USA 2-0 Mexico | What did we learn? | 7 Tactical Takeaways! 

Best ref we have seen in CONCACAF in years

Big time players make big time plays in big time games. Its no surprise that the goals came from Adams and Gio while Pulisic had his best game for the USMNT since putting his balls on the line vs Iran.

This game was the most complete game from Gio in a USMNT jersey. A lot is said about his maturity and professionalism, but he gave the team everything he had both offensively and defensively last night; It was the first time he didnt look disinterested in doing the dirty work.

Even though I didn’t want to see Gio that deep, I’m honestly suprised how well he played there. He was so good at getting the ball forward when Mexico tried to press him.

Reyna and Pulisic together are 🔥

We learned that Mexico fans don't change

Ganó el equipo grande, el equipo que si se esforzó en mejorar su calidad de juego, el que tenía más talento y motivación para ganar.🎉🎉 Felicitaciones y saludos desde Argentina 🇦🇷

As much as I love Johnny's progress in La Liga and the national team, he doesn't yet provide the leadership and intangibles that Tyler provides for the USMNT. Johnny will get more comfortable with the group with the more games he plays. His current focus is to be ready and perform when his opportunity comes.

I learned that Tyler Adams is related to Roberto Carlos

My 7 takeaways (with quite a few similar points): 1. Tim Ream is still a current starter. He's not the FUTURE, but he's the present. In friendlies and lower stake games we should test out younger players, but as of now in high stakes games he's still our guy. 2. Reyna seems more mature, both physically and mentally. He took some hard hits in the game but he held his own physically in the midfield, which is a good sign. He didn't look "fragile", so maybe he's grown into his frame more and his injuries will be a thing of the past. Also his attitude looked good. Worked hard and didn't get baited by Alvarez-- kept his cool and it paid off. 3. We still have no plan for our 9. The way we play simply doesn't flatter a player like Balogun, unless Gio is playing a more advanced position than he was in this game to feed the 9 through. If we're going to play Gio deeper and rely more on services from out wide, then Pepi should start as he's the best with those opportunities. Otherwise we need to figure out how to involve our 9 more in our attack. 4. Our corners were pretty poor in the Jamaica game. Not sure if that's a coaching thing, but in the past we've really been able to take advantage of set pieces (see Nations League final 2021). I personally have always preferred Reyna's corners to Pulisic's, but regardless of who takes them I think we could take advantage of set pieces more considering players like McKennie are so good in the air. 5. Johnny looks like a good player but doesn't seem totally comfortable with this team yet. I'd like to see him play more in some lower stakes games to get used to this team. Adams is still our starter atm but Johnny has the ability to be a really good option. 6. In retrospect starting Adams was the right choice (not just cuz of the obvious goal). If he only had 45 min to play, it's better to START with him than end with him-- if we waited till the second half, if we were down a goal or two he isn't normally the player you'd put in to get us some goals (yesterday was welcome surprise). And if the game went to extra time, we'd have the same problem we did against Jamaica, where we'd be subbing a substitute off. 7. Pulisic plays better when we're winning. I think he puts too much pressure on himself when we're losing (or tied in a high intensity game) to be the guy to carry us forward. He's prone to playing a bit of hero ball cuz he cares so much about this team and feels so much responsibility. When we're winning he just looks SO much better. Way smarter on the ball and his link up play is miles better. I'm sure he's probably used to feeling like it's ALL on him with the US, so hopefully he learns he no longer has to do it alone with the talent surrounding him.

We have learned that the young talent can sometimes cover up for Berhalter's incompetence

Robinson scared me when he gave the ball away. Dest is our flashiest player. Gio is creating opportunities and that Adams goal made me jump off the couch.

