The Tactical Flaws That Doomed Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT At Copa America 2024 – Scout Report

This summer’s Copa América was supposed to be somewhat of a dress rehearsal for the USMNT, eagerly anticipating co-hosting the 2026 World Cup and subsequently hosting the best of the best in international football. After consistently proving their talents within the CONCACAF competitions, the United States welcomed the likes of Brazil and Argentina with the goal of finally flexing their muscles against top-class opposition. However, the reality of the matter could not be any more different, with Gregg Berhalter’s men crashing out of the group stage and becoming the first Copa América hosts to miss out on the knockout stages altogether. Their performances really put a dent in any national pride surrounding the team, with many fans speculating whether or not their young talents had matured since the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The early exit for the United States Mens National Team only exacerbates negative perceptions surrounding this current crop of American players, having missed their opportunity to test themselves against greater opposition before the World Cup rolls around. A pre-tournament meeting with Colombia only fuelled more feelings of anxiety due to the nature in which they were rolled over, whilst their final group stage match against Uruguay left Berhalter’s side feeling helpless and unable to put up the necessary fight needed to qualify. Another string of poor results ultimately prompted the US Soccer Federation to relieve Berhalter of his coaching duties, only creating more disharmony within the squad. Perhaps one of the most damning narratives emerging from the tournament would be the neighbouring Canadian national team exceeding expectations and carrying the torch for North American football.

This tactical analysis and scout report will begin to highlight some of the reasons why the United States fell at the first hurdle, leaving themselves on the wrong end of the crucial moments which decided their fate. Our analysis will address their tactics on both sides of the ball, which failed to prove convincing, even when tasting victory in their opening match with Bolivia.

Limiting the wide threat

A lot of the discourse heading into the Copa América revolved around Berhalter’s ability to recreate the attacking prowess of Sergiño Dest, with the full-back missing from the starting eleven through injury. Joe Scally stood out as a worthy replacement, but his footballing proficiencies are much more tailored to his work off the ball. It was clear throughout the tournament that the cornerstone of the United States’ attacking plan involved stretching their opposition and making use of their dynamic threat on both flanks. The US ranked 2nd amongst all Copa América teams for 1v1 attempts, with 25.76 per 90 to go with their impressive 69.40% success rate. In their judgement day match against Bielsa’s Uruguay, just 24% of their attacking touches occurred in the middle third of the pitch, providing a clear indication of how they wanted to hurt their opposition.

Rejuvenating the United States’ attacking spark from the defensive line was Antonee Robinson, with the Fulham left-back providing moments of innovation and individual talent. His attacking influence was evident throughout the opening two matches; he supplied important overlapping movement against Bolivia and excellently caught Panama off guard to assist Balogun’s opener despite their numerical deficit. Robinson’s 3.67 shot-creating actions ranked him in the 98th percentile across full-backs at the Copa América, so Marcelo Bielsa and Uruguay devised a tactical switch to limit his attacking threat when the two sides faced in the final group stage match.

Despite having everything to play for, the United States were simply left chasing Uruguay around the pitch due to the gap in physicality and comfortability in their tactical system. Uruguay excelled in their man-to-man pressing style, which featured intense defensive contributions from Facundo Pellistri on the right wing, committing to a deeper role when out of possession to combat the attacking movement of Robinson. This prevented the US from doubling up on Uruguayan right-back Nahitan Nández, who was afforded the freedom to slide across and break up play in the central channels or even to step out and disrupt any rotations and wider movements the US midfielders could utilise to pick up the ball.