That was some impressively bad defense over the last two days, first by Brazil, then the USA.
Gabriel is not capable of going toe-to-toe with Erling Halland physically. He knows this from their Premier League battles. He just got overpowered on Halland’s first goal.
Both Gabriel and the other Brazilian were a little lazy on Halland’s second goal. He was obviously going to shoot, but he wasn’t far enough out for them to be content with that. Gabriel just waited in the box and the other defender didn’t go down to one knee to block the shot, which is what allowed Halland to put it right through his legs. But you have to commit to blocking the shot at that range, especially when you’ve got a man behind you for support in case it’s a fake and he is going to break into the box.
I only saw the first half of the USA-Belgium game, but Tim Ream was terrible. Not only did he stand around and watch the Belgian forward score the first goal, but he jumped too early and took himself out of position for the second one. And every time he had the ball, he’d hold it too long, then pass it backwards.
I really don’t understand these coaches who just love passing the ball backwards and are content with one single shot per half. Do they understand that you don’t get any points for possession? The primary correlation with winning in soccer is shots on target, not time of possession. Anything you’re doing that reduces shots on target is reducing your chance of winning. The USA had 56% possession, lost the shots on target contest 7-2, and lost 4-1.