El-Triste

I wish we just played Mexico all the time, they keep making us look good

Tyler adams heard Cardoso was about to replace him and decided to score a banger 😂

We appreciate you Tac (and Pete)! As always, THANK YOU both for your amazing coverage, content, & quality!!! ⚽️🇺🇸🙂👍🏼👏🏼🍾🥂🥳

The entire first half was classic Greg strats. Ball to CB, long ball to winger, full back overlaps and receives, and crosses into box and repeat.

I learned that if we begin to win a certain type of chant always follows

Tyler Adams is the man. Dude comes back from injury and scores a banger. Made it look stupid easy too.

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador and Colombia are all better pound by pound. If the US can hold their own I would be happy. I don't expect them to win many games.

Mexico looked confident in the game until pulisic almost scored early,that shocked them into thinking they could lose, and lose because captain America almost scored. Their confidence was shot after that and as the game went on USMNT confidence increased.

Hey Tac, I appreciate the vid and you taking the time to collaborate with other channels for these recent games 👍

Totally agree that we NEED to try other options at taking set pieces! Gio would be a great option to try! Maybe Weah? 🙂👍🏼⚽️🇺🇸

Your take on Reyna, Mckennie and Pulisic is 🎯. They should always start once fit. Berhalter must stop kidding himself

as usual-excellent analysis

Love you Felipo!!! Thanks 4 the content. Appreciate you.

Love you take on this 🤙

Completely agree on Adams' goal. That was like Rodri level shooting from a CDM. Very impressive.

Amazing usmnt coverage

Tim Ream was MOTM for me. His passing and defensive work was unmatched. Our other CBs looked awful all tournament apart from Ream. Especially Richard’s, he was shocking.

I had a debate with an L tri fan. He said their still better than us because we lost to Panama. It's sad that they can't handle the USA being #1. Edit: Don't bother debating L tri fans with logic they'll just become racist. (Not all of them but some of them). It's not worth the effort of having a simple conversation about a sport that we both love.

One of the things that I took away most was that the team is super inconsistent, and that the opponent (their quality, style of play, etc.) seems to have a lot more to do with our success, instead of our own tactical approach and abilities. I know it is getting old (for me as well, and I'm not thrilled to keep thinking this and know that things realistically won't change), but I still attribute that to GGG. Games like last night's are the perfect fit for us. A team that we have a skill advantage over, but where the opponent is still good enough (and intent enough) to try playing an open game against us. Unfortunately, I don't think that positions us well for more prominent competitions like Copa America or the WC. In Copa America, that situation won't be the case. Against Panama/Bolivia, we'll be back to trying to unlock a low-block, and I'm not confident in our tactics in those games. Against Uruguay and any quarterfinals opponent (likely Brazil or Colombia), we won't benefit from a talent advantage. I just don't think GGG brings the right tactics to have success against teams on both sides of that spectrum. I'm sort of at the point where the most I can maybe hope for is that USSF will try to round out our coaching staff in a way that brings in some other assistants who can bring things to the table and have the influence on GGG to benefit us in those matchups where we either need to better dominate and find practical success against lesser teams, as well as punch above our weight against more talented opposition. I'll give credit to GGG for the confidence he seems to have from the team's leadership, and the general culture he's tried to create (the Reyna WC and post-WC fiasco aside; I'll consider that an extreme outlier at this point). So if the federation could at least bring in some more creative minds to help influence the tactical approach, while allowing GGG to still take the helm and drive the team's overall direction, I think I'd be OK with it. One other thing I'll close with, as an additional observation in this theme. To those who continue to think that GGG is sufficiently capable, without the extra help I'm suggesting. I think all you need to do is look at like-for-like situations from last year, when GGG was out of contract. Even going back to last year's Nations League results under BJ. The US and Mexico played in that event too, with generally the same squads. Mexico didn't have Chucky last year, and we didn't have Adams, but aside from that there weren't many differences. In that game, under BJ, we won 3-0 with a 5-1 shots on goal advantage. In yesterday's game, we actually won in a slightly less dominant fashion, 2-0 but with a slightly less favorable shots on goal ratio of 3:1 at 6 SOG to 2 SOG (although curiously, and maybe a sign of what GGG prioritizes, we had more possession in this latest installment compared to last year's matchup). In the other Nations League games, last year's 2-0 victory over Canada versus this year's 3-1 AET (in other words, 1-1 after 90 minutes) victory over Jamaica, I'd also argue that last year's was more exemplary of how we should be expected to perform. It's also worth noting that BJ later led our B/C team in the Gold Cup to a similar 1-1 90 minute game against Jamaica, when they had guys like Antonio and Bailey in their squad. It's too hard to ignore these generally apples-to-apples comparisons we have available, and to still think that GGG's approach isn't causing us to underachieve versus what could be possible for this team.

