Gregg Berhalter urges USMNT to play with fire vs. Wales: 'We want to be able to hurt them'
DOHA, Qatar — United States men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter dialed up the fighting talk and urged his young team to seize the moment during its World Cup opener against Wales on Monday.
Berhalter sought to project an image of ferocity and urgency, yet stability, spelling out his belief that the biggest determining factor in the outcome of the Group B clash (2 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App) will be whether his players can get themselves into a ruthless mindset and use it to dominate the game.
Wales-USMNT preview
"We want to be an aggressive team in this game," he said at a Sunday press conference. "We want to be able to hurt them.
"You have this game plan that you hope the group can execute, and you have these moments that are unscripted. Moments where you are forced to compete in duels and win duels and win second balls."
For all the thoughts of tactics and formations and a precise gameplay blueprint, Berhalter is adamant that his team must not lose the mental battle against a team of similar strength, albeit having reached that status in a different way.
The USA has far more depth than Wales, but the Welsh have Gareth Bale, as captain and talisman, with the former Real Madrid superstar guaranteed to be the most credentialed player on the field.
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Had Berhalter possessed any personal trepidation ahead of the Americans’ first World Cup game since the summer of 2014, he might have been less bullish. Not so. As exclusively reported by FOX Sports the previous day, he announced Tyler Adams as his captain for the tournament, a decision voted on by the squad of players.
And he refused to make concessions for the fact his team is the second-youngest in Qatar, stating that his charges must meet the challenge facing them without any caveats.
"We can speculate on whether it is an advantage or disadvantage (being so young), but the truth is going to come out when we play the game. What I would say is we are just not making any excuses for ourselves. We want to go out and compete," he said.
"I see a tremendous amount of focus in the team, and that focus is going to allow us to go for success. Time is going to tell if we are able to play with the best teams in the world. It is a talented group, a young group, but also a group filled with character."
A hot start might be key in building momentum.
In 2010, the team came out flat against England in its opener and went behind within four minutes, only to recover to a 1-1 result when rival goalkeeper Robert Green committed a disastrous error.
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In 2014, Clint Dempsey, whose shot led to Green’s blunder four years earlier, scored just 30 seconds into the first game against Ghana, with the Americans later winning 2-1.
A repeat of the run from either of those tournaments, both of which ended in a round of 16 exit, would be considered broadly acceptable for Berhalter’s inexperienced squad.
Also part of the remit is to play with an effort level that appeals to the audience back home. It is not difficult to envisage a scenario where the U.S. public falls in love with Berhalter’s plucky team, especially with a big result in either of the first two games.
"The biggest thing is I want to represent this team in the right way," Adams said. "You are playing for something a lot bigger than yourself. You are playing from all those people in the U.S. who are watching and supporting you."
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
