USMNT and Sergino Dest: Talent makes a difference

Sergino Dest made his competitive debut in the USMNT’s 4-1 win over Canada on Friday night. As the Ajax full-back displayed, talent makes a difference.

As the modern game has evolved, the average fan is far more knowledgeable than ever before, the advancement in analytics and tactical adjustments driving a greater general understanding of the patterns of the game. With this, there is an increasing focus on systems, strategies, varying approaches and philosophies.

Coaches and managers are as famous — and viewed to be as influential — as players, their tactics heavily scrutinised, from their in-game substitutions and adjustments to their overall approach and footballing philosophy.

And while this increasingly high view of coaches has helped accelerate the development of the sport like no one might have predicted over the past decade, it has also taken away from one of the very basic tenets of sport: more often than not, the team with the better players will win.

Maybe it is because those who are not physical gifted enough to ever become a top-level, professional sportsman or woman feel that tactics, strategy and analytics are something that they could actually replicate. There is an added connection when discussing various formations to play because that is something you can envisage yourself doing. It is different to debating whether you could curl a 25-yard freekick into the top corner. The likelihood is you couldn’t.

Whatever the motivation is for this changing shift in focus of general discussion, it has taken away from the focus on the players, the pendulum swinging away from a debate of talent and towards tactics instead. But as is quite clear, talent matters. A lot. And on Friday night, in a thumping 4-1 victory over Canada, the U.S. Men’s National Team — and new full-back Sergino Dest in particular — proved it.

The USMNT best performers on Friday were Dest, Sebastian Lletget, Jackson Yuiell and Jordan Morris. When the U.S. fell to Canada a month ago, only one of those four players, Morris, featured. And the likes of Yueill, Dest and Lletget have hardly been used throughout Gregg Berhalter’s tenure. Put simply, even without Christian Pulisic, the team that Berhalter was able to field on Friday was better than the one he could field a month prior.

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Dest, in particular, stood head and shoulders above every other player on the pitch. He was not especially impactful on the game itself, only earning an assist because his cross-come-shot deflected into the path of Morris at the back post, but there was a calmness, composure and quality to his play that few other USMNT players possess. He is just better.

Berhalter came under fire for his team’s dejecting display against Canada last time out. The backlash, while perhaps a little fierce, was justified. His team was routinely outplayed and outfought. But this time around, with better players at his disposal, the USMNT head coach was able to form a more cohesive line-up.

It is not groundbreaking to say, but the talent of the players in the team will usually dictate how well a team performs. Coaches can change things, yes. And some teams can overperform or underperform their talent, absolutely. But in the long run, how good your players are will determine how good your team is.

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

For the USMNT, this was an encouraging victory. After recent performances and results, it was most-needed. And while there will be pages and pages written about systems and tactics and philosophies and adjustments, in the end, the U.S. won because they had more talent, and Dest was a major part of that.

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