6/12/2024 - USMNT vs. Brazil- Upon Further Review

Summary

In what could be considered a gut check game for Gregg Berhalter's squad after a blowout loss against Colombia, the USMNT would be matched up against an even more talented squad in Brazil*. The USMNT came out strong with a couple of long distance strikes, including a near golazo by Musah, before succumbing to the all-too-familiar shakiness in playing out of the back and conceding a goal in the 17th minute to Rodryigo. The USMNT would fight back with a beautifully designed Pulisic set piece goal to level the score at 1-1 in the 26th minute. The remaining 75 minutes was a relatively even affair, with Brazil creating several dangerous chances in transition through Vini Jr and Rodrygo and the US matching with several counters of their own. Matt Turner came up big with several key saves to keep a 2nd half clean sheet, and the USMNT were ultimately to pull a draw against one of the world powers of soccer.

*It must be said that "more talented" is not necessarily "better", as Colombia currently sits above Brazil in CONEMBOL qualifying.

Line-ups and Formation

The USMNT came out in the Berhalter 4-3-3 , this one more aggressive with Musah as the nominal CDM. Pepi also replaced Balogun in a curious swap - Balogun is better suited for the counter-attacking style of play the USMNT would be likely to find themselves in against Brazil:

The build out took the common 2-1-4-3, with one of the midfielders dropping in to link play and the fullbacks pushing far upfield:

Defensively, the US largely stayed in the 4-3-3, but did a decent job employing a low block 4-5-1 when bunkering was needed, with all 11 players behind the ball in several scenarios: 

Goal by Goal Analysis

0-1 Brazil, 16:50 

This sequence starts with Turner attempting a long ball to the left wing under no pressure whatsoever. Turner's ball is woefully short and is immediately intercepted by Brazil who are then in a 5 on 4 situation. Musah is slow to react and shift to the ball side, which causes Richards to hesitate before shifting as well. Richards is slow to close down Rodryigo's left foot, and Turner can do little to keep the ball out of the net.

Blame: Musah (50%), Richards (25%), Turner (25%) 

1-1 USMNT, 25:08

A vintage Pulisic moment as he is able to combine with Reyna and Scally, receive the ball, and drive towards the top of the box to draw a foul in a dangerous area. In a moment straight off the training ground, Weah and Musah clear out at the last second, blurring Alison's vision and allow Pulisic to slot his shot into the bottom corner to level the score.

Praise: Pulisic (100%)

Detailed Scoring:

See the Scoring Methodology page for information about how scores are calculated.

