Created By: Slater Sparks, Tucker Hebert, Mamoun Ibrahim, Mukaii Mhaka
Berhalter Ball
National Identity
Whenever a football team hires a new manager, many questions arise from around the footballing world. Does the manager have a history with the club or certain players? What will the chemistry be like between the players and manager? Most importantly, what tactics will the manager implement into the squad? However, when it comes to International football, these questions are not so simple.
In many countries, a footballing identity and tradition has already been established within these national teams. Tiki-taka in Spain, total football in the Netherlands, gegenpress in Germany, and the flair and style of Brazil are just a few of the unique identities from historic International powerhouses. The United States on the other hand possesses no true footballing identity. Through the heterogeneity of American culture and focus on other sports besides soccer (sorry, going to use that word for the rest of the article), a tactical identity of the United States Men’s National Team has never been established. Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena, and Jurgen Klinnsman have all tried their best to push the USMNT to the heights of the international stage, but all have come out of their tenure disappointed. Today, Gregg Berhalter looks to create a tradition within our current “golden generation” and cement the United States as a powerhouse for years to come.
While club team managers have the luxury of the transfer market to buy player that fit their preferred style of play, international managers are basically under the adage of “you get what you get, and you don’t get upset” (the recruitment of dual-nationals is another topic we don’t have time to get into). So whenever a manager gets hired by an international team, they must make the tough decision of implementing their desired style of play into the current squad, or adapting their philosophies to fit the strengths of their players.
Tactical Translation: Columbus Crew to USMNT
When Gregg Berhalter first got hired as USMNT manager, he tried implementing his possession-based 3-4-3/4-2-2-2 that was so successful while in charge of the Columbus Crew. Stemming from his desire to “disorganize his opponents”, Berhalter hoped to create positional advantages around the pitch with an offensive 3-4-3. If a team’s forward line was pressuring with two forwards, the back three would have the advantage with the defensive midfield playmaker dropping into the middle of the backline. With the two players in central midfield, Berhalter would have one of the wingers pinch in to create a positional advantage. From these positional advantages, Berhalter hoped the opponents would send an additional player forward on the press, thus opening up space for the wide players behind and leaving their fullback to mark two players. Defensively, the squad would reorganize into a 4-2-2-2 controlled block in hopes of forcing the opponent into predictable passing patterns.
Overall, Gregg hoped to control possession and wear teams down with every pass, eventually playing balls between their lines to get in behind. However, “Berhalter Ball” did not have the same success with the USMNT as it did with the Columbus Crew. Unfortunately for Berhalter, the beginning of his tenure is defined by two losses to arch-rival Mexico, both highlighting his inability to directly translate his desired style of play. While lack of time with the team to implement ideas could be partially blamed for
the defeats, Berhalter’s stubbornness left sour tastes in the mouths of USMNT fans.
Post Covid Adaptation: The New Guard
With some extra time to think over tactical philosophy due to the pandemic, Berhalter realized he needed to adapt his style. Players like Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, while great servants to the USMNT throughout the 2010s, no longer had a place in Berhaler’s revamped squad. With a new “golden generation” of players chomping at the bit to earn USMNT debuts, Berhalter added exciting players like Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, and Chris Richards to a line up already including players like Weston Mckennie, Christian Pulisic, and Tyler Adams. With the new players added to the squad, Berhalter decided to change his tactical philosphy. With youth injected in the squad, Berhalter decided to stray away from his low block on defense and switch to a high press when not in possesion. Offensivley, while still implementing long diagonal balls from the back to progress the play, his new midfield three of Mckennie, Musah, and Adams provided much needed legs and ball carrying skills. However, this new press often left the US backline exposed, resulting in teams capitalizing on our tactical weakness throughout 2020-2021. Throughout this period, Berhalter went through a series of different formations, using different players, trying to figure out what style of play fit best to his players.
Heading into qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, questions began to be asked of Gregg Berhalter. Would he have a consistent everyday squad? How would the lack of experience from his player affect the outcome of matches? Would there be a lack of cohesion as a result of the tactical experimentation from the years prior? Unfortunately for Gregg, qualification started poorly. His style looked uninspiring, his squad selection drew questions, and the USMNT were not getting the results they expected. 0-0 and 1-1 draws with El Salvador and Canada highlight the lackluster performances from a US team with more quality players. These results served as a wake-up call for Gregg Berhalter’s experimentation era. Berhalter had to adapt, and adapt in a strong way.
In the second phase of World Cup qualifying, Berhalter completely abandoned his slow, methodical approach, and switched to a high pressure, turn the ball over, and attack vertically. The midfield of Musah, Mckennie, and Adams continued to carry the team with their legs and energy, while the centerback partnership of Zimmerman and Robinson covered the backline to allow for the high press. This led to a comfortable 2-0 win against Jamaica. However, the next game against Panama would not have a similar result. Instead of sticking with what worked against Jamaica, Berhalter decided to revert back to his experimentation era and completely rotated his squad, resulting in an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Panama. Again, Berhalter switched back to using a young and exciting line up in a crucial qualifier against Mexico, and it showed. The US ran all over El Tri leading to a 2-0 win. Using this new direct and vertical tactic system, the US were able to play to the strengths of the squad and eventually qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Please check out the Yank Report video above, he gives a really great overview on Berhalter from his hiring to the 2022 WC.
