US Soccer has preached that Gregg Berhalter’s second term will seek to “change soccer in America forever.”
After a defeat to Germany in Hartford just three days earlier, Berhalter knew positive changes were needed to salvage anything from this camp.
They were on display in the first half, where a burst of goals from the best in the American system led to a 4-0 victory over the occasional Kryptonite, Ghana.
Although there were some signs of life in the aforementioned match against Germany, these quickly disappeared in the second half – with the absence of Tyler Adams becoming apparent as the US struggled tactically with debutant Julian Nagelsmann.
But this time the experimental 4-2-4 formation showed that the Americans have the quality to make the unorthodox formation work in the right situations – and that the game they are playing looks better both visually and on the scoresheet .
Gio Reyna (7) and his pair led the United States in a 4-0 victory over Ghana in Nashville
Berhalter made three changes to his German lineup. Of those three, the most notable was the inclusion of Independiente midfielder Johnny Cardoso over Juventus No. 8 Weston McKennie. After struggling in the rain in Hartford, McKennie was traded in hopes that Johnny could make a bigger impact deeper in the field.
At kick-off, Berhalter continued with the 4-2-4 formation he debuted in Hartford – with Yunus Musah and Cardoso as the two in the middle with a Christian Pulisic-Folarin Balogun-Gio Reyna-Tim Weah front four.
It’s less of a rigid formation and more of a fluid concept – as the opening ten minutes saw players in more central positions along the wings and full-backs continuing to impose themselves.
That was a problem in the previous match, with Sergiño Dest being constantly burned by the German attackers throughout the match. But this time the advancing wing-backs worked in the US’s favour.
Dest and Balogun had a great connection in the tenth minute, playing one-two against each other until the latter fired a shot that was blocked by Nicholas Opoku. Unfortunately for the Ghanaian man, the block fell perfectly to Gio Reyna, who buried it home for a 1-0 lead.
From then on, the US largely controlled the match, constantly egging on Ghana’s backline.
In the 19th minute, Timothy Weah made his first major contribution to the match, receiving a pass from Reyna and dribbling into the penalty area before Gideon Mensah stuck out his leg and tripped him for a penalty. Pulisic buried the shot to make it 2-0.
The attack continued just two minutes later. A poorly controlled pass led to a giveaway right in the middle of Weah’s path. He passed the ball to Balogun, who controlled it, made a great turn around his marker and fired into the left side netting with his left foot to add another goal to the tally. USMNT 3, Ghana 0.
After Reyna’s (7) opener, Christian Pulisic slotted in a penalty to take a 2-0 lead around 19′.
Weah went down in the penalty area and Pulisic sent the Ghana keeper the wrong way to double the lead
Folarin Balogun (20) delivered a sublime effort, turning his marker and shooting with his left hand
Reyna then scored again from an indirect free kick, making it 4-0 for USA just before halftime
“Tim (Weah) put the pressure on, I saw him pass the ball and then obviously I saw the defender out of the corner of my eye, so I didn’t want to just shoot and (risk) the ball being blocked,” Balogun told MailSport when he thought about his goal.
‘So it took a bit of composure, but in the end I was happy that the ball went in – and a bit of luck because the ball hit the post.’
The Americans remained at the forefront throughout the first half of the match, with players showing creativity against a Ghanaian team that looked distracted and outclassed from the start. At one point, the Ghanaian goalkeeper shouted his players into formation as the USA were awarded a free kick.
Similar to Germany’s first half, the first half of this match saw the USMNT play more long balls and sprint much further. It set Ghana back several times, including in one of the more confusing moments of the night – when Opoku slid in for a tackle, then wedged the ball between his legs and held it there.
Referee Marco Antonio Ortiz called for an indirect free kick for dangerous play – a rarity at international level – with the kick taken from the penalty spot and Balogun, Reyna and Pulisic standing around the ball. Balo rolled it to Pulisic, who set it aside for Reyna. The Dortmund winger fired the shot and the ball ended up in the net off Joseph Paintsil’s head. 4-0.
They almost added another after Matt Turner found Pulisic deep after a save, but nothing substantial came of it after the American lost steam.
Frustration for Ghana began to set in among both players and fans. Some, such as West Ham United midfielder Mohammed Kudus and Athletic Bilbao striker Iñaki Williams, felt compelled to try something more substantial, but no results came before half-time. When the whistle blew, the Ghanaian players gathered in a huddle near the center circle, looking for something to motivate the team.
American manager Gregg Berhalter (L) removed Reyna, who had just returned from an injury, at half time
During the half-time substitutions, Ricardo Pepi came on for Balogun, Brenden Aaronson swapped with Pulisic and Weston McKennie came on when Reyna came off, despite Gio being on course for a hat-trick. In the second half, the team reverted to a flat 4-3-3, which seemed to give this team a more subdued attacking feel.
The crowd shouted with delight when Weah tipped the ball over Alidu Seidu’s head in minute 63. Up until that point, the 4-3-3 offered some nice visuals, but nothing that reflected on the scoresheet. As the team returned to the same tactics they used for most of the World Cup, the forward movement looked inefficient, but not for lack of trying by some players.
Cardoso came off the field after minute 65 and was replaced by Heidenheim midfielder Lenny Maloney, who was making his debut for the Stars and Stripes.
The US began mounting some form of attack later in the battle, but it was not as direct as before. McKennie sent in a 72nd-minute cross that Aaronson wildly missed, but it fell to Kristoffer Lund who skied it over the crossbar.
Ghana made some attacks on the American goal, but none bothered Turner – who had just one save on the night – just once.
After the match, Berhalter praised his team’s response to a difficult result against the Germans, saying: ‘We had some things to work on and I felt the team responded very well.
‘We were looking for aggression, we were looking to threaten their back line – ball movement from left to right, breaking through the middle and then going wide – and I think we did a good job of that.
Berhalter also switched from a 4-2-4 to a 4-3-3 in the first half which was not as lively as the other half.
‘You can see that the first half in particular was a very strong performance by the group. Overall, we talked about using these two games as a learning experience, and I think we definitely did that.
“We got great information from the match against Germany, and we can compete against a really talented Ghanaian team and get a good result.”
While the first half showed the USMNT could produce confident attacking football, the second didn’t give much hope that a 4-3-3 (or specifically THIS 4-3-3) could lead to scoring results.
But the United States has a unique building block in the 4-2-4 that they can use in the future. Now it’s up to Gregg Berhalter to use it consistently – if he really wants to “change football in America forever.”