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How The US Men’s National Team Neutralized England
It was shaky at times but the USA Men’s National Team effectively shutdown England’s weapons — weapons that saw them beat Iran 6–2 earlier this week.
The men’s soccer calendar has been counting down to USA vs England since the day the World Cup groups were drawn and while the anticipation was high, anyone would have jumped at the chance of a 0–0 draw against the European finalists.
However, there is still a faint feeling of disappointment as the US weren’t able to capitalize on controlling the run of play for the second game in a row. They should be sitting comfortably in the group given their play through two games but back to back draws means that they’ll need to beat Iran to move on to the knockout stage.
The good news is that they’ll be in control of their destiny; win and you’re in, but anything else and you’re on your way home.
Why Did The Gameplan Work?
The blueprint is in how they controlled the run of play vs England, Gregg Berhalter made some smart tactical adjustments from what we saw from them across qualifying and the draw vs Wales. Rarely has Berhalter sent his team out in a 4–4–2 formation but that is exactly how they went forward against Gareth Southgate’s side, all while defending in a more linear version of their typical…
