I was ready to be more zen about this game, but once it seemed achievable I really wanted to beat Mexico. The chances were there, it didn't happen.
Zooming out, I'm okay with the effort put forth in this tournament. We still have clear holes in the XI and the bench was weak to the point that our three subs were Roldan/Zardes/Lovitz. I don't know whether Boyd was carrying an injury or if he's just fallen out of favor. I like Lewis, but he's young and inconsistent. Mihailovic can't be trusted in a game of this magnitude yet, imo. There just weren't many attacking options.
Given how crap the player pool is, the fact that the US did as well as they did seems decent to me.
I'm glad that Cannon showed better than expected. With him, Lima, and Yedlin in the pool at RB, I hope that expedites Adams' replacement of Bradley at DM. Adams is just a nightmare for other midfields to play against and the spillover effects of his field coverage and ball-winning are numerous. I'm not sure he's as good a long passer as Bradley at this point, but the tradeoff is easily worth it - it's not like he's Maurice Edu out there.
LB will continue to be a problem. I'd try Lima there, as he's played a lot of LB this season for San Jose. Longer-term, there are younger prospects, but none are ready right now.
Paxton Pomykal looks ready. Throw him in CM, move Pulisic out wide, bring Weah and Sargent into the pool either as starters or first sub off the bench, and things suddenly look a bit more interesting:
Pulisic —Altidore — Weah
Pomykal — McKennie
Adams
Lima — Brooks — Long — Yedlin/Cannon
Steffen
Bench: Yedlin/Cannon, Miazga, Bradley, Arriola, Boyd, Morris, Sargent, et al
By 2020/2021, there should be more prospects ready to go.