Time	Player	Action	Points	Location	Commentary
0:05	Ream	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
0:10	Ream	Progressive pass	1	Own 3rd
0:24	Richards	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Own 3rd
1:16	Richards	Good on ball defense	1	Own 3rd
1:21	Ream	Progressive pass	1	Own 3rd
1:28	Weah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
2:01	Robinson	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
2:08	Mckinnie	Header won	1	Mid
2:21	Richards	Lost possession -	-2	Own 3rd	Richards carless giveaway out of bounds
3:02	Robinson	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
3:37	Musah	Progressive carry	1	Own 3rd
3:42	Musah	Lost possession	-1	Mid
4:01	Reyna	Good cross	1.5	Final 3rd
4:07	Musah	Shot on target	3	Final 3rd	Musah smashed crossbar, ball stays in play, so I'm calling this on target
5:02	Robinson	Header won	1	Own 3rd
5:19	Pulisic	Progressive carry	1	Final 3rd
5:19	Pulisic	Shot on target	3	Final 3rd
6:17	Ream	Poor on ball defense	-2	Final 3rd
6:51	Turner	Lost possession	-1	Mid
7:14	Richards	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
8:14	Weah	Good on ball defense	1	Final 3rd
8:53	Scally	Progressive pass	1	Mid
9:01	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Mid
9:36	Pepi	Win possession	1	Mid
9:39	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Mid
9:41	Pulisic	Foul	-0.5	Mid
10:28	Mckinnie	Poor on ball defense	-2	Mid
10:35	Ream	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
10:48	Scally	Good on ball defense (own 3rd)	2	Own 3rd
10:50	Turner	GK claim cross	0.5	Own 3rd
11:13	Pepi	Good touch	0.5	Mid
11:15	Pepi	Progressive pass	1	Mid
11:25	Weah	Shot on target	3	Final 3rd
12:31	Weah	Win possession	1	Final 3rd
12:38	Reyna	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Own 3rd
13:18	Weah	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
13:44	Reyna	Foul drawn	0.5	Own 3rd
15:04	Musah	Lost possession -	-2	Own 3rd	Musah tries to do too much
15:38	Robinson	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
15:45	Pepi	Win possession	1	Mid
15:56	Weah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
16:04	Richards	Poor on ball defense	-2	Mid
16:09	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
16:20	Scally	Lost possession -	-2	Own 3rd	After good turner save, Scally stumbles and loses ball in bad spot
16:22	Reyna	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
16:45	Turner	Poor clearance	-1.5	Own 3rd	I'm calling this "poor clearance" since lost forward ball doesnt penalize Turner enough for an excessively bad pass
16:47	Musah	Poor off ball defense (own 3rd)	-2	Own 3rd
16:50	Richards	Poor on ball defense (in box)	-4	Own 3rd
18:47	Musah	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
18:48	Musah	Foul drawn	0.5	Own 3rd
19:10	Weah	Shot on target	3	Final 3rd
19:33	Mckinnie	Good touch	0.5	Mid	Mckinnie's good touch and turn allows the build out to continue
19:42	Scally	Good cross	1.5	Final 3rd
19:50	Musah	Poor off ball defense	-1	Mid	WTF is musah doing after he misses the ball here? Seems like he gives up on the play
20:55	Turner	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
21:36	Pulisic	Lost possession	-1	Mid
21:50	Turner	GK Clearance	1	Final 3rd
22:28	Ream	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
22:51	Reyna	Progressive carry	1	Own 3rd
23:07	Pulisic	Good retention under pressure	1	Final 3rd	Great touch and turn by pulisic
23:11	Pulisic	Foul drawn (final 3rd)	1.5	Final 3rd
25:07	Pulisic	Goal	6	Final 3rd
27:46	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid
28:25	Ream	Progressive pass	1	Mid
28:27	Robinson	Progressive pass	1	Final 3rd
28:35	Mckinnie	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
28:41	Weah	Win possession	1	Final 3rd
28:48	Weah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
28:51	Weah	Foul	-0.5	Final 3rd
29:17	Reyna	Win possession	1	Mid
29:22	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Reyna surprisingly holds on to the ball too long in transition and loses it
30:30	Weah	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
30:32	Pepi	Lost possession	-1	Own 3rd
30:42	Scally	Corner conceded	-0.5	Final 3rd
