US men's national team head coach Gregg Berhalter was disappointed with the showing against Germany but believes his team can still take something from the 3-1 defeat.
The international friendly was Berhalter's third game back in the dugout in his second stint with the US, while Germany ushered in a new era with Julian Nagelsmann taking charge of his first match for the four-time World Cup winners.
Christian Pulisic got the Stars and Stripes off to a flying start with a long-range curled effort that soared past Marc-Ander ter Stegen to put the home side 1-0 up. But Germany found an equalizer just before halftime as İlkay Gündoğan leveled for Die Mannschaft.
The visiting side would go on to prevail in the second half as goals from Niclas Füllkrug and Jamal Musiala sealed Nagelsmann's first win as head coach of Germany, while it was Berhalter's first loss back with USA.
It was also the first defeat for the US since their Gold Cup semi-final elimination against Panama, where B.J. Callaghan was on the touchline for their 1-1 (5-4 in penalties) exit at Snapdragon Stadium.
"It's really these fine moments, these split seconds where you need to be well-positioned, not open up any gaps in your backline, and that's where it went wrong," Berhalter said after the game. "And in one case, tracking runners going through, keeping the organization of [the back] four and three in front of the four that it's very difficult to break through. So we lacked that in those moments."
Berhalter was quick to give credit to the opposing side, who could sit among the favourites to lift the 2024 European Championship on home soil if Nagelsmann can get them back to their best.
He added: "But Germany's a good team, and they're going to open teams up. They're going to create [quality] scoring opportunities because of the quality that they have on the field."
The former Columbus Crew boss thought it was a tale of two halves for his team: "The first half, especially, I thought we were really good. And then it came down to some moments. I think the goals were conceded a little bit too easily, but overall happy with the effort of the team, happy with the mindset and the intentions of the team.
"[I'm] overall pleased with that good learning experience to the group, and we know we need to get better if we want to win," said Berhalter.
USA return to action on October 17 for a clash with Ghana at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee. The two sides have played out some thrilling encounters in previous years at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, with the last meeting seeing the US edge Ghana 2-1 in a friendly in 2017.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Gregg Berhalter highlights 'learning experience' after USMNT's 3-1 loss to Germany.
