Berhalter’s Real USMNT Is The One That Played Brazil — And Colombia

Gregg Berhlater’s U.S. men’s national team played to a deserved 1-1 draw against Brazil Wednesday night in their final Copa America tune-up. Christian Pulisic scored a first-half equalizer on a well-worked set piece, and might have even had a second-half match-winner if not for excellent work from Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson.

It was a much-needed improvement after an embarrassing 5-1 loss to Colombia in the first friendly of the camp last weekend. And if you’ve been following the recent vintage of the USMNT, it was also an entirely predictable response.

Berhalter’s managerial tenure has been marred by flat performances and bolstered by surprisingly promising ones in almost equal, cyclical measure. And these two friendlies last week are just an echo of what we have already watched.

Take the 2022 World Cup, where Berhalter’s group excelled in a 0-0 draw against England, then later was played off the pitch in a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands.

Or take last October, when they played a 3-1 friendly loss to Germany and a 4-0 friendly victory over Ghana only days apart. Or look back to 2022 World Cup qualifying at the 2-0 home win over Mexico and a 1-1 draw at Jamaica in back to back matches in November of 2021.

The only logical conclusion is that the complete picture of the USMNT is contained within how they played against Brazil and against Colombia. At their best, they can match the best in the world and do so with style and attacking verve. At their worst, they can look inferior and lost. And either pole is equally as likely in any given game.

And frankly, that’s probably an acceptable standard for the USMNT’s position, which its fans often exaggerate, a phenomenon Berhalter himself contributed to when he stated his team would try to change the way the world viewed American soccer.

Part of the angst over the bad performances from Berhalter critics stems from the idea that this is a uniquely talented generation of American players. In terms of pedigree, that may be correct: the starting XI against Colombia was the first-ever for the USMNT where every player plied their trade in one of the big five European leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain).

But pedigree and quality are not exact synonyms, and previous American players of similar quality faced a much harder road toward achieving the same pedigree.

Major League Soccer teams weren’t even permitted to sign their own players directly from their youth academies until 2008 — six years after the USA’s epic run to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals which remains their best post-World War II performance.

Some of the legends of that 2002 squad are the best examples of how much longer it once took sufficiently talented Americans to penetrate the top European leagues. Versatile midfielder and defender Tony Sanneh didn’t play in a Bundesliga league match until his age 27 season. Striker Brian McBride was in his age 30 campaign when he made his Premier League debut.

This current American generation took its early steps toward the top pro ranks far sooner. That clearly has had an impact on how many have arrived there and led to an exaggerated sense of the talent gap between this squad and the best of previous USMNT generations.

Further, the mercurial nature of the international game makes consistency hard to attain even for the most elite national team programs, and not always necessary for success. Argentina won the 2022 World Cup despite losing to Saudi Arabia in its group opener. Italy won the 2006 World Cup after drawing the lowly United States in group play. The previously mentioned 2002 United States squad reached the quarterfinals despite a nearly disastrous 3-1 loss to Poland in its final group game.

In that context, the inconsistency Berhalter’s squad has shown is almost re-assuring because it suggests a team that won’t have its whole tournament ruined by one bad group match. You could argue they’ve already proven that before, when they overcame an underwhelming 1-1 draw against Wales in their 2022 World Cup opener to reach the second round.

If your goal is to see the United States win the 2026 World Cup, then this group has clearly shown too many flaws. But that’s not what any reasonable American supporter should be thinking, given that only 13 nations have made the final in the tournament’s entirety, and only eight have won it. Even look at the recent surprise semifinalists and finalists and they all had at least one player who was more elite than Pulisic, the Americans’ best and most reliable player.

Croatia had Luka Modric. Morocco had Archaf Hakimi. Belgium had Kevin De Bruyne and a lot more. Uruguay’ had Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.

An honest talent assessment reveals a USMNT squad still a rung beneath any of those. And if you want the Americans to achieve the best of their capabilities, as a country with improving but not truly elite talent,, then you can probably tolerate a performance as bad as last Saturday’s showing against Colombia — so long as it is followed immediately by an effort as good as Wednesday’s against Brazil.