The USMNT made easy work of Peru on Saturday coming away with a 4-1 win. There was a lot to feel good about, Justin Ellis scored on his debut in front of his home fans in Orlando, Malik Tillman added his name to capable penalty takers, and Diego Kochen put in a shift in goal. All together, the team attacked, the teenagers looked like they belonged against international opponents, and winning is fun. Now the team heads to St. Louis for a midweek matchup against Chile.
As far as what to expect tomorrow,
Mauricio Pochettino kept Sergino Dest, Damion Downs, Miles Robinson, Chris Brady, and Brian Schwake on the bench for the full 90 and those names will likely find their names on the team sheet minus one of the goalkeepers. Meanwhile, Jedi Robinson came on at the hour mark along with Sebastian Berhalter and if Poch wants to get them more minutes, they’ll likely start. In short, expect rotation, expect Poch to try different combinations of players he wants to get feedback about, and expect the tactics to largely remain the same.
Chile comes into the game having lost 1-0 to Canada after getting a red card in the 35th and 50th minutes. The lone goal in the game came in the 12th from Jonathan David so the red card wasn’t a factor there. They will take the positive that they kept the score to 1-0 in the face of Jesse Marsch’s relentless running a lot. La Roja is capable of playing without the ball and hitting on the counter or building from the back. The Americans have been very good against teams that avoid the press and it will be interesting to see if Nicolas Cordova decides to challenge the home team in that regard.
It would be easy to write off the USA stomping Peru as something that lacks importance, but these are meaningful reps for the young players in the team. A key aspect that the Americans need to build is some degree of mental toughness and building a culture around winning is a major factor in that. These young player stepping into an environment where they both lead the team to victories and establish expectations around winning will build on that going forward.
