Five takeaways from USMNT's Germany, Ghana games

Happy Pulisic = happy USMNT. American striker Christian Pulisic had a tough run of things during his five-year stint at Chelsea. He languished on the bench under a handful of different managers, and when he was picked to play, it was often out wide, in a position he didn't feel comfortable playing. Pulisic's performance suffered for club and country during that time, and his frustration was palpable.

Things have turned around for him since moving to Italy in the summer. He has scored four goals for AC Milan already this season and looks happy, confident and dangerous once again. That's great news for fans of the USMNT.

The USMNT needs its MLS defenders. Berhalter didn't call up many Major League Soccer players for these two games. With the playoffs around the corner, most of them needed the rest. As a result, the USMNT defense suffered mightily without the likes of Nashville's Walker Zimmerman and Cincinnati's Matt Miazga. MLS doesn't exactly have a reputation for great defenders, but recent games are proof that's changing.

Joe Scally just might be the real deal. Scally isn't the most famous name on the USMNT, but he's slowly building up quite the reputation for himself in Europe. He has had an excellent season in Germany with Borussia Mönchengladbach and brought that form with him to the USMNT. In last week's tense game with Germany, Scally nullified Jamal Musiala, an attacker known as a generational talent back home. While it wasn't enough to win the game for the USMNT, it was enough to win the respect of Musiala and USMNT faithful.

The USMNT has a new kind of striker problem. Cast your mind back to October 2022 and remember the question we all asked about the USMNT: Who will start up front? Berhalter had plenty of options to choose from — Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright, Jesus Ferreira and Jordan Morris were in the mix at one point — but no one stood out as a clear favorite.

Flash-forward to today, and the USMNT has a new problem: too many high-profile strikers to choose just one. In one year, Folarin Balogun and Tim Weah have emerged as world-class attacking options. Berhalter no longer must worry about which strikers to pick; he must worry about what he might be missing if he can't choose all of them.