Gregg Berhalter certainly has his work cut out for him and the U.S. team.  (Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

There were many things missing from the U.S. men’s national team in its 2-0 loss to Japan on Friday.

Watching his team from the sidelines suffering a 2-0 defeat at Düsseldorf Arena in Düsseldorf,  Germany, head coach Gregg Berhalter knew the team was without one important ingredient in its penultimate World Cup warm-up match:

Personality.

Asked by ESPN’s Sam Borden what he wanted to see different in Tuesday’s encounter against Saudi Arabia, Berhalter replied, “I think it’s more personality than match. I didn’t for some reason, see a lot of personality with their performance tonight.”

On both sides of the ball.

The Americans had countless giveaways in the defensive third and never placed a shot on target. You can’t win matches unless you score goals.

“It was really competitive match,” Berhalter said. “I think we ended up hurting ourselves a little bit too much in the game with silly giveaways and we want a little more personality. Give Japan a lot of credit, good team, competitive team that pressed well. But we can do better.”

The USA better do better.

Especially in central defense, which, in a word, was atrocious against Japan.

Red Bulls captain Aaron Long endured a disastrous opening 45 minutes with several ill-timed turnovers. Long, who was replaced by Mark McKenzie in the second half, and partner Walker Zimmerman, did not work well together.

Berhalter wouldn’t go into depth about his center backs.

“We’ll look at the tape and we’ll analyze it more carefully,” he said. “I think there’s some good moments and moments that can be improved but what we’ll evaluate on tape.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.