The USMNT is through to the Round of 16 after a tense 2-0 win over Bosnia. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. The bad news: Folarin Balogun picked up a red card on a call that had fans losing it, and he’ll miss the Belgium match on Monday night. The good news: Christian Pulisic is still on the roster, and if you ask Gregg Berhalter, the team hasn’t done nearly enough to get him involved.
Berhalter, the former USMNT manager, spoke about Pulisic’s usage during the Bosnia game and basically said the coaching staff isn’t putting him in positions to succeed. He pointed to one specific early sequence where Pulisic got the ball wide, cut inside like a knife through butter, and nearly created a goal. That should have been the template for the whole night, Berhalter argued. Instead, it was a one-off.
“I don’t think there was enough intention to get Christian the ball in those (wide) positions,” Berhalter said. He laid out the play in detail: the USMNT built out of a 3-1-6 shape, Bosnia was in a 5-3-2, one of their midfielders stepped to the ball, and suddenly Antonee Robinson and Malik Tillman were high while Pulisic was isolated on the wing. “We played him the ball, and Christian cuts across the field like a knife accelerating. That was a really dangerous attack.”
Berhalter’s point is that if the USMNT commits to finding Pulisic in space, the whole offense opens up. Weston McKennie can crash the box. The fullbacks can overlap. But it requires intentional design, not just hoping Pulisic will create something from a dead stop. And Berhalter thinks the current staff isn’t doing that enough.
It’s an interesting criticism coming from a guy who coached this team for years and sometimes caught heat for not maximizing Pulisic himself. But he’s not wrong about the Bosnia game. Pulisic looked dangerous when he got the ball in transition, but those touches were too rare. Against a Belgium side that will sit deep and counter, the USMNT can’t afford to waste its best weapon on decoy runs and half-chances out wide.
The team has not responded to Berhalter’s comments publicly. Interim manager Mikey Varas has been focused on Balogun’s suspension and adjusting the lineup for Monday. But if the USMNT wants to avenge that 2014 loss to Belgium, they’ll probably need Pulisic to be the center of everything. Berhalter just said what everyone watching already noticed.
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