CINCINNATI – What qualities do you trust most when you simply must win your next game at all costs: Youthful vigor or veteran savvy?
It can be something of a Rorschach test for coaches. And it sits at the heart of perhaps the most critical battleground of Friday night’s World Cup qualifier between the US men’s national team and Mexico at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium – the tussle for control in the center of the park between what figures to be dueling 4-3-3 formations (9:10 pm ET | ESPN2, Univision, TUDN).
USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter is expected to trot out the rangy “MMA” central midfield trio of Weston McKennie (23 years of age), Yunus Musah (18) and Tyler Adams (22). Even a surprise wrinkle like the insertion of Sebastian Lletget, a grizzled 29 by comparison, would ensure an engine-room group dramatically younger than El Tri’s.
Berhalter’s opposite number Gerardo “Tata” Martino has a couple of injury doubts and selection dilemmas, and thus offers less clarity about his XI. But trusted vets Andres Guardado (35) and Hector Herrera (31) are leading options alongside Edson Alvarez (24), with Luis Romo (26), Sebastian Cordova (24) and Orbelin Pineda (25) also in the mix.
Perhaps all this factors into the USMNT’s repeatedly-stated desire to crank up the throttle and intensify what already tends to be a fiery, flowing encounter with liberal doses of pressing and counter-pressing, even in the face of El Tri’s high levels of precision and technical mastery.
“I just think in general now, more and more teams around the world are playing that fast-paced type of soccer. So I think that when we come into the team, we all feel very comfortable taking the risks to sometimes step out of position, sometimes to make pressure when needed,” said Adams on Thursday. “And we all have big engines. So we want to run, we want to pressure, because we know that's going to give us advantages on the other side of the ball. So, yeah, we feel well-connected, we practiced it a lot, so we're very comfortable doing it.”
Other key facets include set pieces, so often an advantage richly exploited by the USMNT, one-on-one duels on the flanks and the productivity of Raul Jimenez and his counterpart Ricardo Pepi, the 18-year-old who once modeled his game after the star Mexico and Wolverhampton striker. But the midfield contest is likely to set the tone.
It’s not that the Yanks don’t want to get the ball to their feet and play proactively. The overarching structural ideas Berhalter has spent more than two years installing remain in place. But many of their best passages of play over the past year or so have been powered by those young legs destroying and creating in equal measure.
“I think the fundamental virtues of the United States are that they have a very established idea of the game, and the footballing qualities of their individuals, many of them extremely young and who compete in very good [club] institutions in Europe,” said Martino in Spanish during his pregame press conference. “Those are their greatest virtues.”
Amid the heated rhetoric from Berhalter and El Tri goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the run-up to this match, there was a similar nod of respect from Tyler Adams, who three years ago spent some time alongside Martino when he played for the Argentine in the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, a few months before Tata’s Atlanta United side won the 2018 MLS Cup.
“I think that one of the best things about their team is how organized they are,” said Adams, a product of the New York Red Bulls academy now starring for their Bundesliga sibling club, RB Leipzig. “I've had the opportunity to be coached by Tata Martino when I was in MLS at the All-Star Game, and listening to some of his ideas and the way that he views football, he's a very intelligent coach and I think that his team will be very well-organized. And I think that's one of the best attributes they have.”
For all the emphasis on youth, it’s perhaps worth remembering who controlled the proceedings the last time these two old rivals clashed in qualifying on US soil.
When Mexico broke the “Dos a Cero” hex with a 2-1 win in Columbus five years ago, it was Rafa Marquez – so often the goat in USMNT victories past – who stymied the Yanks' attack as a center back before stepping into midfield to dictate and distribute, his reading of the game more than making up for the limitations of his 37-year-old body. His late game-winning goal off a set piece was merely the capper.
Could that role fall to the experienced Guardado this time around? Or will Martino shore up his team’s midsection with a dose of athleticism and bite? Are the MMA trio ready for their toughest assignment to date? These are just a few of the questions that could decide Friday’s victor.
