Would Gregg Berhalter have had the team better prepared for Belgium than Pochettino?

Doubtful. After the 2023 WC one of the jokes was "Vlatko is Macedonian for Gregg".

Gregggggggg was fired for a reason.

Gregg’s team would have scored late to tie Paraguay and we would have slid into the knockout stage because of someone else’s result

Stop

FWIW, I had watched Belgium play a couple of games and they had not looked nearly as good all world Cup as they did yesterday. It was a combination of Belgium playing great and the US playing like dog shite.

I think Belgium got their mojo back at the end of the Senegal game and we were the perfect whipping boys to let it continue.

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That doesn't mean we would have won. Belgium is a better

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If you watch the first 10 minutes of the second half after we switch tactics we looked like the better team. We didn't change anything we did from the group stage and Belgium came in with a plan tailor made to counter what they'd seen us do the last 4 matches and it worked.

We looked every bit ready to find an equalizer early in the second half until Freese made the dumbest play of the tournament. We go down 3-1 after a run of great play and it just totally deflates everyone. That's not a team that beats us 9/10 times. We had 57% possession of the ball and 89% pass accuracy to their 83%. Their chances weren't generated as much as they were mental lapses by our guys. They just didn't frick up, which is the hallmark of an experienced European side along with clinical finishing.

I think there's a decent chance that Gregg doesn't get us out of the group. He wasn't exactly known for his front foot tactics. A Gregg team isn't putting 4 in on Paraguay. I don't know what the hell happened last night aside from the guys just realizing quickly that Belgium's plan in the first half was stifling our plan. Yes, some individual quality was at play, but part of their plan was to have Courtois send it long to whoever Ream was marking and bypass our whole team. That's not exactly a tactical masterclass, it was route 1 Burnley football for 45 minutes, but it does beg the question why Ream went the full 90 when he was clearly a marked man to pick on.

Hell no. Part of Pochs dilemma is he’s still dealing with the mess of a team berhalter left him. We prob barely make it out the group with him leading us. I’d like to see Poch be given another shot.

I’m not sure how you want a coach to motivate a bunch of professionals. He made all the right adjustments at half and we had the momentum then Freese and Ream went full retard. You can’t coach that. Maybe Turner should’ve started?

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Would Gregg Berhalter have had the team better prepared for Belgium than Pochettino?

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I'll bite.

This match was so frustrating in that as soon as the Belgian lineups was announced and Rudi Garcia chose:

Speed and defensive work rate over just best attacking players at every chance and a #10 type skilled player at striker.

You read some fans saying Belgium was going to defend deeply but every random who follows European club soccer knew exactly what Garcia was going to do:

Gang press certain players/areas high up the pitch and use the playmaker at the striker position to facilitate breaking at speed when they won balls and also quickly play over the top to speed on the wings.

He's been doing that for 20 years. He hasn't in some Belgian matches only to accommodate aging stars.

US players made countless dumb mistakes but I think much of that is that from just not being prepared for exactly what they were going to see from Belgium. That is on Poch.

Maybe in this one match a different manager gets that right. I still think Poch is a very good manager with a great personality too for the USMNT.

Horrible that the one time he got his arse handed to him tactically was in such a massive match though.