They should have done a Seattle Sounders and closed the upper deck. That would have packed in the stadium at 60k level
I don't know why this is a "maybe." It is clear that against the better opponents we still need to play an absorb and counter game. On paper a 4-2-3-1 should do that, but we needed a 2 DM set-up that would have helped clog up some of the English tika-tak on the corners of the box - how they had time and space to do that I'll never know. Defenses with Edu, Clark, Pablo, even Armas patrolling in front of 2 "clear it as soon as you can" backs, with a Frankie Heydude or Dolo marauding down the flanks hitting hopeful crosses at least played to our strengths. Against weaker teams trying to build out of the back, allowing CMs to get forward and keeping both outside middies wide can be effective and even make for somewhat interesting soccer. But we do not have the horses to play that way against the better teams - especially in the first 30 mins while a young team finds its footing. Add to this that our keeping in a few notches below what we've had for the past two generations, and the impulse to go toe-to-toe with better teams is misguided. Defend first - then work on offense.
Best news: Grant Wahl's reporting that Lopetegui had contacted U.S. soccer to inform that the Spaniard was interested in coaching the USMNT. Worst news: Grant Wahl reporting that U.S. soccer turned Lopetegui down because they were too far along in the selection process. Beyond that, way too much over-analyzing going on. We simply lost to a far better team. No coaching genius required to figure that one out - although I acknowledge that a seasoned coach who knows what he is doing would make us more competitive.
Or how about a Steve Sampson 3-6-1? We were a 4-4-2 (with some modifications) counter-attack team for decades. Klinsmann committed to being the coach that would finally break us out of that mold. His mistake was thinking that the post-Donovan-Dempsey-Howard generation would be better. So far, it hasn't been.
To his credit, Klinsi tried the more attacking style during his first months and almost cost him the job. Guy may not be a tactician, but he was smart enough to figure there's a reason we play the way we play. And with all that experience on the field, the "express yourselves" was enough for a while.