USMNT gets a reality check! Winners & losers as U.S. flaws are exposed in straightforward defeat to Germany

If Pulisic was brimming with confidence before this match, he'll be feeling even better after it.

The 25-year-old's goal was a stunner, no doubt. A fantastic run and an even better finish from the USMNT star, who scored a superstar-worthy goal. At the time, the USMNT were going at Germany, and the strike felt like it could be the start of something.

It wasn't. Germany turned it on from that moment and never really looked back, but that shouldn't diminish the fact that Pulisic, on his own, was pretty damn good in this match.

For years, the U.S. has waited to see what Pulisic could look like when riding a bit of confidence from the club level. His goal on Saturday gave a glimpse into what that look like, and the U.S. will be hoping that continues for a long, long time.

Chris Richards may very well be the USMNT's centerback of the future, but he was unable to make the most of his opportunity to really solidify his place as the USMNT's centerback of the here and now.

Richards has been fantastic for the USMNT this year and had earned this chance to prove himself against higher-tier competition. Against Germany, though, he looked like a player struggling to get minutes in the Premier League at the moment.

Richards was somewhat exposed as he struggled to cope with a different level of attackers, but that's not a knock against him. Germany are, in fact, a very good team, but it was clear that their attackers were too much for the Crystal Palace defender.

Richards will go back to the drawing board after this one as he still finds himself in a very competitive centerback race. There will be more opportunities for him to lock up a starting spot before the Copa America, but he didn't do anything of the sort on Saturday afternoon.

It's not often a player's stock rises when he isn't in camp, but this match showed exactly why the USMNT needs Tyler Adams.

Without that dedicated No.6 in the XI, the USMNT was exposed by Germany, particularly on the first goal. Adams would never have allowed Germany to waltz around on top of the box like that, and he would have been instrumental in organizing the team around him as the game wore on and Germany's pressure continued.

The USMNT's big issue is that, as things stand, Adams is irreplaceable. They have yet to truly find a Plan B, even if there are a few in this camp that could benefit from a chance to earn a spot as his understudy.

Playing Gio Reyna as a No. 10 will work in some games, but Germany are too good of a team for that to work against. This match cried out for Adams, and, unfortunately for the USMNT, he wasn't there.

It was not a good day for the USMNT fullbacks.

We'll start with Dest, who had the most highs and lows out of the two in a somewhat typical performance as he started the match inverted at left-back.

The attacking output was there. The defending? Not so much. Dest was burned by Leroy Sane on the first goal and held Niclas Fullkrug on for the second. For all the good he did getting forward, and there was plenty of good, Dest's defensive issues were once again exposed by a good team.

"To me, it's not so much about Sergino," Berhalter said. "It's about just not pinning them in well enough and then opening up the field or losing the ball too quickly and now he has to go back. We want him getting forward, we want him being aggressive, but when you lose the ball quickly, there's a lot of distance now to travel backwards."

Scally, meanwhile, struggled too much on the ball in his big chance at right-back. His passes were nowhere near good enough and he turned the ball way too much, which, ultimately, comes back to kill you against a team like Germany.

It was exactly the start that Germany's new head coach would have wanted.

The ex-Bayern manager has stepped into a difficult situation. He's charged with reshaping an aging team, and he's doing so on relatively short notice. Nagelsmann has just a few days to work with his new players prior to this friendly, but it seems he made the most out of that time.
It wasn't a perfect performance from Germany by any means, as they were a bit too open in the first half. In the end, though, they calmed down and their quality won out, giving Nagelsmann a much-needed tenure-opening win to set a new tone.

Germany still have a lot of work to do ont heir road to the Euros. This is a team that was shockingly knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages, one that is still discovering, or rediscovering, an identity as new faces come into the team.

Nagelsmann, though, is off to a good start. Germany's rebuild is well and truly underway.

This was their chance. After battering Uzbekistan and Oman last window, this was an opportunity to show how far they'd come.

Instead, the USMNT were shown how far they have left to go.

There were positive moments in this performance, no doubt. The first half, in particular, proved that the U.S. can hang with teams like Germany. Hanging with is much different than beating, though, and, on this day, the U.S. were shown that it takes more than a first-half flurry at this level.

Ultimately, the USMNT were undone by individual errors, which is what will make this loss even more painful. It's also a harsh reminder in just how little it takes for games like this to go awry. Teams like Germany can seize the smallest of opportunities and make you pay for them.

The USMNT isn't there yet. They're not a team that is at that level. Maybe they will be some day, but this match was an indication of how much work there is left on the road to 2026.