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Entertainment

3 takeaways from Gregg Berhalter and USMNT’s 4-0 victory vs. Oman

By David Moore September 12, 2023
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So ends the September international break.
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The United States men’s national team comfortably defeated Oman 4-0 Tuesday night at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota, during an international friendly game.

USMNT fans will widely agree and say it was an alright performance from the team and a slight improvement from Saturday’s 3-0 win vs. Uzbekistan. 

Let’s get into the highlights and takeaways.

USMNT vs Oman highlights and 3 takeaways

The first half was relatively quiet with Folarin Balogun opening the scoring in the 13th minute when he was in the right place at the right time following a spilled Sergiño Dest strike.

The USMNT went into the half with a 1-0 lead, and it honestly looked like more of the same from Saturday’s friendly.

Balogun and Christian Pulisic, who was incredibly quiet in the first half, were subbed out at the half for Ricardo Pepi and Brenden Aaronnson. Both halftime substitutes would find the back of the net in the second 45.

An own goal put a cherry on top of the victory as a Kevin Paredes cross was turned into goal.

Overall, the second half looked better however there were still a plethora of moments where the finish or the final ball was just a little bit off for the Americans.

Gregg Berhalter loves crosses

Good lord, Berhalter likes seeing crosses more than an avid Christian’s home décor. If fans didn’t know better, they would think that the USMNT head coach has a whiteboard in the locker room that just reads “GAME PLAN: CROSS THE BALL.”

Aaronson did hint that crossing the ball into the box was on Berhalter’s wish list for things to work on during this international window.

It gets tiring to watch crosses with no chance of reaching anyone all game long. Half of the goals the U.S. scored on Tuesday weren’t even crosses.

The creativity that fans saw from this team during the Concacaf Nations League seems to have been traded for see how many crosses can be recorded in a 90-minute span.

Weston McKennie’s distribution was looking gooooooood

One compliment that need to be given out was Weston McKennie’s distribution. He had a solid game despite a blown chance in the 85th minute when Pepi played Wes right in front of goal, and he skewed it wide.

On the other hand, he looked lively in the midfield and repeatedly delivered beautiful switches of the field. It was one of those long diagonal balls that helped set up the first goal as McKennie found Timothy Weah who dumped the ball off to Dest.

The USMNT still can’t sell out MLS stadiums

My one big and brutal takeaway from this September international window is that the USMNT still doesn’t have a large draw. The best of the best competed for the national team IN THE U.S. and still couldn’t bring in more than 20,000 fans.

The USMNT “A-team” only plays a handful of games in the country each year and there’s a one-in-five chance that it will be in Ohio anyway. Having the USMNT come to your hometown will only happen a handful of times and to see unfilled MLS stadiums is a shame.

The ticket pricing isn’t ideal, but $50 for a USMNT ticket isn’t outrageous either. People will pay $100 to sit in the nosebleeds for an NFL game (I looked up the Denver Broncos vs. Washington Commanders as an example) yet won’t come out to see the U.S. play in a decent seat for half that price.

I understand that it’s a meaningless friendly against an unknown opponent, but goly that was tough to see two USMNT games in a row where the tops of the stadiums were basically empty.

Hopefully there will be a larger turnout next month when the U.S. plays Germany in East Hartford, Connecticut, on Oct. 14 and at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee, when the USMNT hosts Ghana.

Bonus takeaway

Mexico tied Uzbekistan 3-3 on Saturday. Not really a takeaway, just really funny.

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