USA undone by defensive issues in Germany loss - Berhalter - ESPN

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — United States men's national soccer team manager Gregg Berhalter said Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Germany came down to «some fine moments» and that defensively his side's organization «let us down a bit.»

The U.S. broke on top in the game in the 27th minute thanks to a 25-yard wonder strike from Christian Pulisic. But Germany was still very much in the game, having earlier hit the post through Pascal Gross in the 11th minute and later creating a pair of clear chances for Niclas Füllkrug, only to be denied by U.S. keeper Matt Turner.

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The four-time World Cup winner soon showed its quality, equalizing through Ilkay Gündogan in the 39th minute, when he cleaned up a rebound from Turner's touch as the keeper attempted to stop Leroy Sané's run. The visitors then created some separation from the U.S. in the second half, with Füllkrug and Jamal Musiala scoring in a three-minute span starting in the 58th minute.

«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.

«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. But Germany's a good team, and they're going to open teams up. They're going to create [good] scoring opportunities because of the quality that they have on the field.»

The U.S. attack did have some dangerous moments in the first half, especially with Tim Weah breaking down the right wing, while Pulisic had another