Nearly a decade had passed since the last time the head coach of the United States men’s national team rolled into Columbus and rolled out a lineup featuring three players in central defense. Less than a week after that disastrous decision, Jurgen Klinsmann no longer was in charge of the USMNT. Mauricio Pochettino went ahead this week and did the same thing, anyway.
As Pochettino and his side appeared in central Ohio for the second of two September friendlies, their circumstance was much different than faced Klinsmann and crew at the start of 2018 World Cup qualifying. For one, the current team actually had some experience with a three-man back line, having deployed such a look at the close of their 2-0 defeat against South Korea last weekend. And most important, the result of their game against Japan carried no consequence beyond public opinion.
Oh, and one more thing: This USMNT appears to be built to excel with this formation.
It might be the best approach for the current team to perform at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Because this tournament will be contested in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the USMNT do not have to qualify to compete. They just need to improve toward the possibility of excelling. Entering the Japan friendly, they had lost seven consecutive games against FIFA top-30 opponents – the sort of teams they’ll need to beat to advance beyond the group stage -- but the change in formation helped ignite a 2-0 victory over Japan that ended the drought.
“It worked fine; very clearly defined roles,” team captain Tim Ream, one of the three central defenders, told us late Tuesday at Lower.com Field. “We did not do much work on it, other than in game and talking about it during a few meetings. I think all of us felt really comfortable.
“I said it the other night: It’s another kind of wrinkle for us that we can use in game, in situations. We can start a game that way now. It adds another layer to the team.”
The 3-4-2-1 formation featuring a three-man backline is a change some analysts, particularly former USMNT midfielder Stu Holden of Fox Sports, have pushed for a long time. Though it might force Pochettino into fielding a lineup that does not feature his 11 best players, there are reasons it could be an ideal approach for this roster.
“It simplifies things,” said midfielder Christian Roldan, a veteran of the 2022 World Cup.
It starts with Ream, who will be 38 at the World Cup. No player has developed to displace him from his position, and thus he will become the oldest player (by more than two years) ever to start for the USMNT in this championship. Installing a third center back removes at least a smidge of the responsibility to cover ground from his duties. It also allows him to move forward on occasion and to make greater use of his exceptional passing skill.
Although young Alex Freeman and Max Arfsten played the wingback positions against Japan, regulars Jedi Robinson (absent with an injury) and Sergino Dest appear to be ideally suited to playing in those roles, which require covering the entire sideline during the course of the game but are oriented toward the attack.
“I think we have players that they play in this new formation … they play in their clubs in that system,” Pochettino said, noting central defender Chris Richards with Crystal Palace in England. “I think it’s good to have different plans, approach to the games. That formation is more simple to understand for the players than the formation we started in against South Korea.
“I think we have a squad that can fit very well in that system, in that formation.”
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Under Gregg Berhalter at the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. played a 4-3-3 formation that emphasized possession of the ball, a particular specialty of young midfielder Yunus Musah, and positioned star Christian Pulisic on the left side of a 3-man front line.
In the newer formation, he played centrally as a playmaker, what is commonly referred to as a “No. 10”. (Conveniently, that is Pulisic’s jersey number with the USMNT). If summer star Malik Tillman had been in camp instead of remaining with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany to continue recovering from a minor injury, he likely would have started alongside Pulisic behind striker Folarin Balogun.
“I think it’s another good option, especially when you line up against teams with a back five,” Pulisic told The Sporting News. “It just matches up really well against them. It was much easier for us, much clearer. I think that helped us, for sure.”
Moving to three players in central defense and two wingbacks quite possibly will relegate 2022 starter Tim Weah to a substitute’s role. And Musah, Johnny Cardoso and Weston McKennie would fight for the second defensive midfield spot alongside Tyler Adams.
That’s why decisions such as this are not easy.
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It really has nothing to do with the failure of the experiment in November 2016, when Mexico visited what his now termed as “Historic Crew Stadium” in Columbus to open qualifying for Russia 2018. But the coincidence is interesting. The USMNT had not used the three-man back line under Klinsmann at any point, and some players reported afterward they’d barely practiced it. The approach was such a disaster Mexico dominated play in the early stages and scored on a Miguel Layun shot in the 20th minute. Not long afterward, midfielder Michael Bradley was observed shouting at the sideline to get the USMNT out of the formation. After the Americans tied the game early in the second half, Mexico won it late on a header by nemesis Rafa Marquez.
The lost points in the Mexico game became a huge part of the failure to qualify for the World Cup. When the USMNT were buried, 4-0, at Costa Rica the following Tuesday, Klinsmann was replaced.
Pochettino has no such concerns, either with his job security or the USMNT position in the 2026 World Cup. They’ll be there. He’ll be there. How he arranges the players as the tournament begins will be an important element of how it all turns out.