A camp of struggle and uncertainty for the USMNT | Thursday Round-UP

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Obviously with the international date the cadence for this newsletter changed a little bit, but I still wrote two this week. Both were "Three Things" instant-reacts to USMNT games – both losses (I'm sure you know this), first to Belgium and then to Portugual.

While I came away from this camp more discouraged than not, I still managed to find some positives.

First, from the Belgium loss:

The point of this structure is to maximize passing options, control transitions, create overloads, and annoy the English. Think of it as a natural outcome of contemporary tactical demands rather than a fixed starting formation.

After being a little bit formless in the first year(ish) of Poch’s tenure, the coach found Jesus on the 3-2-2-3 in September. During that six-game stretch, the US got to their build-up shape by sliding one fullback inside and pushing the other up into the attack. Think Alex Freeman vs. Uruguay, right?

And then from the 2-0 loss to Portugal:

Did they reach maniacal intensity on Tuesday night? I don't think so. But I do think that, just in general, the US played with a lot more intensity than they had over the weekend – and I’m including Pulisic in that. Nobody’s ever gonna mistake him for Raphinha against the ball, but the effort was genuinely very good. While he was at fault for a couple of Portugal’s more dangerous chances in the first 45 minutes, it wasn’t because he wasn’t closing down – it was because he wasn’t holding up.

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Here's a question for you, my subscribers: Do you want me to continue doing these instant reacts come summer? Or do you think you'd all be better served by me writing after a second viewing, and publishing the day after?

I haven't yet figured out which would work better. Open to input here!

Good Reads:

• A good thread from my guy Tutul, who actually came away from this camp feeling optimistic about the US (in a very limited way).
• Ben Wright built a standings app & predictor for the World Cup!
• Egypt's national team director warned Mo Salah about a move to MLS, saying it'd be too far out of the spotlight.
• Don Garber obviously did not like that.
• Moïse Bombito's supposed to be the rock upon which Canada's defense is built, but his recovery is not going well.
• The Sounders pipeline stays open, as the U-15s and 16s are both into the GA Cup semis (with wins over the likes of Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors).
• Small sample size noise or a canary in the coalmine for the 'Caps?

Gass and I did a mid-camp show for Soccerwise on Monday, in which we also talked some MLS. Check the Soccerwise feed today for another episode, in which we try to figure out what we learned from this camp.

I also hosted Inside American Soccer with a borderline despondent Tab Ramos, who largely felt the camp was wasted:

One last note: A few folks have asked for a tip jar. So I'm going to add one here, for now, at the end of each newsletter:

Click that if you're already a subscriber and want to give me a couple more bucks. I'll spend some time in the coming weeks figuring out if there's a better spot for it – both more obvious and less intrusive.