What the USMNT needs to prioritize vs. Germany & lineup prediction
With the final tune-up here, it's time for Poch to stop tinkering and go with his Best XI & best tactical approach
Let's start with a reminder: I'll be in Chicago tomorrow and Saturday. Come join us at Soccer House for a First Touch live show!
If you're in town, please come say hi!
The vibes are immaculate. That's not a phrase we’d been associating with this program recently. Not after the sad end to the Berhalter era, not after the chaos we saw in the team this time last year, and definitely not after getting embarrassed a combined 7-2 by Belgium and Portugal back in March.
But something shifted last Saturday in Charlotte. The USMNT beat a legitimately good Senegal side 3-2, playing with a kind of coherent, purposeful aggression that Mauricio Pochettino has been promising since he took the job. Sergiño Dest, Christian Pulisic, Alex Freeman and Folarin Balogun (and honestly just about everyone else who touched the field) were guys doing what they're supposed to do when it matters, so for one afternoon it actually looked like a really excellent team. And that sent 57,000 mostly pro-American fans home happy.
That brings us to the usual disclaimer: there’s a danger of reading too much into friendlies, so nobody should be planning any parades. At the same time, you don’t want to read nothing into them, either. These games truly do matter; just ask poor Moustapha Mbow.
And now comes the final practice test before the real thing, as the US come off that high to face the Germans on Saturday at Soldier Field. A four-time champion that is not, it should be said, operating at that historic level at the moment – this isn't Müller and Schweinsteiger and the peaking Jogi Löw Mannschaft from a dozen years back.
Nonetheless, they are still Germany. Nobody would be that surprised if they were the last ones standing come July 19, and nobody should be surprised if they punish defensive lapses from the US that Senegal didn’t even find in the first place. That is the US’s test, and Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey will be taking notes.
Here's what Poch needs to prioritize as he collects the last meaningful data before the tournament begins:
