The USMNT made same mistakes that led to World Cup exit: Can they learn from it ahead of Copa America?

LANDOVER, Md. – It’s been a year and a half since the United States men’s national team was eliminated from the World Cup in Qatar in the hands of Netherlands, 3 to 1 in the round of 16. Facing major opponents ahead of the Copa América, similar questions remain. During a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Colombiathe USMNT paid for its mistakes and coach Gregg Berhalter criticized his team for its lack of respect not only for the opponent, but also for football.

With the Copa América, the only major tournament the USMNT will play before the 2026 World Cup, less than two weeks away, this is exactly the opposite of what you would like to see. Some difficulties were expected with the absence of Sergino Dest, but in fact the right-back was not one of the five main problems in the fall to Colombia. Under Berhalter, the USMNT is 35-5-8 against Concacaf opponents but just 8-7-7 against the rest of the world. While it can be difficult to find opportunities for friendlies against top nations, to date the USMNT have not proven themselves ready for those opportunities as they are still looking for a signature victory and continue to make silly mistakes like they did against the Dutch. year and a half ago.

Speaking ahead of the Colombia match, Berhalter mentioned how these friendlies could help boost confidence ahead of the Copa América, but now the result has been seen as a reality check ahead of facing Brazil in Orlando on Wednesday. There isn’t much time left before they face Bolivia on June 21 to kick off the Copa América group stage, but Berhalter and the team will need to find a way to come together and do whatever it takes to not just exit a group. containing Uruguay but also win a knockout stage match.

“That’s definitely it. We weren’t even close to the level we need to play to win games in the Copa América.” Christian Pulisic said in reference to Berhalter’s reality check comment. “Absolutely, yes, absolutely. It’s better that it happened now, but we can’t be anywhere close to playing like this and we hope to win games.”

Diving deeper into analyzing how he got to this point, all Pulisic could say was, “I don’t have any answers for you right now. I need to watch a short video.”

Pulisic’s views are shared by other members of the team and no one looked for excuses for the performance, but they were dismantled by Colombia on the counterattack. It was a pro-Colombia crowd, sure, but that’s something that should only push the team to do better in order to give their fans something to root for rather than the opposition.

“A lot of negatives. I mean, that’s what happens in life. You just have to bounce back,” Tim Weah said after the match. “I think we are a strong team and I take full responsibility for what happened there, but we just need to get back to training and recover. Playing against a high quality team like this is always difficult. , when I scored, I thought we had a bit of momentum, I thought we were going to get back into the game. Turns out it’s not our day. We just have to recover for the next game. against Brazil.”

The accountability factor that Pulisic and Weah show will be something that helps the USMNT overcome this result, but belief cannot be the only thing this team runs on. This will only get them so far, and when they face well-trained teams tactically, it won’t be enough to make a difference. It takes tactics and skill to take down the top 20 teams in the world and on Saturday the USMNT were lacking in both, just as they were against the Netherlands 1.5 years ago.

Louis Van Gaal, coach of the Netherlands at the last World Cup, was able to get his players into space with ease because even if the United States knew what they were going to do, no one would stop the Netherlands from doing it.

“I’m still trying to figure it out, I don’t have much to say right now,” Pulisic said when asked what he would say to the team as captain. “I need to get out for a bit, I need to watch some film, but I definitely think we need to start now and hold each other accountable because, like, I would say, it just has to be better.”

Reflection on this result is necessary, as well as reflection on how to avoid it again in the future, because even if the United States manages to get out of its Copa América group, unless that comes with a victory over Uruguay, there will be no done a lot. to show that they can win big games. There is another chance to dispel that narrative on Wednesday against Brazil, but being tentative on the ball will see you dismantled again. Losing to Colombia was a lesson, but it’s up to the USMNT to dictate what they do from here. Without changing course, the only move they make is early elimination from the Copa América.