AUSTIN, Texas — For the first 23 minutes of Friday’s 1-1 draw with Ecuador, the U.S. pushed forward and created one chance after another.
In the sixth minute, Folarin Balogun took off on a fantastic individual run after winning the ball back near midfield and earned a corner. Two minutes later, Balogun and Malik Tillman played a combination that sprung Balogun in behind for another chance. Four minutes after that, Balogun and Tillman again combined to put Ecuador under pressure and earn another corner. In the 17th minute, Tim Weah’s movement up the right side and attempted link-up with Tanner Tessmann earned another corner, and in the 21st minute Balogun’s curling shot dipped just over the bar.
It felt almost unfair that Enner Valencia’s brilliant run, touch and finish gave Ecuador a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. The U.S. was looking strong and confident. It was creating chances. It felt like a team with real chemistry and ideas.
Almost exactly one year since Mauricio Pochettino managed his first U.S. match, things have felt mostly disjointed and unstable — both on the field and off. Some of that has been purposeful. Pochettino wanted a healthy level of uncertainty. It was needed to create competition. But the on-field chemistry, or lack thereof, has been a real concern. It’s why there is a level of relief that, for the second straight match against a quality opponent, the U.S. looked like a team that is embracing a tactical identity — one that is built around flexibility and freedom but also leans into the team’s attacking strengths.
Balogun’s 73rd-minute goal was a deserved finish that gave the U.S. a well-earned positive result. Truthfully, the U.S. probably deserved more from the game. But beyond the draw, it was the team’s continued evolution in a fluid setup, one built around wingers/wingbacks and dual attacking midfielders, that created the most cause for optimism.
Whether in the 3-4-2-1 utilized against Japan or in Friday night’s hybrid 4-2-3-1/3-2-5, it feels like something is being unlocked in this group. The players feel it, too.
“We’re starting to build very positive results with that formation,” Weah said.
Center back Chris Richards agreed. “I think the system really suits our style,” he said.
It is, center back Tim Ream said, the natural evolution of this team under a new coach.
Folarin Balogun spearheaded the USMNT’s attack vs. Ecuador, displaying his full arsenal and eventually getting the Americans’ goal (Scott Coleman / Imagn Images)
“It was always going to take a little bit of time for their ideas to really take hold with the entire group,” Ream said. “It’s marrying the tactical ideas and strategy with playing with energy and aggressiveness. There’s a balance to it. There’s a line that you have to get up to, and you have to touch without crossing it, while also understanding the different tactical nuances that they want. With the building in a three or sometimes the midfielder drops out – it’s just all these different ideas that they have, and it takes time to understand them, if you’re not used to doing those types of things. But I think now we’re seeing that those two things are starting to come together.”
There are obvious payoffs to the approach.
Two of the most dangerous attacking threats in the U.S. pool are outside backs: Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest. When those two aren’t on the field — as they weren’t Friday — the players behind them on the depth chart also thrive pushing forward, whether it’s Max Arfsten, Weah or Alex Freeman. The formation also encourages players like Balogun, Christian Pulisic, Tillman and Weston McKennie to play with more license to read the game and create.
“The manager gives us that freedom to just do what we want up there,” Balogun said. “And that shows in the way we play. Everything’s kind of just freestyle, but we’re good enough players to figure it out, and he believes in us. So that’s what we kind of just tried to focus on: attacking, free-flowing football and obviously trying to score and create chances.”
But with the positives, there are also tradeoffs and drawbacks.
The U.S., as Weah pointed out after the game on Friday night, has long been a team that thrives in transition attacking. That was true, too, in the last World Cup cycle. But the 2022 World Cup team was built around the midfield trio of McKennie, Yunus Musah and Tyler Adams. That isn’t gospel this time around, necessarily, but this formation changes the dynamic of the midfield.
Mauricio Pochettino surveys the field during the USMNT’s 1-1 draw vs. Ecuador (Scott Coleman / Imagn Images)
Playing with three center backs will mean taking a midfielder off the field. And it means with everyone healthy, Pochettino will have some tough decisions to make. Does he play with Tillman and Pulisic together in the attack with Balogun? If so, does McKennie drop into a deeper midfield role next to Adams? Or does Adams need to be paired with another deeper-lying midfielder, like Tessmann, Aidan Morris, Johnny Cardoso or another of the defensive midfielders that has been in one camp or another? If Dest and Robinson are both healthy, does Weah move to the bench?
It’s been one of the hold-ups around a formation that otherwise fits this U.S. group: Playing this way might mean two of your best attacking players come off the bench.
Those types of difficult tactical decisions aren’t necessarily a bad thing for the U.S. (And, as Pochettino has learned over the last year, it’s exceedingly rare when every single player is healthy and available.)
“It makes it hard for the coach to make a decision about who’s going to play in that role,” McKennie said. “You can look at it as an advantage, because depending on what team you play, you have different players with attributes that can add something different to the game. And even if you start with some players up top, other players (who) come into the game (can) add something different. So I think it’s a good problem to have.”
Pochettino said earlier this week that the games are — of course — important.
“We need to play and we need to perform and we need to win,” he said. “Because that is going to give us the credibility in our work.”
Friday’s result did that.
But the more important part of this camp — and of the November and March gatherings that follow — “is not really the games,” Pochettino noted. It’s building more chemistry and understanding within the group.
Friday’s performance did that, too.
Christian Pulisic was a second-half substitute in the USMNT’s draw vs. Ecuador, carrying a minor ankle knock (Scott Coleman / Imagn Images)
It felt, from a purely soccer perspective, that something tangible is being built. Last month’s win against Japan and this result against a good Ecuador side reflected progress. And, as Pochettino noted, that builds credibility and belief.
On the field, the players are starting to create cohesiveness that matters. Balogun, for example, noted that Pulisic told him he felt they are “building a better connection.” It’s something “that’s always going to happen when you’re playing with top players and there’s time,” the forward said. “That’s part of the bonding and the chemistry that’s really going to help us going into the World Cup.”
Friday’s draw felt like a peek into that bonding. And it felt like reinforcement of something else Pochettino said on the eve of the game.
“I think (there’s) time enough to build what we want to build,” he said. “I have no doubt that we are going to arrive in a very good way, being very competitive with all the principles settled. I am very optimistic about the future.”
If the team can continue to build on what it did against Ecuador — and that’s a big and important if — it will be tough not to follow Pochettino into that optimism.
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