31:14	Robinson	Progressive carry	1	Final 3rd
31:17	Robinson	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Peak Robinson as he bombs down the left wing and then donkey kicks the ball out of bounds
34:40	Turner	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
34:45	Pepi	Header won	1	Mid
34:55	Pulisic	Foul drawn	0.5	Mid
35:28	Ream	Win possession	1	Mid
35:28	Ream	Progressive pass	1	Mid
35:29	Reyna	Good touch	0.5	Mid
35:38	Reyna	Progressive pass	1	Final 3rd
35:44	Pulisic	Poor cross	-1	Final 3rd
36:28	Scally	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
36:33	Scally	Progressive carry	1	Mid	Scally shows a surprising ability to carry the ball forward when the situation dictates
37:09	Weah	Foul	-0.5	Mid
37:54	Ream	Good clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
38:46	Richards	Header won	1	Mid
38:48	Musah	Foul	-0.5	Mid
39:37	Musah	Win possession	1	Mid
40:09	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Mid
40:34	Weah	Defended ball out of bounds	0.25	Mid
41:02	Robinson	Header won	1	Own 3rd
41:09	Pulisic	Lost possession	-1	Mid
41:54	Robinson	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Own 3rd
41:59	Mckinnie	Header won	1	Mid
44:00	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid	44:36 pulisic leaves a similar ball to the one Robins let pass against Colombia
45:00+0:15	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid	ending at ~46:30 USMNT does a great job absorbing pressure
45:00+2:23	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid
45:09	Robinson	Lost possession -	-2	Mid
45:21	Richards	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
45:24	Scally	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
45:27	Weah	Foul drawn	0.5	Own 3rd
45:55	Scally	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
46:21	Musah	Foul drawn	0.5	Mid
46:37	Weah	Good touch	0.5	Mid
46:40	Scally	Lost possession	-1	Mid
47:34	Ream	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
47:41	Reyna	Foul drawn	0.5	Mid
48:11	Weah	Lost possession	-1	Mid
48:23	Scally	Good clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
50:00	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid	49:15 series where brazil holds possession and gets really deep
50:04	Pepi	Foul	-0.5	Mid
50:11	Richards	Good on ball defense (own 3rd)	2	Own 3rd	Bonus points for beautifully timed takle by Richards to save the day
54:03	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Mid	May be harsh here on Reyna as he's dealt a difficult ball from Richards
54:48	Pulisic	Good retention under pressure	1	Mid
54:48	Pulisic	Progressive pass	1	Mid
55:01	Reyna	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Reyna is less than impressive on the counter here and delivers a medicore ball to Pepi
55:08	Weah	Foul	-0.5	Final 3rd
56:40	Reyna	Good on ball defense	1	Mid	Good cover by Reyna
56:41	Reyna	Defended ball out of bounds	0.25	Mid
57:00	Reyna	Foul	-0.5	Mid
57:30	Scally	Good on ball defense	1	Own 3rd	Giving Scally a point for good defense even though his immediate pass cant find Weah
58:14	Turner	GK Clearance	1	Own 3rd
58:54	Mckinnie	Good touch	0.5	Own 3rd	58:49 why on earth are we still playing out of the back with Turner?
58:54	Mckinnie	Foul drawn	0.5	Own 3rd
59:28	Richards	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
58:32	Musah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Typical Musah play
59:38	Reyna	Foul	-0.5	Mid
59:54	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
60:27	Reyna	Good on ball defense (own 3rd)	2	Own 3rd
61:17	Musah	Lost possession	-1	Mid
62:18	Scally	Good on ball defense (own 3rd)	2	Own 3rd	Scally survives against Vini JR
63:05	Mckinnie	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
65:14	Musah	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
65:27	Scally	Progressive carry	1	Mid
65:34	Weah	Good cross	1.5	Final 3rd
66:00	Weah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Typical Weah stepover+loss of possession
66:30	Ream	Poor off ball defense (own 3rd)	-2	Own 3rd	This is as much on the tactics/line then it is on Ream, who is slightly slow to react to Endrick
