NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As much media attention and fan adoration Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna inspire, Sergiño Dest might actually epitomize the pride, promise and peril of the US men’s national team’s 2022 World Cup qualifying quest.
One of the many young talents playing his first career qualifier in Thursday’s 0-0 draw at El Salvador, the FC Barcelona fullback got a swift, bracing immersion in the Concacaf experience. Dest was cheered by Salvadoran supporters – who were surely appreciative of both his skills and his iconic club address – as he took the pitch at Estadio Cuscatlan, but encountered no such respect when the opening whistle blew.
Playing out of position on the left corner and looking out of sorts in the loud, hectic environment, the Dutch-American turned the ball over several times and was given a torrid time by the quickness and twinkle-toed dribbling of El Salvador’s Jairo Henriquez in particular. Though Dest battled bravely, it was a far cry from his best moments on the hallowed ground of the Camp Nou and he would make way for Antonee Robinson in the 64th minute, capping what coach Gregg Berhalter called “a learning experience” postgame.
“As a young player that plays in Barcelona now, they don't get too many environments like that with those clubs, so for him, it's just about learning,” said Berhalter. “We have a lot of confidence in Sergiño. He's a top player, and it's just the learning curve to now perform in World Cup qualifiers.”
The ante will be upped considerably at Nissan Stadium Sunday (8 pm ET | FS1, UniMás, TUDN) when the USMNT welcome Canada, who are spearheaded by jet-heeled wide men Alphonso Davies, the former Vancouver Whitecaps homegrown, and New England Revolution star Tajon Buchanan, in need of a victory on home soil. Dest’s technique and swagger are unsurpassed on this US squad, but El Salvador showed he can be beaten, particularly 1-v-1 and in the open spaces of quick transitions, leaving the coaching staff with some knotty tactical decisions to make.
“We want to give him freedom to be creative, as long as that fits within our game plan,” said Berhalter of Dest on Saturday. “He's an artist type of a player, has a real creative side to him, has an amazing amount of skill and technical ability, and we want to give him the ball and let him do good things. It's not often that you see fullbacks have that amount of talent. So it's up to us to get him involved and get him involved with positions where he can be decisive.”
Reading the tea leaves is difficult in the tense, secretive atmosphere leading up to games of this consequence. But there are generally two schools of thought. One is to keep continuity and limit the amount of opposition-centric adjusting, which would involve sticking with the 4-3-3 formation baseline and urging Dest to dial up his intensity level with the personal challenge of dueling the imposing Davies on the USMNT right flank.
The other is to shift to a three-player backline to mirror and blunt Canada’s 3-5-2 shape, nudging Dest forward into a wingback role with less defensive responsibility and in turn more potential to pin back Les Rouges’ flying wingers. That would place a rugged center back like Miles Robinson in Davies’ way, with help offered by buzzing central midfielders like McKennie and Tyler Adams. Berhalter has deployed shapes like this in most of the USMNT-CanMNT meetings of the past two years, and called in a defender-heavy roster that suggested he planned to use it at some point in this international window.
Berhalter gave nothing away on that front in Saturday’s pregame press conference, though he did issue a gentle reminder of sorts that as slick as some of his young charges are on the ball, the qualifying crucible demands end product above all.
“It's nice to be able to dribble by guys in midfield, but for me, it's really about the impact we're having in goals and assists,” he noted. “How we get the ball in front of goal, how we’re scoring goals or making assists, even in the fullback position.
“The fullbacks have good matchups with their wingers and it's going to be a good battle, whether Alphonso Davies plays or Buchanan plays or whoever, they have some good wingers. It will be a nice matchup for us.”
