The US men's national team tuned up for this week's Concacaf Nations League Final Four with a 2-1 friendly defeat against hosts Switzerland on Sunday night.
The USMNT's aggressiveness worked well when they were able to set up their high pressure stance, which paid dividends with Sebastian Lletget's early ice-breaker. That combativeness proved to be a double-edged sword, though, as Switzerland were able to flip the score line with no-nonsense transition play that forced errors in the away defense.
United States Men's National Team Player Ratings
It could be argued that no one in red, white and blue shined brighter than the Club Brugge netminder. It looked as though Horvath would have had Switzerland's first strike covered if not for a damning deflection and it was comical defending that doomed him on their second. In between those events, he pulled off a pair of rescue saves, including one with his face
The US right back's solid shift lost a little luster when he opted not to close down the crosser on the second goal leak. It was a bit ironic seeing as how Cannon had himself been getting forward to play some tempting balls into the box.
It was a mistake-free outing from the Genk center back, which is why he stood out among those around him on the field. McKenzie pulled all sorts of defensive stops out of his bag, including some nice cover work and big late shot block.
The veteran defender was excellent in the first half, shutting down one-v-one situations with ease and supporting possession at the other end. His mark took a hit after the break, when he was badly burned on the run twice in quick succession.
As with Brooks, Dest's opening period of work was better than his second half. The Barcelona youngster was a handful for Switzerland before intermission, and nearly grabbed a goal from a mazy area raid. After the break, he was simply caught up too often and made a feeble clearance attempt that practically placed the home side's winner on a tee.
On the plus side, it was great to see the Earthquakes midfielder so defensively present when Switzerland were attacking through possession. The down side is Yueill was much easier to play past in transition and he never really drove the US break with his usual outlet passing.
The Juventus ace wasn't bad, but there also wasn't much real impact to write home about. McKennie did have some nice moments when he calmly settled frantic US possession episodes, but never really grabbed hold of central park.
For anybody who still asks why the LA Galaxy midfielder gets so many USMNT starts, this game should have answered your question. Lletget was the thread running through nearly every promising advance the visitors made before he departed in the 61st minute, and he made no mistake when presented with a golden chance to open the scoring. What does he do for this team? Typically, whatever is needed, when it is needed.
Like McKennie, Reyna was alright when you wanted more. The 18-year-old faded in and out of the match, but it was his cross into the mixer that eventually turned into the opening goal. We'd probably be telling a happier story if his big chance hadn't caromed off the post.
The young Werder Bremen forward struggled down the Bundesliga stretch, and we saw a demo of that in this one. Sargent pressured quite well and had his hold-up moments battling hard in the air, but too many of his ground touches were far too loose.
Kudos for taking a string of beatings and coming back for more. That's to be commended, as is Aaronson's stalker-ish pressing, which repeatedly unnerved Switzerland for about an hour. However, the Red Bull Salzburg playmaker looked tentative all night when he reached the doorstep to the area.
Head coach
With his hand somewhat forced by Tyler Adams' injury, he went with the heavy press. It worked well for large stretches of the match, but came back to bite as Switzerland were able to exploit transition soft spots after the subs started parading into the mix. Berhalter also has a strike issue to settle before Thursday, but his charges were often able to descend on the final third in numbers and that's encouraging.
Subs
The Colorado midfielder made a couple plays up in attack, but, like Yueill before him, was unable to slow Switzerland's direct fast breaks.
The Valencia prodigy was able to eat up some ground on the ball, but he'll need to come up with ideas on how to move it along better to stand out at this level. And like the rest of his midfield mates, Musah did little to halt Swiss counters.
The Fulham defender was guilty of two major flubs in just 29 minutes of work. Ream's clearance whiff allowed Switzerland to pot the winner and he was also easily beaten for pace on another danger rush.
The freshly crowned Ligue 1 champ had a few opportunities to make something happen late, but his touch let him down every time.
Though he played the same 18 minutes as Weah, the US were unable to put Siebatcheu in any good positions.
Only saw nine minutes of action.
