While Sergino Dest and Josh Sargent steal the headlines, Paxton Pomykal’s unique skillset may be the most interesting evaluation for Gregg Berhalter.

The new CONCACAF World Cup qualifying calendar shortens Berhalter’s evaluation windows– but may provide an incentive to integrate talented youngsters in a way that pays dividends if the US qualify for Qatar.

After two camps, Berhalter’s evaluations of the US player pool are ongoing and plenty of personnel questions remain.

But the commitment to culture, system and process are encouraging.

The US have searched for a reliable CB combination for a few years.

Thanks to the emergence of Aaron Long, Gregg Berhalter and the Americans may finally have some answers.

Many American fans were underwhelmed by Gregg Berhalter’s first full FIFA window roster.

While some omissions are puzzling, there’s no need to panic as Berhalter appears to still be evaluating his player pool with an eye towards the Gold Cup and Olympic qualifying.

The opening of the Gregg Berhalter era saw a system, tactical plans and rare coaches candor.

Even if the US isn’t really playing with “two number tens.”

Thoughts on the January camp and friendlies.

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Critiques of US Soccer’s hiring process are fair and will linger.

But even when they end, Gregg Berhalter’s heady challenge remains: how to rebuild the USMNT, both tactically and culturally?

After a disappointing autumn, the US enter a critical 2019 with plenty of questions.

Chief among them: what role will the old guard play in reshaping and rebuilding the team’s culture?

Gregg Berhalter is a capable and qualified manager.

But the year-long delay and the lack of a search and interview process for other potential candidates is worthy of critique.

Perhaps worse, it immediately places Berhalter under an intense microscope.

As the US ready to hire a new coach, it’s both fashionable and fair to return to a timeless debate: What style of play should the US adopt? And given the 2018 World Cup qualification failure, is it right to privilege results over substance, at least in the short-term? Or does that cheat the program in the long-term?

The US again showed flashes of promise in its October friendlies against Colombia and Peru.

But the US have midfield questions to answer and will require more defensive consistency moving forward.

Our observations from the October friendlies.