Commentary
Gregg Berhalter warns of much-improved Trinidad & Tobago
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Nov 16, 2023
Since Gregg Berhalter’s return to the helm, the USA has played four friendlies — wins over Uzebekistan (3-0) and Oman (4-0) in September, and a loss to Germany (1-3) and win over Ghana (4-0) in October .
The next pair of games against Trinidad & Tobago — Thursday in Austin and Monday in Port of Spain — matter more. They're the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Nations League, of which the USA is two-time defending champion – and the winner qualifies for next summer’s Copa America.
"November turns the page and now it's about competing," coach Berhalter said during a press conference on the eve of the first leg. “We’re looking forward to competing against a much-improved Trinidad team.”
A U.S. ‘B’ team trounced Trinidad & Tobago, 6-0, at last summer’s Gold Cup, in which the Soca Warriors also fell, 4-1, to Jamaica.
“It was an interesting transition that they had,” Berhalter said. “After the Gold Cup, they shed half their roster basically. And said, OK, we’re starting over. And you can see the hunger in this new group. There are very few carry-over players from that tournament.
"They have energy, they’re good on set pieces, they're good at attacking and they have quality. … So we have to be wary of them. I think the inexperience they have in this case helps them.”
Since the Gold Cup, T&T earned a spot in the Nations League quarterfinals with wins over Curacao (1-0), El Salvador (3-2) and Guatemala (3-2), before a 5-3 loss at Curacao after having assured its passage.
When asked whether he had in mind the number of goals he expected his team to score in Austin to put the USA in a comfortable spot going into the road game, Berhalter said:
“I don't think that type of mentality is taking opponents seriously enough. We want to be focused on our performance, focus on teamwork, and be determined to win the game. We're not taking the opponent for granted. We're not taking them lightly, and we're going to need a big effort in this game, and that's our focus.”
Berhalter has good reason to make sure his players don't approach the two-game series with a complacent attitude.
In their two previous meetings before the 6-0 win in Gold Cup last July, the USA beat T&T, 7-0, in a January 2021 friendly, and 6-0 at the 2019 Gold Cup.
But the last meeting between the nations before the Berhalter era was the infamous 2-1 loss to Soca Warriors in Couva that kept the USA out of the 2018 World Cup — ending a streak of reaching every World Cup since Paul Caligiuri's "shot heard around the world" against T&T qualified the USA for the 1990 World Cup.
Ahead of debacle in Couva in October of 2017, T&T was already eliminated from 2018 World Cup contention, having won only one of its nine Hexagonal games.
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U.S. men's national team roster
GOALKEEPERS (3)
Name (club) caps/goals (age)
Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest/ENG) 9/0 (28)
Gaga Slonina (KAS Eupen/BEL) 1/0 (19)
Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest/ENG) 35/0 (29)
DEFENDERS (8)
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO) 14/0 (25)
Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED) 30/2 (23)
Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA) 3/0 (21)
Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG) 53/1 (36)
Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG) 14/1 (23)
Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG) 37/2 (26)
Miles Robinson (Atlanta United) 27/3 (26)
Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER) 7/0 (20)
MIDFIELDERS (8)
Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER) 1/0 (20)
Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP) 19/0 (25)
Lennard Maloney (Heidenheim/GER) 1/0 (24)
Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA) 48/11 (25)
Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA) 31/0 (20)
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER) 22/6 (21)
Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED) 6/0 (21)
FORWARDS (5)
Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER) 36/8 (22)
Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA) 6/3 (22)
Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER) 2/0 (20)
Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED) 20/9 (20)
Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX) 7/1 (25)
Note: Midfielder Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA) was called up but injured afterward and not replaced.
Trinidad & Tobago roster
GOALKEEPERS (3)
Name (Club: caps/goals)
Denzil Smith (Club Sando; 5/0)
Christopher Biggette (Defence Force; 0/0)
Rushon Sandy (Yavapai College; 0/0)
DEFENDERS (7)
Alvin Jones (Club Sando; 48/4)
Aubrey David CS Cartagines/CRC; 77/1)
Justin Garcia (Defence Force; 15/1)
Ross Russell (La Horquetta Rangers; 14/0)
Jesse Williams (Central Valley Fuego; 9/0)
Andre Raymond (Vilar de Perdizes/POR; 4/0)
Shannon Gomez (San Antonio FC; 12/0).
MIDFIELDERS (7)
Neveal Hackshaw (Oakland Roots; 39/2)
Noah Powder (Northern Colorado Hailstorm; 17/2)
Michel Poon-Angeron (AC Port of Spain; 11/0)
Kristian Lee-Him (IFK Eskilstuna/SWE; 4/1)
Kaile Auvray (Mount Pleasant/JAM; 9/0)
Andre Rampersad (Halifax Wanderers/CAN; 9/1)
Daniel Phillips (St. Johnstone FC/SCO; 8/0)
FORWARDS (6)
Ryan Telfer (Miami FC; 26/9)
Real Gill (Club Sando; 4/1)
Reon Moore (Defence Force; 24/7)
Nathaniel James (Mount Pleasant/JAM; 4/2)
Levi Garcia (AEK Athens/GRE; 41/8)
Malcolm Shaw (Atletico Ottawa/CAN; 5/1).
Never forget that this team kept us from a World Cup. Crush them boys!
While true Rick, there were sub par performances leading up to that match. It was generally a poor qualifying effort to begin with.
This guy..
This is called managing your boss'es expectations. If the result here compares poorly with last summer, then it must be because the opponent has significantly improved in the last few months. Not because of the USSF coaching change.
That's the modern coach Bob! He covers all the bases with coach speak.
Judging from what i just saw, that team is still poor but they do know how to park the bus effectively.
R2, there is no such thing as bunkering effectively. It works to see out a game while leading for the last 15 to 20 minutes, but starting out the match with a bunker defense rarely does well.
The problem is with the US coaching that is so focused on long ball turbo that they depend on set pieces to defeat a bunker defense. The classic Barca style of the past stretched out the compact defense horizontally followed by a breakout pass toward the weak side. US coaches understand stretching defenses vertically and then sending through passes to break down defenses, but for some reason they fail to conceptualize turning that same tactic 90 degrees to stretch defenses from side to side in the final third.
Seems obvious to me, but why don't we see more of it in mainstream USSF coaching? Maybe it is easier for me to see as I grew up knowing how to pull apart a defense with a sweeper. So much knowledge that is simply lost today because youth coaches skip the fundamentals.