- 2 days ago
The United States are out of the World Cup after a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Belgium. But after a tournament where they've looked dangerous and creative, why did they capitulate so badly in their biggest game for a generation? Adam Clery looks at the performances, as well as the controversial inclusion of Folarin Balogun, to find out why.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary football channel.
00:04That was mercifully my last all-nighter.
00:07Yes, I know, absolutely gorgeous.
00:08And the United States are now out of their own World Cup.
00:12And although Belgium are obviously a good team, they're ranked much higher than the US,
00:16after the last month of watching this team play its way through the tournament,
00:20there was genuine hope, if not expectation, that they could get through this round.
00:25And in the end, what's actually happened is they've been well beaten.
00:29And also, I am at some point going to have to talk about the Balogun stuff.
00:34So, should I do that now?
00:37Do you want to do the tactics stuff first?
00:39I kind of want to do the tactics stuff first.
00:40Let's do the tactics stuff first.
00:44So there were no real surprises from the United States in this game,
00:48aside from one which we will cover.
00:50But Belgium actually made a few shock alterations.
00:53Both Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne were dropped in favour of what is best described
00:59as a much more athletic starting XI, specifically to deal with what the US are very good at.
01:07Now, obviously, Tielemans isn't De Bruyne, but he does get up the pitch up and down a lot better.
01:11So he allows you to deal with the mobility of both Adams and McKinney.
01:16But Luca Pacquio, that was the really smart move.
01:18Because in the last game, Belgium had Leandro Trossard out on this side.
01:22So they moved him to the left to accommodate his inclusion.
01:26And the idea here is that because Anthony Robinson leaves such big spaces down this side,
01:31you can both attack them and also get at Tim Ream.
01:35Who I have to say, I love, by the way, but he's not really been tested so far
01:39the way he was going to get tested in this matchup.
01:43Because nobody has really isolated him at the back and tried to expose his, like, lack of pace
01:49or how quickly he covers the ground.
01:51Nobody's pulled him out of position. Nobody's dragged him around.
01:54Nobody's given him a really personal, individual, horrible game.
01:58And for me, that was a really, really smart switch by Belgium.
02:01And yes, it looks like a bit of a headline when it's costing you Jeremy Doku on this side of
02:06the pitch.
02:07But these two changes worked incredibly well for them.
02:11Although, ironically, the first two goals both come from the opposite side.
02:16Although for the same reasons.
02:17Because Takeda Lara, despite being the central striker here,
02:20did keep drifting out to the right to sit on Tim Ream.
02:24And for that first goal, he gets on his blind side.
02:26He's the opposite side to where he's looking.
02:28And Ream cannot allow this ball through this gap if he does not know what's behind him.
02:34So he's done him with his movement.
02:36And for the second goal, he is just stronger and better than he is in the air.
02:41It's not overly complex, this one.
02:43The ball is just in the air.
02:44And he is better getting off the ground and heading it than Tim Ream is.
02:48And that's how he scores.
02:50And it's honestly not any more complicated than that.
02:53Like, Belgium's first two goals arrive
02:54because they target the same player with two of their players.
02:59Like, one of them is trying to run by him.
03:00One of them is dragging him all over the pitch.
03:01And the other one just has the beating of him in certain situations.
03:05So for that first goal, he gets outmaneuvered.
03:08And for the second, he gets outmuscled.
03:10And that is a direct result of the Belgian manager
03:14springing quite a big tactical surprise at the very start of the game.
03:18Like, that's the edge it can get you.
03:20But give Pochettino his due.
03:22He is also a good manager.
03:23And at the hydration break, you can see him get the tactics board out.
03:27And he reworked how the US are trying to move the ball up the pitch.
03:30And while the goal does take a very fortunate deflection,
03:34the free kick itself arrives.
03:36Because instead of trying to get Balogun in behind all the time
03:39with his balls around the side of balls over the top,
03:41he starts instructing him to show sure,
03:43to come towards the ball so he can receive a defeat
03:46and bring other players into play.
03:48That's where the foul comes from.
03:49They change that at the break.
03:50The one that doesn't, like, totally alter the balance of the game,
03:53if we look at the momentum graph for that first half,
03:56which if you've not seen this before,
03:57it's like an amalgamation of possession, territory, passes, chances,
04:02all the stuff that's going on in a game
04:04shows you how it's going back and forward, right?
04:06You can see the US have nothing before that break.
04:09But this change that Pochettino makes,
04:11trying to bring Balogun into the play a bit more,
04:13it helps.
04:14It's far more even after that point.
04:16But the reason, my friends,
04:17that third goal is such a heartbreaker
04:20is because Pochettino gets them in at half-time
04:23and makes further changes that improve the way they're playing.
04:27They start that second half with their best spell of the game.
04:30They're way more aggressive
04:31when Belgium have got it in their own third.
04:33They commit more players to stopping them playing out.
