Matt Besler

manager, I'm talking about coming out, getting an early goal, being on the front foot.

I mean, if I'm Paraguay, I'm probably saying, hey, look, the U.S.

is going to come out on fire.

The fans are going to be on top of them.

They're going to have a lot of adrenaline.

If we can absorb the first 20 or 30 minutes –

it might actually go against the U.S.

because they're going to use all their energy and they're going to be so hyped up that when they come down and there's going to be a little bit of a lull in the game, that's when we can take advantage.

Get an early goal.

I mean, that's why to me it's so important to come out and take those chances early on because if you can get an early goal –

essentially the game plan gets thrown out the window, like from the start and Paraguay has to say, well, that's not going to work anymore.

So plan B, now we got to come out of our shell and we've got to open ourselves up and that plays to the U S U S has advantage.

And big tournaments like this set pieces are some of the most underrated parts of the game.

Uh,

In big tournaments like this, there's some mismatches with smaller countries and bigger countries.

Set pieces are the greatest equalizer.

You can play a soccer game and be under pressure and get dominated, but if you don't concede a goal and you can sneak one on a set piece, again, it's the biggest opportunity for teams who are not the favorites, who are the underdogs.

There's some sort of stat, I think, in major tournaments, over 40% of goals are scored on set pieces.

Traditionally, the U.S.

team, that has been our strength because a lot of times when we're going up against some of the best teams in the world, we are the underdog.