team…but then came the loss vs. Venezuela.

USMNT vs. Venezuela (0-3 Loss): An embarrassing performance that no one saw coming, the senior team’s shocking loss to Venezuela was riddled with defensive errors and a collective lack of effort. Berhalter lined up with a 4-1-4-1 formation, starting Tyler Boyd and bringing in Aaron Long on a return from injury. Nick Lima stepped in at right back while Wil Trapp slotted into the 6 role and Zardes lead the line.

From the get go, the US seemed a bit slow and casual, with Venezuela moving the ball more quickly and aggressively. For a team that has never made a World Cup, the Venezuelans made some of the senior team members look like amateurs as they pounced on several mental lapses to pull a 3-0 lead just 36 minutes into the match. Zack Steffen’s errant pass straight to a Venezuelan player was his second misplaced pass out of the back in as many games and was quickly followed by Miazga running way out of position to challenge a throw in. Miazga’s run left a void in his normal marking space, and highlighted the lack of communication between USMNT players during the game, which became a theme. The third goal was a result of a long ball across a stretched backline, leaving Aaron Long 1v1 with Salomon Rondon. The Newcastle striker shrugged off Long first to get within feet of Steffen’s net and then took his time to shoot, blasting the ball between Long’s legs. The California native was at fault for simply too long to react and backing off when a striker was dangerously close to goal.

For the most part, the second half was a drag that continued a pattern of slow, lateral ball movement, with the only sparks being a few more decent Boyd crosses and some drive from Duane Holmes. Two bad Arriola misses capped off a forgettable performance from the USMNT, who will be grateful that their first Gold Cup match is up against a Guyanese team that is ranked 175th in the world and is playing in their first ever Gold Cup. Big picture, while some of the inexcusable defensive errors were obvious, the most frustrating part of the performance was the lack of urgency in possession. As a whole, we simply took too long to keep the ball moving and thus made it easy for Venezuela to defend. While likely in part due to player selection (and we get it, we did miss several of our best players) and in part due to Berhalter’s complex tactical system, the poor showings against Jamaica and Venezuela (by no means soccer powerhouses) solidify what we have been saying for quite some time: we need to integrate our Youth more aggressively. The talent is clearly there, it’s time we see them get a shot at the biggest stage.

Lastly, a quick plug for our recent deep dive into the broader USMNT player pool. We’ve broken down the current and future pipeline on our way to 2022 in great detail. See our full piece here, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And as always, please feel free to email us at hello@onegoal.us to let us know what you think about our newsletter!

Star of the Week

Duane Holmes (24, Columbus, GA) - Derby County, Championship

In all honesty, we struggled to come up with a “star” of the week, given the disappointing performances at the senior level, but if there was one bright spot to point out, it has to be Duane Holmes.

Man of the match vs. Jamaica in just 20 minutes: After covering Holmes’s performances for the majority of the Derby County season, we all finally got to see him in the red, white, and blue. Holmes brought the same tenacity needed to compete in the English Championship to the pitch against Jamaica, pressing high on defenders and making driven first time passes - something that was clearly lacking prior to his inclusion. While Holmes is clearly a fighter in the middle of the park, he also adds much needed creativity in the final third. In the game against Jamaica, he showed this ability numerous times as he often found the wingers out wide with driven passes. Not surprisingly, one of the best USMNT chances on the night was also created by Duane Holmes - after winning the ball at the back post following a corner kick., he found Josh Sargent at the penalty spot with a great cut-back pass under pressure.

He simply has to start against Guyana, hopefully in place of Cristian Roldan who barely contributed anything. Not sure how many other USMNT players can hit through balls like this: