Gio Reyna and Christian Pulisic are purring - but Tyler Adams' absence continues to cause concern: Winners and losers from the USMNT's October friendlies

Heading into camp, Christian Pulisic was playing better than he has been in a long, long time. His start to life at AC Milan has been just about ideal, and one of the storylines heading into these friendlies centered on whether he would carry his good form into USMNT camp. We got a positive answer.

Pulisic's goal against Germany was sublime, a true world-class goal from a player that is starting to remind the world that, on his day, he can be just that. It was the brightest moment for the U.S. in that game, and one that proved, once again, that Pulisic always shows up in the big moments.

His goal against Ghana was less impressive: a penalty straight down the middle to give the U.S. an early 2-0 lead. Still, the work he did outside of that goal was the big takeaway. Pulisic was dangerous all night and, as the game got out of hand, the U.S. had the luxury of taking him off after 45 minutes to leave him well-rested for his club.

He'll now return to Milan for a massive match against Juventus on Sunday and a Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain the following Wednesday. Huge games, for sure, but this break showed, once again, that Pulisic is the man for the big occasion for both club and country.

His form and confidence have clearly suffered over the last year, and there's plenty of time left to rebuild it. Still, at the moment, it's hard to really see where Brenden Aaronson can truly impact the game for the USMNT.

The Union Berlin midfielder remains just a bit took weak physically at the highest of levels, rendering his attacking skills less effective than they should be. He brings plenty of energy, and there are a lot of moments where that helps, but right now, he simply isn't adding anything tangible to the U.S. attack.

Aaronson is certainly a useful back-up, one that Berhalter can trust to bring energy off the bench. However, if he wants to truly take the next step and challenge for bigger roles, he'll need to step up in games like these to show what he can do against elite teams.

Every time Gio Reyna's name was brought up this week, Gregg Berhalter said some version of the same thing. The goal for this camp, he repeated, was to build Reyna back up, to prepare him for a return to Borussia Dortmund and, hopefully, a return to form. Mission accomplished, and then some.

We got 90 minutes or Reyna split across the two games. Against Germany, he was good. Not great, but good, as he went up against some familiar faces and certainly created uncomfortable moments. Against Ghana, though? Spectacular. Downright unplayable.

Now he'll return to Dortmund, where he's played just one game since the start of the season. He'll return with a big smile on his face and 90 more minutes in his legs as he looks to now break back into Edin Terzic's side.

If he can do that, look out. Neither club nor country has seen the best of Reyna for some time, and these performances showed that he may just get back to that soon.

It feels unfair to have Sergino Dest here. How can the Man of the Match in the win over Ghana be labelled as a loser? It's because, realistically, we didn't learn much about Dest in this camp. His positives and negatives were both on full display over these two games, but those are things we've known about him since he broke through with the USMNT.

We'll start with the positives, all of which came against Ghana. Dest, for many, was the best player on the pitch as he created absolute havoc throughout his 90 minutes. It was a performance that showed the best of his game: the attacking side of it.

As for the defensive side? Well, look at the Germany game. Dest was far from the only one at fault against Julian Nagelsmann's side, but he was one player that struggled. It was a defensive performance that did little to silence any doubters, giving them more fodder to take aim at his shortcomings.

And that all leaves us with a question: how do you weigh the positives and negatives of his game? Can he be trusted against the bigger teams? Can the U.S. survive with him? Or can they survive without him?

All will need to be answered going forward, and it'll help Dest's case that his primary competition at right-back, Joe Scally, didn't impress either. Even so, though, the U.S. will need Dest to be more Ghana and less Germany going forward.

The USMNT's best formation been one of the hot topics for some time now, and we received some answers during this window. As it turns out, the 4-2-3-1 with Reyna in the center of that midfield three looks pretty good!

It all comes with a caveat, though. In this sport, there are no universal answers and tactics always need to be fluid depending on what's in front of you. Over this camp, we learned that the 4-2-3-1 is definitely an option, perhaps the preferred option, but it likely can't be the USMNT's only way of lining up against the best of the best.

The U.S. attack tore Ghana to shreds thanks to the team's attacking unit, which ran the game. The wingers dominated their defenders, Reyna scored twice and Folarin Balogun scored a goal of his own in a complete attacking performances.

It was somewhat similar to what we saw against Germany, although turned up to 11 against an inferior opponent. The U.S. created dangerous moments in that first half against the Germans, going toe-to-toe and attacking the opponents throughout the first half. However, that 45 minutes also showed how much the USMNT missed a player like Tyler Adams as its deep midfielder. Germany's first goal is never scored with Adams on the field, and you can debate how the second or third would have looked different if the captain was healthy.

So where does that leave the USMNT? Well, it seems that the 4-2-3-1 will be the answer against some teams while a 4-3-3 will be best against others. The point is that the U.S. can now be flexible, which will only be a good thing going forward.

This camp, these games, were all about making a statement. The USMNT wanted to prove it could go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Germany are an iconic team. Ghana are a frequent World Cup foe. These would be the tests.

And, in both games, the first halves showed that, on their day, the U.S. can trouble any team in the world. They went back and forth with Germany, albeit a rebuilding Germany. They decimated Ghana. For those two 45-minute periods, the U.S. showed what they can do.

Take a look at who was on the field for those halves. You had starters for AC Milan, Monaco and Juventus. You had players representing PSV, Borussia Dortmund, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest. This is a team with talent, for sure.

The U.S. has gotten to a point where they legitimately can play with the best of the best. The question is, though, how long they can keep that up within games?...

If this camp was any evidence, they can keep it up for about 45 minutes. That's because in both second halves, the U.S. certainly looked like a different team.

There are reasons for that. Substitutions, fior example, are one, and Berhalter said that he was frustrated by that group's performance in the Ghana win. There is a major drop-off in talent in several positions, so it makes sense that moving players in and out would change games.

In the Ghana game, in particular, you could chalk it up to the U.S. taking the foot off the gas. The game was done and there was no drama left in it. It's a tough situation to get up for with 45 minutes left on the club.

Still, the U.S. needed more in these second halves, particularly against Germany. In that match, the U.S. folded and let Germany's quality takeover. Individual mistakes, tactical errors... you name it, the U.S. messed it up.

It was a lesson in just how fine margins are. Against good teams, you have to be perfect. Not good, not great. Perfect. They weren't against Germany and weren't against Ghana. They'll take the lesson and, hopefully, learn from it for their next shot at top teams.