Mercedes-Benz Stadium (ATLANTA) — The United States men’s national team impressed early against Belgium. Then the wheels fell off. A first-half lead in Saturday’s high-profile World Cup warmup match against Belgium — FIFA’s No. 9 ranked squad — melted away as the UA conceded four straight goals in front of a heavily pro-USA crowd of…
Two big pre-World Cup tests await the U.S. men’s national team later this month. And those games against Belgium (March 28) and Portugal (March 31) in Atlanta will go a long way toward clearing the picture of which players will be World Cup bound this summer. Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Chris Richards were among…
When Mauricio Pochettino names the U.S. men’s national team roster next Tuesday for two high-profile tuneups in Atlanta against European powerhouses Belgium and Portugal, the temptation will be to assume it will be identical to the coach’s eventual World Cup squad. By definition, they’re different. One will be announced in late March. The other one…
The last time we did this exercise we began with a word about why the importance of formations in soccer is generally overrated. Since the way teams initially set up means little, and because it’s been almost three full months since the U.S. men’s national team took to the field, let’s consider the very real…
