Just like that, World Cup prep has come to a close, and it’s time for the United States men’s national team to turn their attention to facing Paraguay on June 12. While the USMNT split their friendlies, defeating Senegal and losing to Germany, they were matches that gave significant insight into how Mauricio Pochettino will set up his team to face Paraguay.
The positioning of Sergino Dest was one of the biggest changes for the USMNT, as while technically he’s been listed as a wingback, Dest has been operating more as a winger, pushing the pace of the attack ahead of Alex Freeman playing as a natural right back. It has added dynamism to the USMNT setup and may create a scenario heading into the World Cup that the attack is the strength that the team should lean on.
With Weston McKennie as a number 10 and Malik Tillman in behind, Tyler Adams had to cover significant ground, but no one on the team created more chances than Tillman’s five during this window. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but when Pochettino mentions that Tillman can play everywhere, and he was also among the most used players for the USMNT during the break, all signs point to Tillman starting when Paraguay will look to bunker and counter the United States.
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Haji Wright was the only player not to receive game time during this international break, but it’s clear that the Coventry City man is a change-of-pace option off the bench when needed. With Chris Richards still recovering from an ankle injury that has kept him out of action since May 17, even if he’s healthy enough to face Paraguay, it would make sense to ease him back into action. Richards is back to doing group work with his teammates, but if Pochettino isn’t ready to risk him out of the gate, Mark McKenzie has done more than well enough to inspire confidence starting the opening game.
Richards is one of the most important players to the USMNT in the entire World Cup run, as his consistency and recovery speed alongside Adams’ range allow the attack to smother teams, but there’s no reason to push too hard just for one game. This has become a cohesive unit under Pochettino, and moments like these games are where the Argentine’s skills of creating a strong attacking side show.
With this being Pochettino’s first foray into international management, he needs time in order to get teams up to speed on how he wants to operate, and this pre-World Cup camp has allowed that. It’s clear that players know where their teammates are, which will only strengthen these attacking movements of the squad. Folarin Balogun and Christian Pulisic will reap the rewards of a consistent setup, while Ricardo Pepi is ready to be an absolute pest in the best way off the bench.
There are fights for starting places in the squad, and no one will be able to remain complacent while also giving Pochettino options in how he rotates. Even Tim Weah, who was a starter at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, doesn’t seem set to be a starter for the USMNT against Paraguay, and that’s a good thing since it shows how far the USMNT depth has come since the last World Cup.
While on paper the USMNT will line up in a 3-4-2-1, I’m anticipating more of a standard 4-2-3-1, although it’s nitpicking as those are similar systems in practice. This is mainly because of Dest doing most of his work in the final third, to the point that I refuse to call him a wingback.
Look at where his areas of activity have been during this camp:
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With that grandstanding behind me, here’s the XI I predict takes the field facing Paraguay.
USMNT XI prediction
USA XI: Matt Freese, Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Malik Tillman, Tyler Adams, Sergino Dest, Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun.
