For the past several years, the American men’s national team has not only focused on winning, but winning in style.
Since Greg Berhalter took over, the principles have been laid out from the top down to decide how an American men’s team should play.
Those principles demand fast, dynamic attacking football, which includes playing from behind and exploiting wide spots. America should always be on the front lines to avoid the bad habits that come with playing reactive football.
On Thursday, however, the U-23 men’s national team did not win in style in their first match of Olympic qualifying. They did not fire blazing guns in some attacking masterpieces.
For most of the game, they were not on the front foot and, held on for a big and loving life, they relied on a hot goalkeeper to take them out after foul mistakes.
However, to this day, for this team, in this situation, there was no difference in style. The number of possession, completed passes, shots on goal – they also did not matter. What turned out to be a result, an ugly one as well.
Thanks to a grind-em-out effort under the scorching Guadalajara Sun, the US took Costa Rica down 1-0, with FC Dallas star Jesus Ferreira providing the only goal of the game.
This was certainly not great either, as it came just 10 minutes before halting after a series of mistakes on both sides, but in the end, it proved to be enough.
The nature of the goal expressed the game. The show had a bit of quality, but a lot of hope and prayers, plenty of back-foot defense after poor turnovers and a lot of undisputed Man of the Match saves for David Ochoa.
But even though the sport could have run badly, it never happened and the US is one step closer to the Olympics because of it.
“It wasn’t great,” head coach Jason Kreis admitted. “It was an important result for us, but I would say that we hope that this result will lead to a slightly better fashion.”
It may not have been very good, but it was what America needed. It is a team and a program that failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in each of the last two cycles, with both the 2012 and 2015 teams undone from their mistakes.
Everyone knew that the tournament would be the defining match, the US limited those mistakes, covering each other when they came. There were reckless giveaways, sure, but none that led to the moment of mind-numbing, game-breaking.
There were difficulties in the attack, but there were still very early opportunities to achieve that goal so desperately demanded of America. And a lot of time was spent on the back foot, but that leg never folded against a Costa Rica team that claimed far more familiarity within its ranks than the US.
By and large, the performance is explosive. It is still a team consisting almost exclusively of MLS players, many of whom have not played in months. Throw in a temperature of 90 degrees and you are due to fitness issues and some cramps, which has obviously become more problematic than the sport worn on the game.
The US had started brightly enough, with Ferreira’s shot in the opening minutes of the game serving as a warning sign.
By the time Ferreira found the back of the net after a superb cross from Sam Vine, it was fair to say that the US qualified for their goal.
But if the US is eligible for its first-half efforts, Costa Rica is arguably eligible for its second-half push. It was during that second half that Ochoa shined, leaving nine of his total.
From routine to game-change, Ochoa got them all, justifying his starting spot after a week’s worth of guesses that he would top this team’s No. 2 tournament.
“He was definitely the most important player for us today,” Kress said of Ochoa. “I think he moved in a major way. After some time he came out of his line to change balls that were planted behind us that were second to none.
“We believe Ochoa has a very big future ahead of us and it’s good to see that he is starting to put his best foot forward.”
With Thursday’s win, the US put its best foot forward. They would go on to win in Sunday’s game with the Dominican Republic, knowing a win would make it to the semi-finals, giving them a chance to book their place at the Olympics. A win would also help them avoid a potential do or die match with Mexico.
By the time Wednesday rolls around Mexico, Chris will be expecting more of a tune from his team on Thursday. He would expect them to look like a unit that could mix style and substance.
But, if forced to choose between the two, the US would choose the substance every time during this Olympic qualifying tournament, as it was the substance that moved one step closer to Tokyo on Thursday.
“One thing you’re looking for from your players: to be able to get a result when things probably aren’t going their way and when they’re super, super tired,” Cress said. “You saw at the end of the game how difficult it was for some of our players in that match.
“And so now we say ‘Yes, we have got three points in our pocket, and we are going to be a team that will improve during this tournament.”
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