Matt Lichtenstadter
— PHILADELPHIA
Sports fans are now accustomed to hearing about plans, visions, and “the process” when it comes to organizations that are rebuilding. It’s about selling hope and the promise of a better future when the past and present are of no comfort. The US Men’s National Team is knee deep in its process, and there have been ups, downs, ebbs and flows like in every rebuild. In the city that popularized “the process”, Gregg Berhalter’s team hit a low ebb in a 1-0 win over Curacao which brought about more questions than answers. While progress in these rebuilds is never linear, questioning “the process” is going to be a constant.
Curacao, while not nearly the cannon fodder many expected them to be, is still not anywhere near the US’ level at their best. After step-by-step improvement from the pre-tournament friendlies to the group stage games, it’s certainly fair to wonder why this game looked so out of sync and disheveled, like the Jamaica and Venezuela games did. Gregg Berhalter said wouldn’t be indicative of the future. And in “the process”, games like this are inevitable, and sometimes painful. So too are the sales pitches after said matches trying to continue to sell hope.
“We’re happy with the result of this game,” Berhalter said post-match. “That should be said.”
“I think you guys (the media) wanted us to go out there and beat them 5-0, but we knew it was going to be a difficult game,” he added. “You look at all the quarterfinals in this tournament, and Copa America, they’re all tough games. They know there’s no tomorrow if they lose.”
Berhalter’s players were a little less diplomatic about the score and the optics of the result, while still maintaining a relatively even keel in line with their coach’s overarching approach.
Jordan Morris was among the few Americans who had a strong night.
“They were a good team, had some very skilled players and kept the ball very well,” said Jordan Morris, Berhalter’s only substitute in normal time. “It wasn’t our best game tonight. We were defending a lot of the time In the end, it’s a fourth straight shutout, going on to the semifinals, it’s survive and advance at this point, right? We can play better, we all know that.”
“I obviously think we could have done better, it wasn’t our best night,” said Zack Steffen. “They made us run a lot, they kept the ball, but I thought the guys did a really good job of grinding it out.”
Unexpectedly, the US ceded possession to Curacao to the tune of nearly 60-40 in the second half, and while Curacao generated only one or two real clear-cut chances, it didn’t feel like a team progressing forward, even though Curacao aren’t quite the minnows they seemed to be.
“I think they played an excellent game; you see they have clear ideas in their buildup,” Berhalter noted. “Their goalie (Eloy Room) is excellent with his feet. He was able to switch fields, find the free players and able to cut it back against the pressing guy to find the free player. And we didn’t commit enough numbers forward to the press.”
Was it the US underestimating its opponent? Was it Berhalter wanting to see if his team could play a different way in a knockout situation? Curacao is a unique opponent because of their Dutch connections, and future opponents such as Jamaica do not play like that. And for all that the US did cede in possession, Curacao never threatened much beyond those one or two decent chances.
But US fans, understandably jaded as they are, aren’t necessarily interested in seeing a team like this add a new tool to its belt, even if it’s an important one for these types of settings. After the flashes against Guyana and especially Trinidad, it looked like these types of performances were behind the US, at least for now.
Has “the process” itself taken a step back?
“We’ve taken a jump in trusting each other, trusting in ourselves and confidence that we can play,” added Steffen. “The hardest thing is to play from the back. I think the guys have done a really good job of taking that system and processing it and turning it into quality chances.”
Without players like DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks, Altidore and a host of youth players who might well walk into the first team, this version of the US is certainly incomplete. Berhalter and his team are taking the long view, as they should. World Cup Qualifying won’t begin until next year at the earliest. But with their first competitive games since Couva, this could have been a chance to silence some doubt with “the process” at least temporarily. Those doubts haven’t been silenced, even if the plan itself chugs along.
Berhalter’s team has a chance to immediately quiet some of those doubts against Jamaica in Nashville, where they know they have to play far better to win, and certainly far better to assuage concerns that “the process” isn’t already off to a rocky start.
“I think it’s about speed, speed of moments, having a mentality to turn their defenders, having a mentality to disorganize their defense and get behind their defense,” Berhalter concluded.
“We could have been more aggressive with that tonight for sure, and that’s something when I think about the last Jamaica game, it’s a very similar type of performance where we had an early flurry, could have scored a goal, and then after that we lacked speed and the movements to get behind their back line.”
Philadelphia, the city of the Process, will know more than anywhere else the ebbs and flows of what that can be like. Time isn’t always your friend. For the US Men’s National team, “the process” will continue through its ups and downs. Berhalter’s even keel has kept his team steady, but the tests are going to get bigger, and tougher.
Only then will “the process”, as it is, show its true colors.
Matt Lichtenstadter is a journalist and broadcaster who has contributed frequently to The Yanks Are Coming. Follow him on Twitter @MattsMusings1.