Post-match: USA v. South Korea - September 6, 2025 - International Friendly

Regardless of why and when you think South Korea may have pulled off the gas, the reality is that they scored 2 goals on .8 xG and we scored 0 on something around 2.

Our mistakes and our inability to convert what would be set of chances that an average team would get two goals out of are both issues. A big part of it is that they have Son and we don't have anything comparable, even with the mistakes.

 

I know. I just have a default jerk setting.

 

Justin Moran never fails to make me laugh.

One, the build up was not the issue yesterday at all.

And two, this was FOUR days after that same team lost to Colombia 5-1. Complete A team minus Cardoso for Adams and Scally for Dest and they were slaughtered.

Then they went and shit the bed in the Copa.

 

Well I ve read 14 pages and digested it a bit so here's my thoughts.

1. And this is the most important. For years all the coach bashing was that GGG didn't know how to make tactical adjustments and was not any good at using his subs. Full stop. Some of you must have fallen asleep at half time. Did you not see that tactical adjustments?

2. I too think our best play is from a 3-5-2. But with Jedi perhaps it doesn't really matter because of his motor. Man we need him.

3. I have no problem with using this window to look at the fringe guys. One more look at Japan but come October I think its time to pull the A team together. Mckennie, Johnny/Musah, Pepi, Tillman, and Reyna.

4. I didn't think Blackmon was bad at all. The problem was pairing him AND Ream was just not a good plan. He could have an outside shot at a final roster spot. Way outside. Get Scally back in here.

Lastly, I am going to reiterate. Go look at my #3 and the players that were not there. And we still could have won that game. It was much closer than the 2-0 scoreboard. Yes I know stats are for losers. But good grief what more can you ask for of a coach than a team to do what they did in the second half?

 

Yeah, I don’t get the Blackmon hate. I agree he looked tentative and wasn’t great in this game. That shouldn’t be shocking in a first game at the NT level against a good team, but he has been the best defender in MLS this year and is a great distributor out of the back. And we don’t have a lot of options at CB which isn’t news.

What I don’t get is pairing him with Ream and not CR. His skillset looks much more like Ream’s - good and bad. He could be a reasonable Ream backup or replacement - 34 isn’t unreasonable for a CB next cycle. I still went to see another couple of games from him with CR, and if he can’t cut it fine move on.

 

Is that what we were doing? (seriously asking)

 

Why are you even arguing McKennie here? Do you actually think McKennie isn't here because Poch thinks Berhalter is better?

Guys got left at their club to make sure they earned some time.

I'm sure there's a real question once we get down to Tanner Tessman or something, but not Weston.

And yes, it's super relevant that while Berhalter did not play well yesterday, the idea of pinning the loss entirely on him is bizarre.

 

Yeah one of the differences in the game is that Korea could lump balls out into space for Son to battle 1v1 and it was danger zone. When we tried that with Sargent it was a no go. It would have been better with Balogun.

 

There was also the Weah offside (that he also botched) which should have been a goal -- it was like 3 on 2 from about 2 feet away. Pulisic also had a great opportunity on the right side of the box with no one near where he biffed the touch.

There were a few more in the second half as well -- amazing how many times we even failed to get a shot off.

 

It's also pretty annoying that you handwave losses in competitive matches in Nations League and Copa América -- the latter being as close to a World Cup as you can get -- as a "bullshit" match that should have no effect on decision making.

I don't think Berhalter should play over McKennie, but the fact that you can't seem to see that the A team has failed to perform over the last year plus is bizarre.

It's not Berhalter's fault this team had tons of chances yesterday and couldn't convert. And the ones that couldn't do shit are all the guys you think are well equipped to do well at the World Cup. But they aren't playing like it. (And for that matter, neither is Adams, who was pretty poor yesterday as well.)

 

There was a point yesterday where we easily had a dozen passes in build-up. And an number of other good ball-owning sequences - in part because SK was letting us. The were content to be compact, pressure but not press and really dig in in the final 3rd. What concerned me yesterday - and so often with this team - is we seem not to have ideas on how to unlock compact D. We had so much wing space and used it so little. It was weird, almost obstinate. SK played well, was very organized and had a clear plan. That we don't have enough creativity on the field to at least try to vary the attack worries me. Weah had grass in front of him so much of the first half. Sarge so rarely pulled wide to open the middle for CP or check back to send him through... Dest did not get to the goal line nearly enough. No outside shots at all - maybe 2 all game from outside the 18? We are just too predictable. I don't know if that's the players, coaching or what - it got way more fluid with the subs so maybe a combo, but it's been a USMNT problem since I've been watching, which has been the entire modern era.

