Sorry Nick I don't recall what you are referring to. The only thing I remember is that he used a pretty conservative counterattacking 442 system. So space was "created" by the opponents getting stretched out while attacking. I simply don't remember much about the US attack except for the transition to attack moment. This is an interesting topic though.
In the game US v Honduras people were complaining of to many wasted passes in the back at times. What the coach was doing was trying Bora ball. Remember coach Bora he used to just pass the ball to his backs moving the ball from one side of the field to the other. What did those passes accomplish? It was to try and lure the opponents players to the backs because they got impatient. What did that do it helped open up the opponents packed defense. To create more forward space to pass to.
Got it. I only coached U-Littles and adult rec. So I never used this. Didn't teach team tactics to U-Littles and with Adults we played a 433 where we pushed the ball to the forwards early. Few of the opponents defended with more than 5 or 6 players behind the ball. If a team played a slow buildup, no advantage was gained because another 3-4 defenders would use the time to drift back behind the ball. There were some good teams and high quality soccer, but most teams were pedestrian. The big aspect to our adult matches was our using our experience to offset the 20 year age difference with many other teams.
I don't teach it per se to my U-12's, but during the indoor season where there is no offside, I instruct my striker to play very high, behind the defense, or hopefully, to draw the defenders back to cover him. I don't really expect long balls to be played to him often, but A. as you said, it opens up space for the rest of the team B. It allows them to see the space in the open field and find the angle for the ball. Now, as we are about to move outdoors and offside, I will begin teaching them about checking back in to the open space for the ball (and play quick combos) w/ midfielders.
Hey clean let them check back at an angle. So the passer can still see the up top space to hit someone moving from the flank to the vacated space in the middle of the field. If they move straight back to the passer won't be able to see that cleared space opening.
Maybe I am stating the obvious, but (in outdoor) only the last few steps of the run has to be at an angle. For me playing, I think of button hook patterns from pointy football and the quick little movements in basketball where you block your marker from intercepting the pass. For U-Littles I used to use throw in drills (2v2+1) to teach off the ball movement because the marking during matches is usually man to man on the restart. It is also very easy for the kids to understand the value of checking runs and clearing runs. They take that experience then into SSG keep away games. (Rondos if you like.)
I do not coach this too much at the U12 or U14 levels. What we do do is play back to the keeper to stretch a team. Playing side to side in the backfield in US youth soccer to open them up very hard. At this age it doesn't really open up because the back end of the opposing team is normally in zone and stagnant. Most teams don't shift too much and nothing comes of it. However the "get the ball" mentality takes over when you play back to your keeper and they chase it like hyenas. This immediately stretches the other team and creates 1v1 situations to play into. Then hit the gaps and go.