The USMNT couldn't have asked for a better start in the Gregg Berhalter era.
The squad wrapped up January camp with two wins, two clean sheets and five goals scored against Concacaf foes, including a 2-0 win against Costa Rica on Saturday in San Jose. And they also showed some character along the way, coming through difficult moments in both matches.
"So the three benchmarks we had were team building, style of play and competing," head coach Gregg Berhalter said in Saturday's postgame interview with FOX's Danielle Slaton. "And from a team-building standpoint, when you see the camraderie, and you see how these guys are pushing for each other, you can tell that we've been working on that. So that's excellent.
"Style of play we need to keep going, we need to keep improving. There are some good elements, but we're not there yet. And from a competing standpoint, these guys are animals and you saw today. It's really nice to see in the second half the urging and the pushing. It was a good job."
LA Galaxy midfielder Sebastian Lletget, who opened the scoring against Costa Rica on a play that he revealed was drawn up and practiced throughout the camp, echoed Berhalter's sentiments.
"This team has a lot going for them," Lletget told FOX's Alexi Lalas and Ian Joy. "The coaching staff has been tremendous from Day 1 of this camp -- I think Gregg, tactically and the detail he's put into this team, we've learned so much in this camp and moving forward I think it's only going to get better.
"I think something special is growing within all of us," Lletget continued. "I'm sure he can't wait to get the whole squad here, but this is an amazing start. He pays so much attention to detail and I think we've got to learn as players.
"I think he's tremendous to be honest. He's done a very good job so far. And that's me being honest."