The True Test: Qatar 2022
As the US traveled to Qatar, questions over Berhalter’s squad decision still loomed. While fielding one of the youngest squads, inclusion of MLS players caused outrage amongst many US fans. Players such as Kellyn Acosta and Jordan Morris, who have played for the USMNT through some of our most tumultuous moments, travelled to Qatar when many fans believed their inclusion was based on bias rather than merit. Throughout all of the tournament matches, in a 4-3-3, with the only consistent trio in all four matches being the midfield three of Musah, Mckennie, and Adams. In all four games, Berhalter made it a point to put his best players in their best positions. The full backs of Sergino Dest and Antonee Robinson are very energetic and lively players who love to get up the pitch. Coupled with the attacking talent Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah on the front lines, and the attack minded midfielders of Musah and Mckennie, Berhalter looked to overload the opposing teams on the wing with triangles on either side, with Adams progressing the ball up the pitch. The central striker would drop back to receive the ball from Adams, and transition it out wide before looking to receive the ball again in the opponent's box. For the most part, Berhalter’s tactics worked. Although a disappointing 1-1 draw against Wales, the US beat an extremely motivated Iranian side 1-0, and drew 0-0 against one of the tournament favorites in England. Thankfully, the United States finished 2nd in their group and made it to the knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup.
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Unfortunately, the United States drew international powerhouse Netherlands in the first round. It was in this game where Gregg Berhalter really got exposed and outmanaged by Louis van Gaal, leading to the United States losing 3-1. Instead of writing out Berhalter showing his weaknesses, I’m linking the Athletic FC’s in-depth analysis of the tactics for you all to watch. They do a great job of really explaining how the Netherlands prepared for the match and how van Gaal completely outmatched Berhalter, I really recommend giving it a watch. Overall, while I think many USMNT fans were happy to get out of the group stage, many were frustrated with our results. While a 0-0 draw against England was a bright spot for the squad, we were all hoping for more convincing results against Iran and Wales, especially with the young quality we have. Finally, the performance against the Netherlands was extremely disappointing for many fans. While the USMNT were underdogs, many expected a closer match and for the US to put up a better fight. In all honesty, we believe Berhalter held us back during the 2022 World Cup. His inability to change tactics in the Netherlands match, his refusal to play Gio Reyna during the tournament (please go to our Man Management page to read more about that), and some of his other squad decisions (bringing on Jordan Morris against the Netherlands) really held the team back. At the end of 2022, Berhalter’s contract expired and many USMNT were excited for a new start and life after the Gregg Berhalter era.
Looking Forward: Copa America 2024
However, much like the shin injury that I picked up during my last highschool soccer season, bad things always come back and Gregg Berhalter was rehired as USMNT head coach in June of 2023 (hopefully it’s clear now that we are not the biggest fan of Berhalter). But again, like my nagging shin injury, we just have to suck it up and live with it. So in looking ahead to the 2024 Copa America held in the US this summer, here is our hopeful 23-man roster. While overall we think Berhalter’s squad selection will look relatively similar to ours, there are a few possible changes. The first change we made was adding Gaga Slonina as the 3rd choice keeper. Owned by Chelsea and only 19 years old, Slonina looks to be the keeper of the future for the USMNT. Due to the rarity of 3rd choice keepers actually seeing the field in major tournaments, we think the addition of Slonina will only benefit the squad and future of the USMNT. In defense, many questions suround the right-back position with Dest being out until 2025. While Joe Scally could slot in there, we actually think Tim Weah, who has played some right wing-back for Juvetus this season, could replicate Dest’s attacking output. With left-back being locked up by Jedi Robinson, we think the centerback pairing should be Chris Richards and Cameron Carter-Vickers, two young and athletic center backs who have performed very well for their club teams this year. The expected midfield three of Musah, Mckennie, and Adams should start every game of the tournament, but with Adams injury history, Johnny Cardoso could slot in at the 6 position if needed. The front 3 might be the most up-for-grabs position in the entire line up. At this point, Christian Pulisic is the only guareenteed starter, and many strikers are competing for the number 9 spot. If Tim Weah ends up playing right-back, we think Gio Reyna should start on the right. The center striker position is a 4-horse race between Josh Sargent, Haji Wright, Folarin Balogun, and Ricardo Pepi. With one of the 4 likely to be left out of the side completely, we went with Balogun, Wright, and Sargent making the final squad. Ultimately, we think Haji Wirght should start the first game of the tournament, based on his form this season with Coventry City, but we would not complain if Berhalter started any of these three (please no Jesus Ferreira). While we totally understand that Berhalter’s soccer knowledge is 10x ours combined, we still think this would be the best squad for the tournament. If Berhalter can perform well this summer and compete against teams like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay, I think there might be a chance we come around to “Berhalter Ball”