WASHINGTON,D.C. — In the team’s penultimate pre-Gold Cup international friendly, the US men’s national team fell 1-0 to Jamaica Wednesday in front of an announced 17,719 at Audi Field.
Coach Gregg Berhalter, who suffered his first defeat since taking the helm in December, evaluated the last few open spots on his Gold Cup roster, starting his team in an unfamiliar 3-4-2-1 formation. Veterans Omar Gonzalez and Tim Ream lined up next to Matt Miazga and Josh Sargent look his place as the lone striker.
“It was really something to learn from,” Berhalter said. “One of the objectives of this first camp was to play an alternate formation and so we achieved that. I think there are tweaks that we can make to that formation to make it better.”
Defensively, wingers, Paul Arriola and Antonee Robinson, took turns forming a five-man back line in transition during the first half.
“It was a big distance that the wingbacks had to cover at times, moving from low defending to really high attacking,” Berhalter said. “When the ball is wide there should be four guys in the penalty box and we only had two half of the time.”
The new formational and personnel, comprised mostly of players with limited international experience, struggled to feed Sargent any dangerous opportunities in front of goal. Specifically, the team lacked the speed needed to take down the Reggae Boyz.
“It was tough to get on the ball sometimes,” Sargent said. “It was a difficult game for us to get a rhythm it seemed like, so that was a little frustrating for me. We have to learn from this experience and move on.”
Jamaica took advantage of the US stumbles, completing five shots on goal to the USMNT’s one with defender Alvas Powell causing trouble for the US with his services forward.
“We know we need to improve,” Berhalter said. “We know we need to be more aggressive in the final third. We had one shot on goal today.”
The US started the second half with a quick burst of energy from Miazga, who passed to midfielder Cristian Roldan for a dangerous ball into the box. Goalkeeper Andre Blake got in front of cross and stifled out the small US spark.
“Overall, we started to lose a bit of structure and continuity as the game went on,” midfielder Wil Trapp said. “In the final third, I think we were a little anemic at times with the speed of play and the quality of chances we created.”
With the midnight roster deadline approaching, Berhalter’s evaluation continued with six new players entering in the second half, but the changes had little effect on the course of the game.
Berhalter also shifted his formation about five minutes into the second half when he brought on right back Nick Lima, which pushed Gonzalez and Miazga centrally. Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, Daniel Lovitz, midfielder Joe Gyau, Jonathan Amon and Duane Holmes also made appearances for the US.
“There wasn’t going to be many decisions made solely on this performance. The roster was pretty much intact from our point of view,” Berhalter said. “When there is a deadline, when there is a naming of a roster, it weighs on people. I think we saw some of that.”
Midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, one of those players on the roster line, played a full 90 minutes and made one of the night’s more promising breakaway runs in the dying minutes of added time.
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”578″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_imagebrowser” ajax_pagination=”0″ template=”default” ngg_triggers_display=”never” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]
“The main instruction for me was to turn and play penetrating balls. I think I forced it. I had to force it in some occasions just because it is a friendly,” Mihailovic said. “Whenever there is a selection coming soon you want to impress and just do something specular.”
Minutes after the formation shift, Jamaica capitalized off of a Trapp turnovers in midfield as Kevon Lambert intercepted the ball and passed to forward Shamar Nicholson. He launched a rocket to the upper corner over the extended hand of Zack Steffen for the only goal of the game in the 60th minute.
Sargent had a chance to equalize late. He had a quick-turn shot from close range saved by Blake. Sargent played the full 90 minutes against Jamaica because Gyasi Zardes picked up a small foot injury in training.
“You see the quality in that,” Berhalter said . “You see how he can process that ball and turn and shoot so quickly. Not many players can do things like that. Josh has a bright future ahead of him.”
The US Gold Cup roster will officially be unveiled Thursday morning. Internationals Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams join the team on June 6 and 11 respectively. The USMNT return for one final tune-up against Venezuela at Nippert Stadium Sunday afternoon.