DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The World Cup is just two months away, and if the United States’ penultimate tuneup Friday was a window into how Gregg Berhalter’s squad will fare in Qatar, it’s going to be a short stay.
On its face, a 2-0 defeat to Japan does not sound catastrophic. But over 90 dreary minutes, the Americans made errors that led to scoring chances and a mistake that led to a first-half goal. They missed an early opportunity that would’ve set the tone, failed to solve problems, lacked ideas and didn’t perform with any style or bite.
Several absences, including star attacker Christian Pulisic, factored into the display, but there was no excusing the disconnect and general inferiority against an opponent that is headed to the World Cup but is not a global elite.