Back In Groove

There's vibes and juice with the USMNT again, probably the most since Pochettino was hired.

This is a challenge. It's a challenge when you've tried to be the even-keel guy throughout the Mauricio Pochettino journey for the USMNT. When people were losing their mud over the perceived first 11 mailing it in during the Nations League last March, I didn't think it mattered much. When the B- or C-squad struggled to find cohesion or looked out of its depth, I didn't worry, because how many of those guys were really going to play come June '26? When things started to rebound during the Gold Cup, or in the recent friendlies, I tried to be guarded. They're just friendlies, after all. International football is too weird to devote too much emotion to anything outside the actual tournaments.

But locating the ground with one's feet gets trickier when what we used to call the C-squad beats seven different kinds of shit out of Uruguay. Yeah, it wasn't the full Uruguay team, either. But it was a lot closer to a full-strength Uruguay side than it was a USMNT side, and the former couldn't get anywhere near the latter. They might have gotten Marcelo Bielsa fired (though that isn't always that tricky).

We could dissect players and tactics, and I'll try to in a second here, to try to figure out what's the real shit and what's just a temporary high. What clearly is underlying all of it, though, is that Pochettino has installed a high-energy, fuck you attitude and method to it all. So no matter who enters the lineup, and host of players have done so the past three windows, that never changes. So limited players like Seb Berhalter or Timmy Tillman or John Tolkin or Alex Freeman (though he might not actually be that limited) can enter the squad, enter the lineup, and know exactly what's required. There's no dropoff in what the US has to specialize in. Maybe they don't have the touch, or the vision, or whatever else of the players that might be ahead of them in the pecking order. But they know the pressing patterns. They know where to counter. They know the energy level required, and they meet it. That's hardly nothing.

Even the first 11, whichever version of that takes the field for the first World Cup game, isn't going to go all Guardiola and pass and move their way through low blocks and high presses and have us all wondering when Carlos Alberto is going to come charging through to finish off some 74-pass move. They'll do it by being direct, by capitalizing on mistakes, by forcing things. And Pochettino has constructed a program where, like, 20-25 different guys can provide that.

That's vibes and juice, friends.

-So, to Seb Berhalter. If you've read me for anytime, you know I'm not a fan. He's Kellyn Acosta II, right? World class set-piece delivery while being completely bewildered in every other facet of the game at this level. Can't really pass when it's live, his defensive positioning is wayward, etc. Then he goes and has that game, against a real opponent. I thought he had played his way off the team in September, and he wasn't around in October, which only confirmed that.

Now I'm convinced he's on the plane.

I still don't think Berhalter can do much, other than that set-piece delivery. He can be an energetic presence in midfield, and his constant activity drove Rodrigo Bentancur just nuts enough that he felt the need to try and remove Berhalter's leg below the knee and get sent off. There is value in a player that can pinball around and muddy things up for the opposition.

The US have a few of those guys, though. But none of them come with the one superlative skill that Berhalter has, which is that set-piece ability. Berhalter isn't going to start, but it's not hard to envision late in a game where the US need a goal that he'll be called upon to do that. Stick Adams behind him and two #10s in front of him who are active and can cover for the things he can't do, and he can probably be carried to the things he can do. One freekick or corner that Christian Pulisic doesn't take could be the difference between the Round of 16 and quarters, after all.

-Timmy Tillman might get into the World Cup squad for this tackle alone:

You know Pochettino loves that sort of thing.

-To Alex Freeman. He's in the squad for sure for the World Cup. Is he starting? He's in that weird spot where he can play a few different spots well enough that he might not be good enough for any of them full-time. Would he start ahead of Dest as a straight full-back in a 4-2-3-1? Maybe with Dest as the winger? Can he start alongside Richards and Ream in a back three? It's not something he's done a ton of with Orlando, but it's sort of where he played last night. But that might hamstring his attacking instincts a touch. Can he be a wingback? Sure, no reason he can't. He wouldn't be as dynamic of a wingback as Dest, but he's far less likely to just go for a beer when he has to defend.

That flexibility alone gets him on the team. The right side of the USMNT is more in flux than you might think. Tim Weah has the name recognition, but his positional fit just as loosely nailed down as Freeman's. He also might be more limited. His track record the past few seasons isn't really glittering. In and out of a pretty meh Juventus team? Now injured for Marseille? He's not a "gotta play" guy. If Freeman and Dest are manning the right side come the group opener, don't be shocked.

-There's still much to be sussed out, but I think we can safely say that Pochettino isn't going to trust Dest as a fullback in a back four. He played as a wingback against Paraguay with a back three, and last night he was a wingback/winger hybrid with Freeman behind him. That's probably sensible, given that Dest looks like he's on the school field trip to the art museum when he is in his own half.

Perhaps the best way to close out the year and get ready for the year that matters. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a crack at what the squad will look like. Vibes and juice, kids.