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No more friendlies. No more tune-ups. Next up for the USA after games against Senegal and Germany: 2026 FIFA World Cup.
There are positives and negatives to take from a 3-2 win over Senegal and a 2-1 loss to Germany.
Two former USA World Cup players (Maurice Edu in 2010 and Walker Zimmerman in 2022) break down their three biggest lessons.
Chris Richards is vital to this backline
Ed: While the USA had plenty of positive periods between the win over Senegal and the loss to Germany, they conceded more goals in both games.
The USA started with three centre-backs – Alex Freeman and Tim Ream both started, while Mark McKenzie started against Senegal and Miles Robinson against Germany. In both games, the U.S. shut out twice. (Side note: I wouldn’t have minded seeing either McKenzie or Robinson start alongside Richards.)
When healthy, Richards goes right into the middle of the defense between Freeman on the right and Ream on the left. Chris trained fully on Monday, which is a positive sign that he will be ready to face Paraguay on Friday (9 p.m. ET on FOX/FOX One and streaming free on Tubi).
The US is ready for real competition
Zimmerman: The USA got two games against different teams that allowed it to defend differently. We were more compact in how we defended against Senegal, kept the distance from front to back, we were able to press higher and be higher up the pitch and keep about 20-25 yards between our defense and attack. So against quality opposition in Germany we had to be a bit more compact; it was more like 35.
It was also helpful that Germany were fluid in how they defended. Germany pressured American defenses in a variety of ways. Sometimes the pressure was high on our back line in a 4-3-3 formation, while other times it was a little deeper in a 4-4-2. Being able to build an offense against different builds and looks was a great dress rehearsal for what we will see throughout the tournament.
After Antonee Robinson’s absolute golazo, I thought we responded fantastically for the rest of the first half. It was a really good period that made the USA look like a dangerous team going forward, putting pressure on Germany and competing well until the halftime whistle.
I also think that the first goal that Germany scored will actually be helpful in the long run for the USA. It allows the team to go back to the drawing board on set pieces. Kai Havertz getting in that position without contact is not good enough.
Now it’s about emphasizing how important set pieces are going to be during the tournament. Hopefully this team learned about the organization and communication needed to ensure that every set piece is defended with the necessary urgency.
This week will be about adjusting little things to the system while making sure the guys recover and continue to build fitness ahead of the USA’s World Cup opener on Friday night against Paraguay.
The USA can compete with the best teams, but…
Ed: When the USA is at its best, we can cause problems against the best teams at the World Cup this summer.
USA created chances and looked dangerous going forward against both Senegal and Germany. Christian Pulisic produced a man-of-the-match performance against Senegal, while Folarin Balogun scored against Senegal and was lively against Germany.
The key: We have to take our chances. When you start facing the top teams in this tournament they will make you pay if we are not clinical when our moments come.
As well as causing problems in attack, I loved the response and character this group showed after conceding early against Germany. That mentality and fight will be important going forward.
