USMNT
Gregg Berhalter’s entire press conference after USMNT win over Oman
The USMNT manager spoke to the media about his side’s performance against Oman. He spoke about Pulisic, Yunus, Aaronson, Cremaschi and more.
USMNT beat Oman 4-1 with goals from Pepi, Balogun, Aaronson and an own goal. Manager Gregg Berhalter sat down and spoke to the press after the game, about which he said he was pleased with various aspects of the performance. Here is everything he had to say:
Thoughts on the result? We looked at the Uzbekistan game and pointed out things we could have done better. We know this is a different game, it’s hard to compare the two: a 5-4-1 against a 4-4-2 diamond, but I really like the mindset of the guys. I like the intensity of the group. I think Christian as captain today really set the tone with his intensity and work rate. And that the starting point, so I think we’re happy with that.
There was some good ball movement, finding the opposite side of the field, getting them to shift, good attacking moves, overall. As Michael mentioned, the solutions making a difference in this game, I thought the players who came in did well also. Overall, pleased with the entire camp, it’s good to see the guys, to get a touchpoint and time with the guys, it was a really good learning experience for us all in this camp.
On the competition between the strikers: I think you always want your forwards scoring goals. Our job is to put them in positions to score goals, that’s the important thing and we then leave it up to them, give them the quality to finish it off, but it’s important they both scored. As far as we see the competition, it’s two fold: it’s what they do for their clubs every week and what they do for us when they’re in camp. Some of those are easy to measure as they’re playing 90 minutes every week and sometimes they’re not and it becomes complicated.
But to me its more about how they work together, how they train, what their attitude is in camp and what they bring to the team when they’re on the field. I thought from a pressing stand point Ricardo [Pepi] did a great job, it’s really good to see him playing full of confidence; the pass to Weston would have been a fantastic goal and all you want is your players to be confident and Ricardo certainly is.
On making changes at half-time: They were planned substitutes, yes.
The team’s work rate: It wasn’t specifically when we scored ‘don’t let off’, we needed to bring more intensity than in last game, we needed to run behind the line more than the last game. I thought that was really poor and we needed to be cleaner on the ball. You saw it took a little too long, we held onto the ball to much. But overall it was a great effort by the guys and everyone played at least a 7 [out of 10].
On the atmosphere: The crowd was boisterous and supportive and pro-USA - this is a fantastic place to play. It’s an amazing stadium: a great pitch, locker rooms, facilities. We love coming here and I hope the fans appreciate us.
How did you stop Oman?: We gave the centre-backs two MOTM balls and we never do that. Their counter-attack was non-existent, any time they tried to run the channels we were there, it was incredible, really. Granted, they were missing one of their key playmakers who gets the ball and makes most of those passes, but the two forwards... the guys that play there are a handful and are good in the air - how many long balls did they deal with? But overall I think the timing, the dropping and dealing with balls behind the back line was exceptional from our centre-backs.
What is Yunus [Musah’s] role? Is he a 6? : He was playing deeper today, he’s just so explosive with the ball that when he gets those opportunitities you want him to take advantage of it because he has a really high level. Today he played deeper out of necessity: Tyler [Adams] is missing, Luca [de la Torre] was a little bit banged up from the last game, so we wanted to go with Tillman, McKennie and Yunus and I think he did a good job. For me he is a quality player and we’re hoping that these 180 minutes can propel him to good fitness and he can try to make an impact with his team.
On Brenden Aaronson: Brenden’s a security blanket for us, he gives the exact same effort every single time. Some games he’s better than others but it’s never for a lack of trying and he’s a fantastic player to coach. He’s extremely coachable, he has a great attitude, his teammates love him and you really like when you give a player like that an opportunity he takes advantage of it. He gave a lot of energy today, he got a goal, could have had another couple of assists but he did a good job.
What was the game plan with McKennie? : We know with a diamond they have to really commit to get to one side if they’re going to put pressure on, so we wanted to purposely go to one side, drag them over and then we would have two in midfield. We knew their attackers would have a hard time dealing with and would be able to switch the ball. Fortunately it worked out a number of times... I’m a little bit critical, I think it could have been even better and more effective but overall Weston was a key contributor: he saw the space and was able to take advantage of it.
Kristoffer Lund Hansen: I think it was a good starting point. What we’ve noticed with him is that his anticipation is really good, he’s able to intercept passes always on the front foot, he’s solid on the ball. He made a good run into the penalty box and was unlucky not to get his head on it. Overall, I think he played a solid game, it’s a really good starting point for him in his first camp.
How did US play in attack? I think we’re still trying to figure out the best way to utilise [Balogun] because we know he’s he’s high quality, he made a number of good runs behind the back line today that we didn’t pick up on. He’s still integrating that side of it. And then for us, we all we want to do is put the forwards in position where they can score goals. We want to create opportunities for them and we want them to finish it off. I think you know that’s that’s our game, that’s our game model, that’s how we play: to get to give our forwards chances and we need to get low balls in the penalty box. We need them to attack the space between the centre-backs when he runs behind the back line... all those things will help create chances.
On Chris Richards: We believe in him, his teammates believe in him here, and that goes a long way. Maybe he can bring that confidence back to London and he’s got to prove himself there. It’s a tough business and you’re in the Premier League, the best league in the world, when you get an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it and that’s how it goes. He’s a guy we’re really high on and we hope that he really pushes to be a starter.
On Cremaschi: We didn’t talk about that. It was about letting him see the environment, letting him see the guys, getting to know the guys, the coaches. His performance today did nothing to change my opinion: I think he’s a highly talented player with exciting potential and I think he showed that today, so overall I’m pleased.