Amen takes!

We learned USA has better and younger players than Mexico (😢). The real lesson should be that this USMNT coach cannot for the life of him make this group of players play at their real potential. Two great isolated plays and one late goal in the semis. If I was in charge I would start looking for a new coach.

Nice video as usual. I learned that GB still doesn't know how to use Balogun. He should not start against bunkering teams but should have started against Mexico. I learned that Haji Wright is the real deal... If he's coming on as a winger when we need a goal. I confirmed, once again, that Reyna is really good no matter where you put him.

We learned that usmnt is years of not decades away from competition against the top sides in the world. And as long as Greg berhalter is in charge this team will not progress

good takes

We were expected to win, in fact either team was expected to win that tournament. USMNT/Mexico winning the Nations League is like Real Madrid/Barcelona winning La Liga

Cold the fact Gio was put deeper be Gregg showing Forest that he can play defense as well?

There’s a good chemistry between this group of players and it’s showing in the scoreboard. 👏👏 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

The U.S. has to be locked in for Copa America. Gregg showed yesterday that if he gets things slightly right, the team can function and look decent. However, this performance would not do it against a team like Uruguay or Colombia.

Mexico made Berhalter look like a tactical genius

Tac - 100% agree with you on # 4. We now have a known depth chart for the USMNT. 6 = Adams > Cardoso, 8 = McKennie > Musah, 10 = Reyna > Tillman. Luca is the odd man out, but I would slot him over to be winger depth until someone (Parades, Booth, etc....) from the Olympic squad can solidify themselves as options behind Pulisic & Weah. Your point # 2 deals with the formation and tactics of GGG. I still believe that a 4-2-3-1 best suits our players. Use an 8 & 6 in the double pivot to provide coverage to our greatest weakness (CB) while allowing the outside backs the necessary space to better use their strengths. This should also help get the most out of our CFs as a true 10 will be directly underneath them helping to pull the strings. ---- We need to get our CFs more involved and get them to become more goal dangerous. Balogun, Pepe, Sargent, and even Wright have the ability to be true threats...but GGGs tactics fail to get them involved in areas where they can contribute. Again I believe a change away from the 4-3-3 will help get them more involved. The last observation I wanted to point out is that while Mexico has fallen significantly, there is still Jamaica, Canada, and Panama to contend with. Jamaica & Canada in particular have some very talented players who are capable of giving the US a challenge. Both have coaches who've shown that they are equal (if not better) than GGG.

I learned that our players receiving a beer shower has become a tradition. We should call it the victory shower.

I don't mind gio playing deep to be a quick option teams moves up the pitch. I remember in tough situations in past games, even pulisic would drop deep when we desperately needed to keep possession. Unfortunately in those situations, pulisic would take too many risks dribbling. Gio is just as good dribbling, a better passer than adams, and one of our smartest players point blank. He knows how to make the "right" pass. I don't think him being deep is nessasary for success, but it's not as labor intensive a task, and he can always run up the field just outside the box to his usual role as a 10. Adams plays the 6 main for his defensive astuteness. He's no prime busquets. Also, while gio is the better attacking midfielder, mckennie is still very capable in that department. Gio is a very special player. I'm glad to be watching this era of the usmnt.

