USMNT's midfield shows promise in advance of crucial Panama clash

The USMNT looked sharp, there's no denying it. But don't let the breathless praise fool you. 

The USMNT is the 11th-best men's side in the world but it didn't exactly look like it while laboring to a 2-0 win over a team ranked over 70 places below it. 

Joe Scally looked overawed while deputizing for the injured Sergino Dest at right back. Tim Ream, for the first time ever, looked all of his 36 years while trying to keep up with Bolivia's physical midfielders. And for all of the talk about the USMNT's stacked forward lineup, this game proved that coach Gregg Berhalter still hasn't worked out who his best starting strikers are. 

Tim Weah was profligate while Folarin Balogun was indecisive. Only substitute Ricardo Pepi looked immediately at home at the top of the USMNT's offense.

There was one area where the USMNT excelled: midfield. While its defense and attack struggled to perform at an elite level, its midfield of Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna proved they can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the world.

Adams is the centerpiece, and rightfully so. The New York-born defender captained the USMNT at the 2022 World Cup despite being one of the youngest players on the roster. His leadership qualities are spoken about in hushed tones by everyone in the USMNT camp, his lengthy absence, nearly a full year thanks to a long-term hamstring injury, threw the USMNT into disarray in 2023. 

Adams is the deepest-lying midfielder in the USMNT's trio, and he serves as the team's conductor. He decides what the pace of the game will feel like and which attacking channels the USMNT will exploit.

McKennie is the wild card, the lightning-in-a-bottle player capable of delivering perfectly weighted passes and bone-crunching tackles depending on his mood. While McKennie has received criticism in the past for his perceived "attitude," his unshakeable belief in his own ability helps lift the USMNT midfield through difficult moments. 

When McKennie gets the ball, he's capable of doing anything with it, and no one but him can predict what he might choose.

Reyna, perhaps the most famous and controversial midfielder of the USMNT's starting trio, is the creative spark. He can change games on their head at a moment's notice through his speed and build-up play. His falling out with Berhalter in 2022 — an overblown storm in a teacup orchestrated by his parents, not by Reyna himself — made many USMNT fans worry that he might never get to show off his talents for the team again. 

But Reyna was gracious and mature with Berhalter and looks utterly reborn with the drama of 2022 behind him. He was easily the team's best player against Bolivia and is easily the team's most important player for the rest of the Copa.

The Adams-McKennie-Reyna triad will lead the USMNT into its Game 2 clash with Panama. It's a weighty game for the team: Panama is the nation that eliminated the USMNT from World Cup contention in 2018. Bad blood abounds between the two squads.

With a defense that looks shaky and an offense struggling to put away its hard-fought chances, the USMNT's midfield will make or break its Panama rematch.

The USMNT will take on Panama on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in Atlanta.