USMNT: For Gregg Berhalter, does winning well matter?

The USMNT successfully played attractive soccer in its win against Panama. But does how the team wins actually matter for Gregg Berhalter and his tenure?

The United States Men’s National Team systematically dismantled Panama on Sunday in a manner that had Gregg Berhalter drawing comparisons to Pep Guardiola.

In his article “Berhalter’s plan for his U.S. team: balance, structure and learning how to ‘disorganize’ opponents” for ESPN, Jeff Carlisle highlighted why American soccer fans have been ecstatic about Berhalter’s attractive approach, saying:

"There has also long been a craving for the U.S. to not only win but win well…"

This same craving to win well lead Sunil Gulati to hire Jurgen Klinsmann with the hopes of launching U.S. Soccer up there with the big boys. Jurgen’s failure to deliver on the promise of playing attractive successful soccer lead directly to Bruce Arena’s tenure which embodied the polar opposite Klinsmann’s sweet-sounding rhetoric and poor delivery.

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Now, we are here with Berhalter. Is playing an attractive style worth it if the team isn’t able to perform successfully against non-CONCACAF opponents? Can the USMNT really justify committing to a system of sitting back that isn’t practical or watchable against regional rivals? Berhalter may provide answers to both of these questions.

When speaking of his plan with the national team during January Camp, Berhalter said:

"“I think the philosophy will be very similar (to Columbus). We want to use the ball to disorganize the opponent and create goal-scoring opportunities… But we have to make some adjustments from what we did in Columbus… There needs to be more balance to the game. Now we’re working on how do we get that balance, but still be able to disorganize the opponent."

Using the ball to create chances in a balanced way sounds like attractive football by all means. Again though, is relying on the player pool’s creativity really viable against opponents like Colombia or England? Probably not. We saw that at the end of 2018 with Pulisic amassing a ridiculous seven successful dribbles in the team’s loss against the Three Lions and little of anything else.

The beauty of Berhalter’s system, though, is that it doesn’t rely on individuals to break down an opponent. It’s more focused than that. Christian Roldan spoke on the importance of relying on each other and buying into a collective plan, saying in an interview:

"Here, you pretty much stay in your designated spot and be patient and wait for the ball. You have to trust your teammates that the ball is going to get there… The important thing for me is you rely on your teammates. I think here you have to pick your moments, to really go deep. We have to be patient and be in our spots offensively and defensively."

No part of that plan sounds reckless. In fact, it almost sounds like Jose Mourinho talking about his rigid philosophy. Berhalter and Roldan’s quotes, when taken out of context, sound like the two extremes seen with Klinsmann and Arena. In the context or Berhalter’s system, though, the balance he spoke of was clear. His players bought in.

The USMNT takes on Costa Rica on Saturday, and Berhalter said that wholesale changes will not be made. It will be interesting to see whether the USMNT’s new attacking philosophy proves successful again against a stronger opponent.