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No more friendly. No more adjustments. Next up for the United States after games against Senegal and Germany: the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
There are positives and negatives to take from a 3-2 win over Senegal and a 2-1 loss to Germany.
Two former United States World Cup players (Maurice Edu in 2010 and Walker Zimmerman in 2022) discuss their three most important lessons.
Chris Richards is essential to this backline
education: While the United States had many positive moments between their victory over Senegal and their loss to Germany, they conceded multiple goals in both matches.
The United States started with three center backs: Alex Freeman and Tim Ream started both, while Mark McKenzie started against Senegal and Miles Robinson against Germany. In both games, the United States conceded twice. (Side note: I wouldn’t have minded seeing McKenzie or Robinson start alongside Richards.)
When healthy, Richards sits right in the middle of that defense between Freeman on the right and Ream on the left. Chris trained fully on Monday, which is a positive sign that he will be ready to face Paraguay on Friday (9 pm ET on FOX/FOX One and streaming free on Tubi).
America is ready for real competition
Zimmerman: The United States had two games against different teams that allowed them to defend differently. We were more compact in the way we defended against Senegal, keeping distance from front to back, we were able to press higher and be higher up the pitch, keeping between 20 and 25 meters between our defense and attack. Then, against quality opposition in Germany, we had to be a little more compact; There were more like 35.
It also helped that Germany was fluid in the way they defended. Germany put pressure on the American defense in various ways. Sometimes the pressure was high on our defensive line in a 4-3-3 formation, while other times it was a little deeper in a 4-4-2 formation. Being able to build an attack against various structures and appearances was a great dress rehearsal for what we will see throughout the tournament.
After Antonee Robinson’s absolute goal, I think we responded very well for the rest of the first half. That was a really good period in which the United States looked like a dangerous team in attack, putting pressure on Germany and competing well until the half-time whistle.
Also, I think the first goal Germany scored will be useful in the long run for the United States. It allows the team to go back to the drawing board on set pieces. Kai Havertz being in that position without any contact is not enough.
Now, it’s about emphasizing how important set pieces will be during the tournament. Hopefully, this team learned about the organization and communication necessary to ensure that every set piece is defended with appropriate urgency.
This week will be about tweaking small details of the system while ensuring the boys recover and continue to improve their fitness ahead of the USA’s World Cup opener on Friday night against Paraguay.
The United States can compete with the best teams, but…
education: When the United States is at its best, we can cause problems against the best teams in the World Cup this summer.
The United States created opportunities and looked dangerous in attack against Senegal and Germany. Christian Pulisic was man of the match against Senegal, while Folarin Balogun scored against Senegal and was lively against Germany.
The key: we have to take advantage of our opportunities. Once you start facing the best teams in this tournament, they will make you pay if we are not clinical when our time comes.
As well as causing problems in attack, I loved the response and character this group showed after conceding an early goal against Germany. That mentality and fight will be important moving forward.
