Reyna not ready? We were so much more threatening with him on the field. He should have played at least 200, not 60.
He didn't do jack with his time. Embarassingly, Morris had more impact in his cameo.
The very young guys, Musah, Reyna, Wright were not tight enough in their skills or awareness to threaten an upper tier squad like NED. You can extend that to everyone except Pulisic and Dest. The first touches were beyond horrible for a knockout WC match.
The NED cosch rightfully loaded up on our fullbacks and central midfielders and dared the US to play long and make quick, decisive plays in the final third. We flat out refused to do that for the most part and instead tried to play through the middle where we turned the ball over repeatedly. Then when we did get the ball wide, there were zero threatening crosses to our undersized, club footed attackers.
Way too many guys looking for personal glory instead of making the smart play. Reyna and Musah topped this list but they weren't alone. NED gifted us at least two Wondo level sitters. CP just missed and Wright embarrassed the entire nation with his "effort"
All told, it was a good WC for a team built to gain experience for 2026. There will be a lot of them returning. The next coach better start playing these guys together more and mixing in new players where we need help. Making the final 8 at home is the standard for 2026.
I think a normal WC, in the summer with more training time will benefit the US.