04:36And while they're not having a lot of chances,
04:38they are finally seeing a lot of the ball.
04:41And that's why it's the cruelest game in the entire world.
04:45Because I think you give this exact situation
04:47to Matt Freese 100 times in his life,
04:50I think 99 of them, he probably doesn't do that.
04:54Like, his brain just falls out.
04:55He should clear the ball.
04:56He does everything right.
04:57He comes out.
04:58He gets ahead of the centre-forward.
04:59But then he just doesn't kick the ball away.
05:01And then he kicks the floor.
05:02And now Belgium have the ball with effectively an open goal.
05:06And I've seen people saying maybe Tim Ream should just clear that.
05:08Like, it's kind of on him, but it's just running backwards
05:11and you're off balance and the ball's coming through.
05:14That's not on him.
05:16And from there, Belgium were like,
05:18OK, let's kill the game.
05:20Belgium decided to sit in a lot more.
05:22They got in a nice block in front of their goal.
05:24They didn't really take any risks.
05:26They didn't lose the ball unnecessarily.
05:28And then with Pulisic being taken off with injury,
05:31the US just lacked any level of creativity or innovation
05:36to start opening up that defensive unit.
05:39And it really is just as simple as all of that.
05:42Like, a better team than the US showed up,
05:44got in front, and then just posed them a lot of questions
05:48they couldn't answer.
05:49But the thing is, right, 4-1 is obviously a horrible scoreline
05:53to go out on in your own World Cup.
05:55And I think what makes it worse than just the scoreline
05:58is when you go back, I would say all four of those goals,
06:02as good as Belgium were,
06:04all four of those goals are totally avoidable.
06:07Like, genuinely, I thought the US looked, like, nervous
06:10in this game.
06:11They looked overawed by the occasion.
06:13And it led to a lack of composure
06:15that, like, directly costs them pretty much every goal.
06:19Like, for the first one, you cannot let this ball
06:21just bounce in your own box.
06:24Like, Dest and McKinney are perfectly positioned
06:26to clear that, and they just leave it for each other,
06:29which allows Belgium to get in.
06:30And as I said before, Tim Ream has to read this danger
06:33and not let it come through here.
06:34For the second goal, you can't commit two players here
06:37to try and stop a cross, and then both fail to do so.
06:41One of you has to cut off the outside run, Dest,
06:43and one of you has to stop them coming in field,
06:46so you close off the options.
06:48The third one, I probably don't need to explain.
06:51Like, just don't have your brain fall out
06:53and kick the ground when you're the goalkeeper.
06:56But the fourth one, the game is still in the balance.
06:58It's not gone yet.
06:59Why are you being so casual with this ball
07:02when you're chasing the game?
07:03You're on the touchline.
07:05Ask for help.
07:06Go back to the keeper.
07:07And Richards, as well, is literally telling him to do that.
07:10But when he steps in to do the same,
07:13he's then so casual and indecisive,
07:15he loses the ball in his own box, and Belgium score.
07:18And there was just stuff like this
07:20throughout that US performance.
07:22Like, passes that did not need to go astray, did.
07:25Like, crosses that were never on
07:27were just stuck into the box for no reason.
07:29And I know I've highlighted Tim Ream
07:31on a number of these goals, right?
07:32But honestly, to a man,
07:34every single player on this pitch
07:36looked like the occasion of it
07:39was just too big for them.
07:40And like, maybe that's because Belgium
07:42sprung a big surprise at the start.
07:44Maybe it's just how much mental effort
07:46had gone into the other games.
07:47Only these players will be able to tell you
07:50the reason for that performance.
07:52But it was just, it was so visible to see
07:55from the very first whistle
07:56that even just mentally speaking,
07:58this was not the same team
08:00as had played those other games.
08:01And the thing is, that is the real sickener.
08:04I don't know if you've got that term in the US,
08:05but the real sickener,
08:07the kick in the nuts about tournament football.
08:10Because if you just have one game,
08:12one random game in the middle of a great tournament
08:14where you just turn up and it isn't working,
08:16nobody really feels quite right.
08:18If you haven't got some of the best
08:20individual players in the world
08:22who can just drag you through that situation regardless,
08:26that can be it.
08:27Your story is written.
08:28Close the book.
08:29Go home.
08:29However, however, however, however,
08:31even though the US are now out,
08:34which I do think will take a little bit
08:35of the edge off it,
08:36it is impossible to talk about this game of football
08:39and not mention the inclusion of Flo Balogun.
08:42So if you will just,
08:43if you will humour me here,
08:45because this feels like it's maybe been a bigger story
08:47than the match itself,
08:48if you will humour me for just a minute,
08:51I'm going to do that.
08:52Now just to set my stall out,
08:54I've said this very publicly,
08:55I did a video about it,
08:56I don't think that's a red card.
08:57I really don't think that's a red card.
08:59It looks horrendous on a still image.
