The coaching staff has begun introducing some of the younger players to the video libraries focused on positional profiles to help each player understand what’s expected in the USMNT system. Those are shared through video conference calls.
The staff has also continued its own weekly scouting meetings, also through video conferencing. The primary focus of these meetings has been to conduct deeper reviews on how each USMNT-eligible player performed in previous matches.
“Scouting from a standpoint of keeping current on how the players are performing is completely done, obviously, with no games being played at the moment,” Berhalter said. “But it’s an opportunity for us to continue to evaluate our own game models; we can watch past footage of players. It’s been a very effective tool that we have, of having these Tuesday morning meetings and recapping all of our players performances and being able to talk about it in depth, because it has helped us identify players. For us, it’s a great tool to be able to watch all the video and be able to discuss and evaluate the performance of the players.”
No one knows when sports – or anything, for that matter – will be cleared to return, and that includes national team matches. As the last fixtures before the June FIFA World Rankings were to be finalized, that month’s international window which featured the Concacaf Nations League final four was set to be the final determinant for the six-team final round of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup scheduled to begin in September.
While there’s uncertainty around the next time the USMNT will physically gather together, Berhalter says his group will weather it.
“Whatever the concern it’s, is going to be the same for all the teams, all the countries - and we think that can be an advantage for us, because mentally we’ll be in a place where we can deal with it. The players are resilient. The players understand what’s at stake. The players are motivated to qualify and to make our country proud. So whatever comes, we’ll be able to deal with it.”
