The Berhalter news destroyed the good feeling of the 3-0 victory over Mexico
Talk about a buzzkill...
There are plenty of positives with the USA defeating their most bitter rivals within the confederation of CONCACAF. On Thursday, June 15th, we saw a US Men's National Team who were on point and ready to bring down El Tri from the opening whistle to the closing whistle. Without a doubt, this match was a masterpiece and will be talked about for a very long time. Yet that all changed when a report was posted on social media as the return of Greg Berhalter to the US Men's National Team came about.
While the news became official on Friday, June 16th, that Berhalter is back, the reality has now sunk in. But last night was a performance like no other. While the Nations League is definitely not at the level of a World Cup, and we will never know if these two sides will meet again at that stage, this performance in the Nations League Semi-Finals was glorious, and even though Mexico is a shell of their former selves, take nothing away from what we saw from those guys.
When have you ever seen the Americans playing free and pushing the envelope against their rivals? Never. Christian Pulisic used and abused Jorge Sanchez, spinning away and burning rubber to attack the net three times. Twice in the first half and the start of the second half. Guillermo Ochoa looked helpless when his defense left him high & dry on three of the four chances the USA scored their goals.
In fact, if Pulisic did score on his first attempt, he would've had a hat trick, and this match would have been Quatro a Cero. Weston McKennie, with that filthy pass to Tim Weah and sprung that attack down the far side. That speed Weah showed to cut inside the Mexico area to deliver that killer cross to Pulisic was beautiful.
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