09:01Sure, the lad could be very seriously injured,
09:04I totally get it,
09:05but it is just such a freak occasion of circumstance
09:08that for me, it's more equivalent
09:10to two people jumping up for a header together
09:13and one coming off much worse than the other one.
09:16So I just, just to be clear,
09:17I don't think it's a red.
09:19I don't think you should have been sent off.
09:20I don't think you should be suspended.
09:21Now you might disagree with that,
09:24which if so, fine, I don't mind at all.
09:26The ref disagrees with me there.
09:28The VAR disagrees with me there.
09:30If you're looking at that and thinking,
09:31what are you on about?
09:32That's clearly a red card.
09:34Now, absolutely fine.
09:35Your opinion is as valid as mine is.
09:38It's cool.
09:39However, what I would like to think
09:41that we could at least find some common ground on
09:43is that there should probably still at least be
09:45a process for the US to make that case
09:49if they really want to.
09:50Like there should be an email they can send,
09:52a body who can look at it,
09:53some sort of impartial organization
09:56who can weigh up the pros and cons
09:58and make a decision either way.
10:00What shouldn't happen though
10:02is because of the relationship
10:03between the governing body
10:05and a head of state
10:07that all processes can just sort of be ignored.
10:11Because that's not a sport, is it?
10:13That's not competition.
10:15That just opens a door
10:16that says if you've got the right friends
10:18in high enough places,
10:20you can just sort of make the rules
10:22not apply to you if you want.
10:24And don't get me wrong,
10:25Maurizio Pochettino's job
10:26is to win football matches
10:28with whatever tools he has at his disposal.
10:31So I understand some people
10:32giving him a pass on this,
10:34but he's just,
10:36he's a smart guy.
10:37Like the implications for this,
10:39I promise you,
10:39are going to roll on
10:40even long after they're out of the competition now.
10:43And I just think
10:44he should have been a little bit smarter
10:46than to just like shrug his shoulders
10:49and go,
10:49oh well, whatever,
10:50if he's available,
10:51I'll play him.
10:51And look, like,
10:52just don't get me wrong here.
10:53I think the US have had a brilliant tournament.
10:55I know this is a really downer way to go out
10:58and it might get called a bit of an underachievement,
11:00but I'd watched their first four games
11:03in bars in New York
11:05and the vibe was just like,
11:07it was so good.
11:08Like I was fully chugging that Kool-Aid.
11:11I really wanted them to win here
11:12and have a deep run in the tournament
11:14that just had like massive implications
11:17for this sport in this country.
11:19I was rooting for them,
11:21I promise you.
11:21But now, because of this,
11:23there's going to be this asterisk
11:25on the really good work
11:27they've done on the pitch.
11:28And I just think,
11:30I just think that's a shame.
11:31I just think it shouldn't be ending like this.
11:34But again, that is just purely my two cents on this.
11:37Like maybe you don't think it's a big deal.
11:39Maybe you don't think it matters.
11:40Maybe you think it's actually all great and good.
11:42Again, absolutely fine.
11:43I will not call you any names for that.
11:46It's just,
11:46it's a game of opinions, isn't it?
11:49But while this story,
11:50I think is still going to run on and on.
11:53The US's time in this tournament will not.
11:57So yes, that's probably our last US video
11:59at this World Cup,
12:01which I am,
12:02I am genuinely sad about
12:03because I could not shift the idea
12:05that not only would they beat Belgium,
12:07but Portugal would somehow get past Spain.
12:10And then this US team
12:11would run the Portuguese ragged,
12:14retire Ronaldo in the process.
12:16And then the game would just explode
12:17in that country forever
12:18because they were like,
12:20oh, what?
12:20Are we amazing at this now?
12:21We've just beaten two proper soccer countries
12:23and killed one of the greatest of all time.
12:26That's, that's the vision I had.
12:28And look,
12:29I'm not as sad as you are,
12:30but I am still sad.
12:32Hopefully that's something.
12:33But don't worry though,
12:34there is still plenty more
12:35World Cup coverage to come.
12:36We've got all the quarters
12:38and the semifinals
12:39and the final
12:40and yeah,
12:41it's still,
12:42still going on.
12:44Still,
12:44still not going to get my sleeping pattern back
12:46for a little while.
12:47So please do subscribe to us here
12:49at the Adam Cleary Football Channel
12:50so you can watch that
12:50descent into madness
12:52or just follow me on all the social medias
12:53at Adam Cleary CLE
12:54or Y if you want to see it.
12:56In real time,
12:57that was my last all-nighter
12:58and I no longer need
13:00to stay up until four in the morning.
13:02So I'm going to have my first day off
13:05since June the 6th
13:07I can't wait, man.
13:08I'm going to have
13:08such an elaborate breakfast.
13:10I'm going to laze about all day.
13:11Oh, you've got no idea.
13:13Anyway,
13:14it's been Fun America.
13:15I'm sorry you went out.
13:17I'll see you next time.
13:19Bye.