The US outclassed Mexico. Brodie, they had Pulisic cut their defense like he was cutting hair

It’s a win win with our cdm’s both are great for the national team both will be great options for years to come

, you are right about McKinney and Gio needing to flip in the midfield. I was watching that as well, but hoping GGG will suddenly change his tactics to the squad He has is not going to happen. He should be flexible and set the players to there strengths. But he has proven he is set in his system and it isnt flexible. Beating mexico shouldn't be the high bar that we set. Copa America will be the real test

I agree Reyna needs the ball further up the field. But he needed to drop back deep to get the ball because our other midfielders couldnt break Mexico's press (later in the 1st half). This helped and then it looked like GGG even made some adjustments at half time . US looked great in the 2nd half

nice!

Need to bring back the LLL Tri shirts!!!

I understand as a manager you can’t play to every guys strengths but I would pick our top 4-5 guys and find a way to play to at least their strengths aka maximize your best talents

I learned that Pulisic can skip over defenders to set up Gio’s goal

Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams are really so beautiful valuable players for us and especially Christian Pulisic is Goat.

We still own you - Aaron Rodgers

Very close to be 3-0 or 4-0. Goalie was in exact spot he needed to be.

I think one thing that is starting to happen is that we are developing some depth at certain positions. You can lose Josh Sargent, and then be able to bring in a player that makes a difference like Haji Wright. As you pointed out we have a player of the quality of LDLT perhaps on the cusp of not making the roster. You have the choice between Johnny and Tyler Adams at one position. Now if a world class keeper and one more center back would just materialize…….

Tac, everyone is talking about how great the us team did against Mexico and how poor we were against Jamaica. I think it is actually the reverse. I think Mexico team was just really poor, and did not adjust to us tactically. It is almost like Berhalter was in charge of the Mexico team. In the game against Jamaica, we tried hard to breakdown the defense, and as a result the US team had some really nifty combination plays. We were in cruise control the entire time against Mexico, and did need to push ourselves at all.

The defense is way smoother looking with Tim Ream. What about sliding in Sergino Dest in at the #10 if Gio Reyna cannot go? (I am skeptical about Tilman in bigger games.) Tell me why not?

Im glad you said Jedi ia being misued. I thought he should have been subbed vs Jamaica cause he seemed to just crowd other players.

Personally, I'd think about starting Trusty at Copa and see what he can do. Put pressure on Richards to do better. Competition is not a bad thing if it's the right people competing.

This isn't a rivalry anymore (1st team v 1st team anyway), it's become an exercise in USMNT superiority, Brazil v Argentina is an international rivalry, Argentina won the World Cup and have been better for a bit, but Brazil look like they'll turn the tables, then Argentina will do it back again and so on, if I was a Mexican fan I'd feel cheated by my own federation and the youth development infrastructure, they've allowed the student to become the master, regarding CONCACAF anyway

What I learned.....we still don't have a stud 9....I think Balogun can be the guy, but he's just not playing well right now.....

So excited for copa America baby

I thought Gio played superb deep. And maybe he should stay there. He has best pausa out of all our midfielders which we desperately needed to control the field. Maybe playing deep will get him some starts for Forest too.

The US only plays like this against Mexico. They play like it’s their World Cup final. If they actually played like this against every time then they’d be better. They have flopped against other countries who they should be beating.

We learned Tim Ream is an anchor and changes EVERYTHING. I’m worried because he’s getting older and older… but my God the impact he still makes. Just that cool head a stable force in the back.

Where would you say Taylor Booth fits in?

We (USA) definitely showed we are now better than Mexico. I think we're going to keep improving.

i like your commentary....but i think GIO was purposely that far back so he could always be an option for REAM playing out of the back. And US was effective building out of the back so I loved this tactic. Yes GIO can do a lot moving forward but he was amazing in this role of being first choice to get us out of trouble. Reminded me of Claudio at Virginia playing for Bruce Arena where the MF played back with the back line and saw the whole field to set-up best passes and scenarios.

