30 good minutes gave way to 60 horrendous minutes as the USMNT was pummeled 3-1 by Germany on Saturday, leaving Gregg Berhalter’s side in desperate need of a bounce-back performance against Ghana on Tuesday.
[ LIVE: WATCH USMNT vs GHANA LIVE EN ESPANOL EN PEACOCK ]
The good news: The Yanks’ best period of performance came at the start of the game, with the starting lineup — eight (or nine) of which would likely be picked should the World Cup kick off tomorrow — on the field.
Christian Pulisic opened the scoring with a stellar strike from outside the penalty area; Timothy Weah was a frequent threat running down the right and getting in behind Germany’s defense early on; Matt Turner looked every bit the undisputed no. 1 in goal; and Gio Reyna came through his USMNT return unscathed in 45 minutes of action.
[ MORE: USMNT schedule, results | USMNT roster ]
The not-so-good news: everything else.
Tyler Adams remains out following a setback in his recovery from the torn hamstring he suffered in the spring; Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie are incorrectly cast as deep midfielders in Adams’ absence; Sergiño Dest had one of his worst outings, on both sides of the ball; and Turner had to stand on his head just to keep the final score respectable.
With all of that in mind, here’s hoping Berhalter doesn’t make too many changes — tweaks, rather — to close out the October international window.
How will USMNT line up vs Ghana?
First things first, there will be more possession to be had by the USMNT against Ghana, after Germany hogged 60 percent and reduced the Americans to a one-dimensional counter-attacking side, which means the first item on our wish list: Reyna starts again, only this time out wide with the freedom to float centrally. As wonderful as it would be to have his creativity at the top of a midfield-three, the USMNT is overrun far too easily when Reyna is deployed in the middle. Bonus issue: no one to reliably pass the ball out from deep in midfield.
Enter: Luca de la Torre. Exit: Weah, who is the USMNT’s best counter-attacking weapon at the moment, but not so well suited to Tuesday’s challenge.
Elsewhere up top, it seems pretty obvious that Ricardo Pepi will continue to get plenty of opportunities to perform and stake his claim to either first or second spot in the pecking order at center forward. Ahead of Copa America 2024, Berhalter will want more than one striker to feel comfortable playing with the rest of the starters, and Pepi’s hold-up play will be more useful than Folarin Balogun’s straight-line approach against Ghana.
Along the backline, Joe Scally will offer more defensive solidity behind Reyna, should he play on the right wing, making him the logical choice ahead of Dest. The 20-year-old right back is having another solid season for Borussia Monchengladbach and, though he doesn’t offer the attacking upside that Dest does, is more consistent performer at this point.
Ideally, Chris Richards and Miles Robinson will be the starting duo at center back this summer, so let’s have them in front of Turner with marauding left back DeJuan Jones on the other side.
Projected USMNT starting lineup vs Ghana
Turner
Scally — Robinson — Richards — Jones
Musah — De la Torre — McKennie
Reyna — Pepi — Pulisic
Disagree? Go for it!