66:36	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
66:58	Mckinnie	Win possession	1	Mid
67:33	Musah	Progressive pass	1	Mid
67:41	Scally	Progressive pass ++	4	Final 3rd	Beautiful pass by scally into path of streaking McKinnie
67:43	Mckinnie	Progressive pass +	2	Final 3rd
67:44	Pulisic	Shot on target	3	Final 3rd
67:50	Ream	Win possession	1	Final 3rd	Ream out of nowhere to win ball
67:59	Robinson	Poor cross	-1	Final 3rd
68:30	Weah	Foul	-0.5	Final 3rd
68:37	Mckinnie	Poor off ball defense	-1	Mid	Not sure why Mckinnie is so central here
69:00	Pulisic	Header lost	-1	Mid
69:25	Cardoso	Progressive carry	1	Own 3rd
69:25	Cardoso	Progressive pass	1	Mid
69:30	Balogun	Lost possession	-1	Mid
70:41	Cardoso	Header won	1	Own 3rd
70:46	Balogun	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
70:49	Ream	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
71:02	Ream	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd	Beautiful sequence by Ream showing composure under pressure
71:53	Pulisic	Offensive pass	0.25	Final 3rd
71:57	Musah	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
72:01	Ream	Win possession	1	Mid
72:42	Robinson	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Typical Robinson play
73:21	Richards	Header won	1	Own 3rd
73:30	Scally	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid
73:35	Cardoso	Win possession	1	Mid
73:43	Mckinnie	Lost possession -	-2	Mid
73:49	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
73:55	Scally	Lost possession -	-2	Own 3rd
74:11	Ream	Block	1	Own 3rd
77:52	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid
78:21	Aaronson	Win possession	1	Mid
78:28	Pulisic	Lost possession	-1	Mid
79:05	Richards	Good on ball defense (own 3rd)	2	Own 3rd
79:20	Mckinnie	Good clearance	0.5	Mid
80:00	Aaronson	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
80:21	Cardoso	Progressive pass	1	Mid
80:26	Scally	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Final 3rd
81:32	Turner	GK claim cross	0.5	Final 3rd
81:37	Turner	Progressive pass +	2	Mid
81:45	Balogun	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	Expected more from Balogun here. Even though we didnt technically lose possession, im penalizing Balo for not capitalizing
82:25	Pulisic	Good touch	0.5	Final 3rd
82:26	Pulisic	Progressive pass ++	4	Final 3rd	Not giving Aaronson credit for a ball passed to him at 4 yards
82:31	Balogun	Foul	-0.5	Final 3rd
83:25	Aaronson	Lost possession -		Own 3rd	Aaronson trying to do too much
84:33	Richards	Poor off ball defense (own 3rd)	-2	Own 3rd	Richards beaten for pace
85:20	Balogun	Good touch	0.5	Final 3rd
85:22	Robinson	Offensive pass	0.25	Final 3rd
85:24	Pulisic	Offensive pass	0.25	Final 3rd
85:33	Mckinnie	Good touch	0.5	Final 3rd
86:05	Adams	Poor on ball defense	-2	Mid
86:13	Moore	Poor on ball defense (in box)	-4	Own 3rd
86:16	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
86:17	Ream	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
86:25	Moore	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Final 3rd
87:20	Aaronson	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
87:30	Cardoso	Good retention under pressure	1	Own 3rd
87:33	Cardoso	Progressive pass	1	Mid	Good Cardoso sequence
87:36	Aaronson	Lost possession	-1	Mid
87:40	Richards	Win possession	1	Mid
87:49	Robinson	Poor cross	-1	Final 3rd
87:56	Robinson	Foul	-0.5	Final 3rd
88:50	Moore	Corner conceded	-0.5	Final 3rd
90:00	Turner	Forward ball leading to possession	0.25	Mid
90:06	Robinson	Header won	1	Mid
90:33	Robinson	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd
91:02	Mckinnie	Block	1	Own 3rd
91:28	Mckinnie	Header clearance	0.5	Own 3rd
92:22	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Mid
93:13	Ream	Win possession	1	Own 3rd
93:17	Moore	Foul drawn	0.5	Own 3rd
93:48	Turner	Forward ball losing possession	-0.5	Final 3rd
94:00	Robinson	Good on ball defense	1	Mid
94:00	Robinson	Win possession	1	Mid
94:03	Robinson	Lost possession	-1	Final 3rd	The number of sequences of "robinson - win possession, robinson - lose possession" is painful
94:19	Moore	Foul (own 3rd)	-2	Own 3rd
95:17	Turner	Good save	3	Own 3rd
95:48	Adams	Poor off ball defense (own 3rd)	-2	Own 3rd