I agree with You...USA deserves a better coach.

Was there. It's worth going. My god, though, louder than a rock concert....

Reyna is good at recovering the ball, and it is good when your best player is the first guy with the ball in the middle of the field in transition. Loved seeing him in struggle against Machin. Would rather see LDLT backup Reyna as 6 or 8 and McKennie, Musah, or Pulisic as 10ish midfielder when Reyna is unavailable than see Tillman as a starter when Reyna is unavailable. McKennie, Adams, and Musah didn't stop being a strong ball-winning midfield, and each of those guys has some strong offensive skills

Really felt like Gregg made them play with out the complicated tactics

We also learn that Jamaica gives the US more problems than Mexico these days.

Props for giving ggg some credit. Its obvious you love this team and just want us to win and dominate. Im with you though #gggout

Great game from gio needs to learn almost no team actually uses a 10. I actually don’t think any of the corners were bad at all. All in great spots and every ball back post hit a man. It would be nice to split responsibility though.

It appears Jamaica was a lot better than we thought. The Jamaican coach is the best in the region

Maybe as much a statement on Mexico as on USMNT. Go back a few days and remember the Jamaica match. We still need better coaching and higher standards of play to compete with best in the world. Gonna be a long time coming with current USMNT management.

Yeah! Winning all those games at home is easy but i wannna see mnt winning in azteca mexico.

Is going toe to toe with Brazil or Argentina enough? Going toe to toe with England in the World Cup didn’t do a ton to change GGG’s perception

Tim Ream was miles better than Miles Robinson. He was my man of the match against Mexico. He was rock solid. He is old but his experience and knowledge of the game allows him still to be a great player for the USMNT.

I'd take LDT over Mousa right now. Mousa may end up being better eventually but right now LDT is further along in his development curve and was in better form prior to the injury. Aside from a few flashes here and there I've never been blown away by Mousa.

If Gio and Pulisic are both playing, Gio should get a shot taking set pieces. It's not like they are using Gio's stature advantage compared to Pulisic. They have him at the top of the box on all those plays, not in the mix challenging for headers. So we should simply switch their responsibilities and see if we get more consistent service.

Yo we have the same venezia jersey.

De La Torre over Tillman still

Okay, so this is a match where I think Balogun was much better suited for as Mexico wasn't going to try and low block us into oblivion and Berhalter didn't start him. I get that he wanted to reward Haji, but...

Always Dos a Cero

How many times will Mexico have to lose (not to the US but just in general) to realize that they need to make a change? How many coaches will it take? Mexico needs to adjust its mentality.

There’s no way they’ll go with Ochoa till 2026?? He’s been in terrible form lately.

Sargent and Haji need to make the Copa roster.

To think we were almost eliminated by Jamaica... it makes this WIN bad for Mexico and GOOD for the U.S. This made us STRONGER. I'm sure Mexico didn't played their BEST because they thought the U.S would lose to their WORST players. Either way.... WE WON🏆

SIR, THE GAME WASNT EVEN 24 HOURS AGO. YOU ARE HUSTLING TOO HARD 😤😂

So anyone “out of form” for their club we can expect great things for USMNT….got it 👍🏽

Cant believe you didnt state this ... There is a legitimate Stiker dilemma ATM... No one has claimed it.

Is that a Busio jersey

Gio Reyna wasn't playing deep. He was just following the ball wherever it went in order to control the tempo and the passing. 10's are supposed to drop deep. Zidane was always all over the field, and even Carles Gil of the Revs constantly drops back to get the ball or get the attack started.

Wouldn’t you analyze Brazil Spain and England impressions

Disagree about Musah, he has been invisible for a long time. LDLT should be 2nd 8. I put Johhny above Adams. The only thing Adams can do at Johnny's level is communicate, tackle and run.

😮🎉