 

No, meaningless games are things like Copa América. That's because when our best players fail there, it's bullshit and we should ignore it.

 

thats pretty much what I see too

 

I always thought starting for and doing well for your national team would help a player get playing time at their club. Not hurt them.

 

I don't why you'd need to explain a small decision in a broadcast feed for any reason. I don't even know if you are referring to the son or father, but Klinsmann is a former coach, so yes, it's a point of interest. They go to 55 shots of Taylor Swift at a Chiefs game; of course it's a curiousity to go to Jurgen Klinsmann at a USMNT game or reference his son on the roster.

As for Berhalter, I have no idea, but if you really think MLS would even both pushing for this, it's silly. Understand that the person in this game that drives the most MLS eyeballs played for South Korea.

A lot of teams rotate the responsibility. Maybe he did well in practice. Who cares? It's a two question interview.

Hell, my first thought is that players like Adams were so angry with their performance they ducked the media and told the kid to do it.

And heck, he actually said something interesting.

 

They may not be the players they think they are. I really don't know. But I think at least as far as club play goes, lots of them have improved or at least kept pace with where they were, injuries excepted. The national team hasn't always seen the benefit of this, for sure.

But Adams is playing well at Bournemouth. There's ARob, of course. McKennie's situation is bad this season, but he's had a good couple of years. Pulisic has become an important performer at Milan. Dest was doing well for PSV and the US prior to injuries. We'll see. Everyone wants to turn Musah into some kind of wing. The difference is that our national team coach is now making the same mistake. Gio, well...

All just to say, as frustrating as this is now, I'm still mostly hopeful they can get better.

 

Both Berhalter and Lina were active in that aspect of the game. As Martino said, they are consistently high intensity defenders, and Poch’s seems to value that over quality. Those were pretty much his exact words.

 

Tony Meola made a good point on his show - we are not a successful pressing team. South Korea broke our press easily. Our only hope is as a counter attack team.

 

2026 world cup should be in Australia

 

I don't think it's a lack of ideas. We lack precision. We attack a number of ways, we generate situations that have danger, but then there's a bad touch, a poor shot, a pass that isn't quite on.

 

EXACTLY! That is not who we are nor will it ever be. Just because it is the fashion doesn’t mean that it is the best course of action for everybody. None of our best attackers are particularly good at it.

 

Then he's not going to succeed. Strikers differentiate themselves far more by creating chances, not by finishing.

And team that has the talent advantage to serve up goals on a platter to someone who can't create those opportunities has the cash to go get someone who can finish well AND create opportunities.

If you can't get open, your finishing doesn't matter.

I'm not giving up on Sargent, but people have got to get over the "he doesn't get service" crap. Good strikers create the ability to get them the ball. Sargent is not doing that for the US.

And we don't need someone who needs it gift wrapped. That's not where the US is at and once we are, we will surely do better.

 

The first goal is all on Blackmon. Completely out of position. Stay goal-side of Sonny or die. Too stupid to play at this level. On the second goal, again Blackmon is out of position. He should be over on the right marking Kim, who is all alone and has all the time in the world. Dest should have read the situation quicker and covered for him. Again, Blackmon is too stupid to play at this level. So yes, the loss is 100% on Blackmon. Blackmon is 29 years old and still does not understand the game. That should be it for caps for Blackmon.

 

My real issue with Pochettino on this game really just revolves around what are we doing with our set defense once we settle back. Both goals came as players near to the ball seemed to not quite know whether to pressure or play the space and got caught with way too much room in between them.

We're neither actively pressuring nor pulling back super compact. We're not good at the latter, btw, like ever, but I don't know if Poch just expects us to be good at it or what, but we rarely have that connection and spacing right.

The offense worked decently aside from people not being able to convert. Transition defense was actually effective. As you note adjustments and subs all pretty good. People always want to pin things on personnel and ignore the rest but the reality is that we are too strung out at times, and it's usually post-transition. That's not a one player thing, it's not an athleticism thing.

Same issue on some of the Swiss goals as well in that one -- we had Johnny in the Berhalter spot and he's about as good as we're going to get personnel wise in terms of a set defense interrupting in a small space and he got bypassed badly for a goal. No pressure on the passer + not compact = too easy for the opposition. Doesn't matter who is there.

 

I would love to be a fan of a team that is so good that it can afford to waste a spot in the starting eleven on a clearly inferior player that happens to excel at set pieces…but sadly I am not.