The cheer that went up just after the second half restart said it all. The crowd at Lumen Field knew what their players were doing as they punted the ball deep into Australian territory. They were right to be excited. So far there are few more invigorating sights at the World Cup than the USMNT, hunting in packs, forcing errors from their weaker, slower prey.
Having blown Paraguay out of the water in the opener, it is fair to say that the US were a little off that level in game two, even if the 2-0 win over the Australians bore some of those hallmarks of a fast start, Folarin Balogun forcing mistakes from defenders and American energy levels trickling away as the game wore on. The hosts were clumsier in the final third than they had been first time out, this game ending with just 10 shots worth a combined 1.3 xG, figures which of course don’t count the own goal that Folarin Balogun forced with strong running down the left.
When 25 possessions started in the attacking third, it is fairly underwhelming to get such limited offensive output. On another day, the pressure Australia applied in the second half might have paid dividends. If this was a layup it was one finished not entirely convincingly through traffic, a couple of big bodies leaving their mark on the victorious USMNT. It was also a win without the best creative force Mauricio Pochettino has on the roster. Put Christian Pulisic in and the final pass that went awry this time might have picked out its man.
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Losing your best attacker, arguably the face of the tournament, is supposed to be the sort of problem that sets teams off course. Without Pulisic the USMNT weren’t just missing their leading chance creator and top scorer of the post-2022 World Cup cycle, they were missing a leader with or without the armband, a standard setter and a player they have come to rely on to deliver in the clutch.
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These are the sort of soft factors that can translate onto the pitch in the most problematic fashion. Not this time.
The US stuck to what worked. After five possession recoveries in the attacking third against Paraguay, they settled for four this time, all before the first hydration break. Their opposition were held to a 71.4% passing success rate, a real sign of an American pressing system that was forcing errors. Did it help that Tony Popovich stuck Nestory Irankunda on the bench, robbing his side of what would prove to be a threatening outlet when the Watford man came on in the second half? Undeniably. But the US were relentless in their hunt. It wouldn’t have mattered who was out on the pitch. They were playing their way.
That way is pure Pochettino. In fact, it’s more Pochettino than the last few Pochettino teams have been. At Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea there was the sense of a coach compromising his ideals in organisations where he was nothing like the all-powerful managers most head coaches yearn to be. There’s a reason he still talks wistfully of Tottenham. There, he had authority, time and young, hungry players to forge into his own.
Make no mistake, Balogun is not the second coming of Harry Kane. You wouldn’t swap Mousa Dembele for Weston McKennie or Toby Alderweireld for Chris Richards. But in this squad, Pochettino has a young, athletic group who are well-suited to his way of football. The talent matters less because, frankly, even the best the international game has to offer isn’t getting close to the Premier League in the mid to late 2010s.
Especially not the opponents who have come and might be coming the USMNT’s way. At the time of writing top spot in the group is not yet secured, but even if Turkiye win to delay the American coronation, a point in the final game would do the job. Put this team top of their group and they would be locked in to facing a third-placed team from Group B/E/F/I/J, with the ordering reflecting the priority of draw. If the third-placed team from Group B was among the eight best-performing sides in that spot, that’s who the US would get. Right now, that’s Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If the entire group stage were to stay positioned as is between now and the end of matchday three — which it almost certainly won’t — then you would be looking at a quarterfinal path of Bosnia followed by the winner of New Zealand vs. Czechia. Like I said, that’s not what you’re getting. However, the draw has been constructed in such a fashion that there are a lot of good breaks that can come America’s way if they hold onto top spot. Belgium is the best team on paper that they could land from Group G, whose winners they would face in the round of 16. Wouldn’t you fancy the industry and energy of this system in that sort of match up?
USMNT down Australia and qualify for World Cup knockout stage thanks to high vibes and gritty defense
Pardeep Cattry
The worry, such as it is, is further afield. Pochettino’s system is very well suited when you have the sort of technical and athletic advantages that the US has enjoyed over their opposition so far. Against a Turkiye or a Belgium, it will be intriguing to find out. Against the sort of high-grade opposition that would probably lie in wait in a quarterfinal, it could get ugly.
There are a class of teams, Spain the most obvious among them, who want nothing more than a team to come out and try to get the ball off them. The reason that the high pressing that Pochettino has clung to fell out of vogue in the club game is that teams got so good at navigating around, through or over it that they started to try to bait that press. Even outside their club environment, they will back themselves to do much the same when the US try to get up in their grills.
These are the caveats you must bear in mind for when there’s an opportunity to really get carried away. If you already have a particularly strong case of World Cup fever, most qualified physicians and football analysts ought to be able to inform you that the USMNT are to Spain, France, England and Argentina what Australia and Paraguay just were to the USMNT. Not an opponent to take lightly, but one who really should be brushed aside if you approach the task maturely.
Strange things can happen in one-off football matches — particularly if the home faithful could match the noise that Lumen Field made Friday — but if this pack gets far enough to run into an apex predator, they could learn some tough lessons. Then again, at this moment, the players and Pochettino’s system have got themselves to a spot where if they have to face up against the best of the best, it will be because they have already have achieved something pretty impressive indeed.
