I could not help but notice the US defence sitting way back as the Ghanians came forward, they did not hustle to get the ball away from the Ghanians, or close the gap. It was like this huge zone coverage with the cornerbacks giving up way too much space to the receivers to run their routes. This was a coaching breakdown. There are others but this one was significant.
The Italians showed how to play defence and would challenge the Czech strikers every time. They are a well coached team.
One comment on “Arena’s biggest coaching breakdown? I’ll go with the non- existent coverage”
1) Our defenders are too slow and not as good as Italians. If they had pressed forward the Ghanians would have ran by them.
2) We lacked a presence in defensive midfield. Reyna and Olsen were both too slow, and Mastro made the mistake of the tournament by two foot tackling from behind an Italian for NO REASON.
Poor finishing and childish mistakes are the reason the US is home, not some magical formation that would have compensated for being overmatched talentwise.