Another USMNT performance left its fans feeling bleak about the future

It’s been a rough go of things for the USMNT under Gregg Berhalter, so what needs to change?

New manager, same old story. The USMNT continue to disappoint under Gregg Berhalter despite breaking the series of losses in friendly games with a 1-1 tie game against Uruguay’s B team. Here are a few takeaways following yet another game that left USMNT fans concerned about the future direction of this team

The USMNT center-midfield spine continues to be weak

Long gone are the days when Michael Bradley – Jermaine Johnson duo provided the type of two-way, box-to-box center midfield play that allowed the US to cruise through qualifiers and play their way out of the World Cup group stage. Despite running through a slew of central midfielders, there does not appear to be any hopeful, reliable option for a solid defensive mid in a diamond midfield or a pair of center midfielders in a flatter four-men midfield formation.

Weston McKennie has been successful at his Bundesliga club team in a more advanced role and has not shown much promise in a deeper role on the National team. Perhaps Tyler Adams can be the answer (or part of the answer) but whenever the RB Leipizig man was healthy, Berhalter insisted on sticking him wide in a right wingback role, thus leaving the center of the park vulnerable to the whims of subpar MLS talent.

It is demoralizing for fans of the US team to realize that an area that any national team with serious aspirations on the world stage needs to be strong in is in complete disarray for the US Men’s Team.

Gyasi Zardes needs to be kept as far as away from the National Team as possible

Although by no means putting on a stellar performance as the starting center forward, Josh Sargent was much more involved in the run of play, contributing in the build-up and providing a better target upfront than Zardes. The young hopeful has shown flashes of one-on-one ability and has managed to do more than just knock the ball back to the initial passer and run away, which is essentially Zardes’s trademark move. The Columbus Crew man who has become one of Berhalter’s unhealthy obsessions, totaled six touches in the entire first half against Mexico, a simply shameful number for any player at this level but even more so considering that Berhalter’s stated aspiration is to mold this team’s style to be more possession-oriented.

Berhalter’s reluctance to give youth a chance is inexplicable

By all means the most impressive performance on the men’s side since the 2014 World Cup is the performance of the U20 team at the recent World Cup. There are a number of players who have earned contracts in Europe’s top leagues following their display in June. By now, Berhalter along with the rest of the soccer universe has had plenty of evidence to realize that this current wave of the “lost generation” – the Zardes, Reams, Roldans of the world – are not good enough to lead the US through the next round of qualifying and (hopefully) the 2022 World Cup.

There are young players who are on the upward swing of their career path, plying their trade at the highest level that need to be integrated as soon as possible on this US Men’s team. Alex Mendez (Ajax), Sebastian Soto (Hannover), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich) are just a handful of names who are inexplicably left out of the mix. Paxton Pomykal who put on one of the most impressive midfield performances at the U20 World Cup was given a six minute run over the last two games.

It is not clear what Berhalter is waiting for. What’s becoming very clear is that unless this next generation is given priority over the MLS has beens and players with limited potential, any signs of progress for this US team will be few and far between.

Not counting the Gold Cup games, the US has 3 losses and 1 tie in its last four friendlies, with 8 goals against and one scored (the Jordan Morris flukey chested-in goal). Beyond the results themselves, the team has shown little to no signs of progress under Gregg Berhalter and has been slow to adapt (and adopt) Berhalter’s style (whatever that is), which is perhaps more concerning.