USMNT Vs Canada: Now comes the real litmus test

On Friday night, the USMNT dismantled Cuba in a 7-0 victory and learned nothing. But on Tuesday, they face Canada in Toronto. Now comes the real test for Gregg Berhalter and his players.

Competing in the CONCACAF region, the U.S. Men’s National Team sometimes find themselves in a difficult spot. Bar Mexico, who are the unquestioned class of the division, the U.S. are routinely the next best team. But they are also substantially more competent than any others.

The quality of teams in CONCACAF play is poor. You just have to see how easily Mexico and the USMNT consistently make the Gold Cup final to notice as much. But because the U.S. are a part of the CONCACAF region, they have to play these teams more frequently than those outside of it.

Thus, challenging themselves against the best in the world is difficult. It has to come in friendly matches, which teams use to experiment and inherently do not play their best players. These are fairly fairly infrequent, perhaps two or three games per year.

This October international break is the perfect example. The USMNT are now playing in a new competition, the CONCACAF Nations League. Their first match was against Cuba on Friday night. They won 7-0, scoring four goals in the first 13 minutes, including a hat-trick for Weston McKennie. Such was the disparity in quality between the two sides, it was impossible for head coach Gregg Berhalter to draw any meaningful conclusions from the result or the performance.

To learn about yourself, you must be tested, challenged, pushed to your limits, not allowed to waltz through a match knowing that you can win with 70% effort. But that is the case for many of the CONCACAF matches for the USMNT. And thus, progress is extremely difficult.

But on Tuesday night, the USMNT face a different type of team. Canada are a part of the CONCACAF region and hav predominantly lagged behind their neighbours in the footballing world, but after an encouraging September and Gold Cup and with an intriguing set of young players coming through, led by Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies, they are a far more dangerous opponent that in previous years.

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The Nations League match will be played at BMO Field in Toronto. Canada need to win to improve their FIFA World Ranking, ensuring that they qualify for the Hex, the qualification group for the 2022 World Cup — the top six ranked CONCACAF teams will qualify. Canada are currently ranked seventh. They have an improving team, an incredibly dangerous attacking group of individuals, are at home, and have something to play for. This is no easy match for the USMNT. And that is a good thing.

Whereas the 7-0 victory over Cuba may look like an excellent result and performance, in reality, it does not help Berhalter and his ‘process’. He is looking to improve the team, to lay down tactical elements and approaches and to build a culture and philosophy such that the U.S. can rival some of the best teams in the world, starting with Mexico. Playing against the likes of Cuba, with all respect, is not going to aid that process. The U.S. need to be tested.

Next. USMNT Vs Cuba: 3 things we learned. dark

So playing away from home, against a good but beatable team, in a match that the opposition will be fired up for, is the ideal litmus test for this USMNT. Can they dismantle a better side in the manner that they did on Friday night? That is the real barometer for Berhalter and his desired progress.

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