Can the USMNT really trust irresponsible Sergino Dest again? Winners and losers from Nations League triumph over Trinidad & Tobago as U.S. stumble their way into Copa America

The big winner of the camp, not that Antonee Robinson needed that title, to be fair. Gregg Berhalter called him an "animal" after the second match, and it feels like a good description. Robinson did just about everything asked of him after missing the October window, proving once again why he's so key to this team.

He's been the left-back for quite some time, and despite the emergence of Kristoffer Lund, it doesn't feel like that'll change any time soon. There's no one in the pool quite as complete as Robinson, who brings so much to the team.

With the U.S., he plays a bit more attacking than he does at Fulham, and he seems to enjoy it. In two games this camp, he got two goals, which is always a nice sight from the full-back position.

We already discussed what Dest's dismissal meant in the moment, but now it's time to look at the bigger picture. This incident, his second inexcusable red card of the year after that Nations League mess against Mexico, now leads to one big question: Can the USMNT trust Dest to keep his cool?

On the latest evidence, the answer is no. The Mexico incident is one we can kind of excuse, as players sometimes lose their tempers in those sorts of rivalry games. Getting sent off against Trinidad & Tobago with your team up 4-0 on aggregate? That's not passion; it's stupidity.

Do you think South America's top teams won't have seen that? If a relative minnow like Trinidad & Tobago can get in Dest's head, what do you think a team like Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay can do when the heat is turned up much, much higher?

Dest's play style already makes him something of a liability in those big games, but it seems his mentality may do so as well. And, with the Copa America looming, he has a lot of trust to earn back if he's to make an impact in next summer's tournament.

All of the prior nonsense feels like it's even more in the past, as Gio Reyna is more important to this team than ever right now. His goal in the first game was a great finish, one that really put the tie out of reach. He combined well with Folarin Balogun during the sequence and has, realistically, been the only USMNT player to unlock any sort of on-field chemistry with the striker so far.

The finish marked Reyna's third goal in two games, which makes it pretty clear that the past is well and truly behind him. Injuries have thrust him into the XI, no doubt, but his presence in midfield is now undeniable. When he came off after Dest's red card on Monday, the U.S. never looked the same, lacking the control and creativity in midfield to do anything but survive in that second half.

Overall, it's safe to say that Reyna, in just a few games, has rebuilt things quite a bit under Berhalter. It'll take a bit more time to truly earn back the trust of some sections of the USMNT fanbase, but it's clear that this past winter's incident isn't hanging over player or coach. All involved have moved on and, at least so far, taken things to another level, which is a credit to the player and person Reyna is as he leaps into this next phase of his USMNT career.

We'll start by saying that, overall, Balogun's return is pretty good so far. The striker has three goals and two assists in about 530 minutes since debuting for the national team. If your striker averages just under one goal contribution-per-90, you'll probably take that, especially if you're the USMNT.

However, these felt like games where Balogun could really assert himself as the USMNT's superstar attacker. Without the injured Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah, these felt like games where Balogun could step up, score some goals and carry a team that needed a bit of juice without two star forwards. Instead, we leave camp saying that Balogun is still adjusting to the USMNT, and that the USMNT is still adjusting to Balogun.

His first game wasn't bad, as he did get that assist on Reyna's goal. However, Ricardo Pepi certainly outshined him with his fantastic flicked-on goal to open the scoring off the bencg. The second game? Little more than a cardio session, as Balogun was limited to mainly hold-up play outside of one early chance.

It's clear that the USMNT is still learning how to play with Balogun. He's a different type of striker than any the U.S. has ever had and adjusting to his skillset will take time. His first real games against a lesser CONCACAF team, though, should have been a chance for Balogun to dominate on quality alone, and he never really did that throughout the two matches.

It will get lost a bit in everything that happened on Monday night, and many will also say that this is merely a case of living up to expectations, which doesn't deserve any sort of applause, but the team deserve a bit of credit for taking care of business, even if they stumbled over the finishing line in the end.

The USMNT is headed to the Copa America, which is great news for this program with a World Cup looming. Those games will be the USMNT's biggest tests ahead of 2026, their best opportunity to play really, really good teams in a competitive environment.

Failing to qualify for that this window would have been a real and unfathomable disaster, almost on a par with what happened the last time the U.S faced Trinidad & Tobago with tournament qualification on the line. It didn't go wrong this time around, though, which means that the Copa America dreams live on.

So too does the team's Nations League run as the U.S. looks to triumph in that CONCACAF tournament for the third time. In that sense, the U.S. did what they needed to do in this camp, even if they didn't convince in the process of doing it.

The good news is that, realistically, this won't matter until the 2030 cycle. With the U.S. set to host the Copa America and World Cup, almost every big game this team plays for the next few years will be on home soil. Still, how they continue to fair away from home needs to be noted, simply because the recent record is so bad.

In competitive CONCACAF matches, the U.S. now has one win, four draws and five losses in their last 10 away games. We all know the old talking points that winning away from home is hard in this region, but for a team this talented, shouldn't the expectations be to win on the road at least sometimes?

This particular road match, the second game of this tie, felt particularly important. It was a chance for the U.S. to not just pick up an away win, but to totally bury any demons remaining from 2018. Instead, the U.S. stumbled through it, mostly thanks to Dest's red card, and lost away from home once again.

They had one eye on the aggregate scoreline, of course, and the goal was to win the war, not the battle. In that sense, we can excuse it. However, there won't be many more chances for this team to play away from home this cycle, and their inability to truly take control in those games remains a knock against this team right now.