World Cup onside/offside: Good win for USMNT, last dance for Lionel Messi?

Welcome backmost to Onside/Offside! This week, Luis Miguel Echegaray recaps immoderate of the astir notable highlights from the planetary break. From jubilation successful westbound Africa and the heights of El Alto successful South America to a spark of encouragement successful Columbus, Ohio, present is LME's constituent of presumption arsenic World Cup qualifiers took halfway stage.

ONSIDE: Finally, a spark for the USMNT

After Saturday's uninspiring 2-0 nonaccomplishment to South Korea successful Harrison, New Jersey, with different disjointed performance, the United States men's nationalist squad yet gave their fans a crushed to judge successful Mauricio Pochettino's project, beating Japan 2-0 astatine Columbus, Ohio's Lower.com Field connected Tuesday night.

Pochettino reacted to the South Korea nonaccomplishment by tinkering some successful strategy and lineup (five changes from Saturday) truthful his broadside could amended the agile, high-possession mentality of Hajime Moriyasu's Japan, a squad I deliberation volition bash precise good adjacent summer. And truthful helium went backmost to the playbook from his Southampton and Tottenham days, erstwhile helium often employed a 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1) enactment successful bid to play the relation of contrarian against teams who bask build-up play. That's precisely what happened connected Tuesday nighttime arsenic the USMNT pressed, attacked and exploited the monolithic holes that were disposable owed to their high-press mentality.

It was classic, old-school Pochettino, and it worked.

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Christian Pulisic -- who was not portion of the squad during the summer, which yielded plentifulness of disapproval -- was magnificent connected Tuesday night, uncovering truthful overmuch state successful possession arsenic helium perpetually recovered the ball, made chances and notched an assistance for Falorin Balogun. Club América's Alex Zendejas was besides excellent, capping a large show with a beauteous goal.

I besides deliberation that if determination is meant to beryllium immoderate occurrence successful the future, it indispensable unequivocally impact Chris Richards due to the fact that I cannot overstate capable the value of the center-back from Crystal Palace. He is captious to everything the USMNT do.

Now, the existent effect against Japan is neither present nor determination -- this was a friendly, aft all, and the USMNT's opponents rotated heavy aft their gully with México, meaning cardinal starters specified arsenic Liverpool's Wataru Endo, Takefusa Kubo from Real Sociedad didn't play portion others (Brighton's Kaoru Mitoma, Monaco's Takumi Minamino) lone entered arsenic substitutes. This besides wasn't the USMNT's "strongest" XI either, but let's not absorption connected this point; instead, let's retrieve the bigger takeaway. On Tuesday nighttime successful Columbus, they -- and Pochettino -- were capable to spot the property of a cohesive, resilient and originative broadside and successful my opinion, it was their champion show since the Argentinian took over.

I bash think, however, that playing each azygous affable connected American ungraded is not needfully a bully happening for this squad b...