USMNT’s Copa America Preview

Intro:

The United States Mens National team is set to play in the 2024 Copa America here in the United states from June 20th, 2024 – July 14, 2024. For those that don’t know this is the second time the United Sates is hosting the the Copa America , which is primarily a South American tournament. The first time the U.S hosted this tournament was back in 2016 when is was the Copa America Centenario celebrating 100 years of the tournaments existence. They are set to host it once again prior to the 2026 World Cup here in the U.S as well. This will be a major test for the players in red, white and blue as they are in the middle of their Golden Generation the best pool of players this team has ever had. South American Teams are no walk in the park they will have to play the likes of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia etc. These are all national Teams better than the United States. How will the USMNT do?

How did the USMNT do in Previous Copa Americas?:

The USMNT has participated in the Copa America 4 times in their history.

The first time they were in the tournament was in 1993 which was the year prior to the 1994 world cup in the United States. This edition of the Copa America was played in Ecuador and the USMNT was eliminated in the group stage. Record (0-1-2) 1 draw and 2 Losses.

Two years later the United States played again in the Copa America in Uruguay. This time unlike the last edition the U.S finished in 4th place, getting eliminated in the Semi-Finals, with a Historic 3-0 win over Argentina in the group Stage, eliminating their biggest rivals Mexico in the Quarter finals, Ultimately losing to Brazil in the Semis.

Twelve years later the USMNT would be playing in the Copa America for their third time. Being led by USMNT legend Bob Bradley, they managed to lose all 3 games in the group stage.

Most recently in 2016 the United states playing their fourth Copa America, making it all the way to the semi-finals of this edition under USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Then losing to Argentina 4-0 led by one of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi, in Huston, Texas.

How the USMNT got to the 2024 Copa America?:

The United States Mens National team still had to qualify to this edition of the Copa America. The USMNT had to qualify through the the CONCACAF Nations League. The United States had to beat Trinidad and Tobago a relatively weak team compared to the United States.

Pulling the hairs out of many Americans, the players in red, white and blue were at the risk of not qualifying to this Copa America. The Quarter Finals had 2 legs, one home and one away. The first game was played in the United States and the U.S won that game 3-0. The game wasn’t as easy as it sounds. For more then half of the game the U.S was playing a man up, and the United States didn’t score their first goal until the last 10 minutes of the game.

In the second game (away) in Trinidad, we got the early lead 1-0. Putting the total score (4-0). Leading up to half time our best Right Back, Sergino Dest, got an absurd red card for yelling at the referee and among other things.

Playing a man down is something no team wants to play. When things like these happen coaches must be able to adapt. USMNT coach Greg Berhalter seemed to fail to adapt and let Trinidad exploit many areas of the pitch specifically in the midfield. Ultimately at the end of the game the game ended 2-1 Trinidad win, Trinidad had the chances to increase their and knock the U.S’s Dreams of being in the Copa America, their lack of quality didn’t help them punish the US.

Is Greg Berhalter Under pressure?:

Is Greg Berhalter Under pressure to do well this Copa America? Should Greg be under pressure to do well?

Greg has been in charge of the USMNT for 5 years. He has shown he has a lot of success in CONCACAF, which doesn’t have the strongest opponents compared to other confederations. Then again you can only beat what is in front of you, Greg did manage to win 1 Gold Cup and 3 Nation Leagues. However outside CONCACAF Greg’s record isn’t so good. His record is as follows in 22 games Greg has a record (8-8-6) 27 goals scored, 25 goals against. These are all games played in a neutral ground and games played here in the U.S.

Greg does the bare minimum:

Greg finished WCQ ( world cup Qualifiers 2022) in 3rd place behind Mexico and Canada and tied to Costa Rica in points, only being ahead due to goal differential. He did the bare minimum.

In the 2022 World Cup he again did the bare minimum tied Wales and England, and only beat Iran 1-0, and then losing to Dutch team 3-1 causing them to be eliminated from the 2022 WC at the round of 16. Having the most talented player pool of any other U.S teams compared to previous generations, and only finishing the same Round of 16 like every other World Cup. Bare Minimum.

Bringing up the Trinidad game, just barely qualifying to the Copa America, but he made it just barley.

When will the USMNT get a signature win under Greg Berhalter ?:

Now recently prior to the Copa America for preparation they played Columbia and got crushed by them 5-1 and surprisingly managed to get a draw to Brazil 1-1, both games played at home.

Last year in 2023 playing another good opponent they went up against Germany at home, Greg never got this talented player pool to punch above its weight.

The U.S never punched above its weight with Greg in charge, not once in 5 years. A lot of previous USMNT coaches were able to get historic wins and got them to punch above their weight with player pools much worse than they have at the moment.

Greg has shown to the American fans that they will never get the most talented generation of the USMNT players to have a signature win against semi-good opposition.

Greg continues to play a “System” that doesn’t fit the profiles of the many players he has, which as a result destroys the performance of a lot of players which makes them look terrible also, kills creativity, makes the team look pragmatic and very much disjointed.

For example, Greg likes to play Gio Reyna as a deep-line play maker, Gio Reyna one of the most talented and creative players this country has every produced is a player that needs to be higher up in the field as a Central Attacking Midfielder. He thrives driving at the opposition and providing the forwards the line breaking passes. He doesn’t thrive getting the ball from the Center backs and playing as a Central Defensive Midfielder. This is all parts of Greg “system”.

For the World Cup of 2026 we would need a coach that maximizes the talent he has to the fullest. He has been coaching this team for 5 years and this signature win still hasn’t happened. Berhalter in 5 years has had so many chances and for a lot of pundits and journalist they say that Copa America should be Greg’s last chance to make something out of this talented squad of American players. At least Semi-finals of the Copa America is what should be expected from this team, no excuses.

Greg Berhalter should be under pressure, but he should get the benefit of the doubt and believe in him and the players to get the job done.