Player	Points	Actions	Points per Actions
Cardoso	7	7	1.00
Pulisic	17.5	19	0.92
Turner	17.25	24	0.72
Scally	9.75	18	0.54
Ream	10.25	19	0.54
Pepi	3	7	0.43
Aaronson	2	5	0.40
Weah	6.75	20	0.34
Mckinnie	3.5	16	0.22
Reyna	2.75	20	0.14
Robinson	1.25	20	0.06
Richards	0	14	0.00
Musah	-0.5	16	-0.03
Balogun	-1	5	-0.20
Moore	-6.5	5	-1.30
Adams	-4	2	-2.00

The Good

• Pulisic was able to recover from a largely anonymous performance against Colombia by doing what he does best: dribbling at defenders, making incisive runs, and providing quick 1-2 passing combinations. His free kick goal was outstanding, but his overall play on the day was very positive as well.
• Turner was able rebound in an even larger way from the Colombia performance, coming up with several clutch saves from close range, including pressing Rodriygo when he got in behind the defense, and preventing Vini Jr and Rodriygo goals with a strong left arm. He remained poor in distribution, but that is not his strong point. If he can lump balls forward and play with this level of confidence in goal, it will help the USMNT immensely as they head into the Copa America.
• Scally turned in back to back solid performances in this friendly window, as he was not only able to keep Vini Jr in check, but also provide options going forward (including a perfectly weighted ball to McKinnie on the Pulisic chance in the 2nd half): 
  
  Antonee Robinson is not making this pass. I remain irrationally high on Joe Scally.

The Eh

• Weah had a very Weah-like performance. He put in the work on the defensive end, made some runs in behind, and had a few flashy moments. However, he remained ineffective as a 1-on-1 face up player, losing the ball nearly every time he tried to do step-overs and dribble past a defender. He is what he is at this point.
• McKinnie could arguably be put in the bad, as he was largely anonymous for most of the game. Despite a few nice bits on the defensive side, he rarely got on the ball or found himself in dangerous areas. He did show flashed of what he could do late, when we was able to settle and dribble the ball in Brazil's box, laying off a pass to Pulisic who put the shot just wide.

The Bad

• Richards turned in a relatively poor performance that did not jump out to me during the initial, live watch. However, Richards was not the distributor that Ream was in this game, lost several headers and duels, and was a bit clumsy with the ball. I've seen enough of Richards to think that this performance was a one-off blip.
• Musah turned in another poor performance highlighted by sloppy touches, poor passing in the final 3rd, slow defensive recognition, and a few bad giveaways. Outside of his ability to turn and carry the ball from midfield under the right circumstances, I just don't think that Musah brings enough to warrant starting in the midfield over McKinnie, Reyna, Cardoso, or even Adams in the near future. He has the talent but hasn't seem to put it together for the US. 
• Moore ... yikes. Look, I'm trying to throw biases aside and be objective when scoring players. And for someone that was playing in Europe in a decent La Liga 2 club in the past, I'm sure there is/was some upside with Shaq Moore. But I have literally never seen it with the USMNT. So I was not surprised when Moore came out to the field and immediately produced the worst scoring per minute charting I've seen to date. Nothing about his performance was positive: he had several poor balls forward and was clumsy and slow in defense, nearly conceding a goal to Vini Jr. Less Shaq Moore please.

Overall Takeaways

1. The USMNT is better off booting it deep (as opposed to playing out of the back) against elite competition: The US tried to play out of the back early on, conceding several dangerous chances (and 1 goal) against Brazil, before switching to the deep ball after ~20 minutes. The downside to not playing out of the back is that you are playing 50/50 balls deep every time your back line gets pressure. However, the US has several players with plus arial ability (notably McKinnie), who can help shift that 50/50 to 70/30. This is a much less risky approach and can still lead to sustained possession.
2. Joe Scally is an extremely viable RB option for the US going forward: I said in the Colombia review that I prefer Scally to Robinson. I am continuing that sentiment here as I believe he is more than viable at the international level. He is able to break out of pressure when needed, and can provide quality passes when needed (including setting up the key chance that Pulisic hit to Alison in the 2nd half). This is all in addition to keeping Vini Jr largely in check. I remain very high on Joe Scally.
3. The USMNT can compete on the world stage, if all goes right: That last part is a rather large caveat. The USMNT was able to pull off a draw, with several late opportunities to win outright, against one of world's elite. Its hard to say how serious Brazil was taking this game, but this was their A-team and the US played up to their level. It did, however, take a MOTM performance from Matt Turner that I'm not sure they'd be able to replicate many times out of ten.