It may have been ugly and even ended in a benches-clearing skirmish that forced manager Mauricio Pochettino onto the pitch to break up players, but the U.S. men’s national team pulled out the win.

In the second of four-consecutive friendlies this fall, the USMNT defeated Chile 4–2 on Tuesday night at St. Louis’s Energizer Park.

Chile proved a much more formidable foe than Peru, who the USMNT cruised to a 4–1 victory against over the weekend. Although the Americans still walked away victorious on Tuesday, they struggled to break down La Roja and make progress up the field. They were easily crowded out and continuously made reckless decisions as a result.

Although the stakes are ultimately low, the USMNT must re-evaluate its performance and make significant changes for any chance at defeating bitter rival Mexico in the third friendly on Saturday.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s affair.

Thwarted Midfield

From the opening whistle and throughout much of the game, the USMNT struggled to break down Chile’s middle block.

While the hosts maintained the majority of possession (65% in the first half), they were reduced to largely unthreatening, horizontal sequences. Any time the midfielders tried to play vertical or diagonal passes to each other in attempt to break up Chile’s dense set-up, the passes were either immediately picked off, or the American recipients struggled to handle the on-rush of pressure at their backs and subsequently gave up the ball with a haphazard pass. In other words, the USMNT midfielders struggled to adapt to the high pressure of Chile’s midfield and the speed with which the visitors would close down the ball.

The reality of the situation seemed to only agitate the USMNT midfielders more, causing them to then rush with the ball at their feet and, in turn, fail to properly take care of it. They were stripped of the ball time and time again.

17-year-old Adri Mehmeti and 21-year-old Brooklyn Raines, both in their first-career starts for the USMNT, struggled the most in the center of the park, dispossessed four times collectively. They were rendered rather invisible in the attack, unable to exploit the proper spaces or contribute to any meaningful sequences. Even veteran Giovanni Reyna was subject to a few giveaways. The only one seemingly capable of handling the high intensity of Chile’s midfield was veteran Sebastian Berhalter, but he ultimately couldn’t do it alone, no matter how many pockets of space he ran into.

Aside from the undeniable intensity of the Chileans, it was perhaps the lack of familiarity between this new guard of USMNT midfielders that worked against them. In time and with sufficient reps, they should be able to connect in quicker and more seamless ways. One positive to take away from the midfielders’ performances was the fluidity with which they physically rotated positions throughout the middle of the field, even if it didn’t translate into meaning plays.

Sloppy Defense

What compounded the midfielders’ woes was the carelessness of the backline, especially in possession. Center back Neil Pierre and fullback Frankie Westfield, in particular, both in their first-career starts for the senior squad, continually played directly to the feet of their opponents, both on the ground and on long balls. Likely a consequence of international stage jitters, they nonetheless put the USMNT continually on its back-heels.

Chile’s first goal came after the backline failed to properly clear the ball off of a corner kick. As the ball bounced around the penalty box, the defenders were reactive, simply watching it as opposed to attempting to step up their line to get eventual-goalscorer Felipe Faúndez in an offside position. That was one of seven corners the backline conceded in the first half, the most in a half since the 2014 World Cup.

Westfield was a bit careless in his attempts to get forward and struggled to get back on defensive, leaving his left flank exposed to the talented winger Maximiliano Gutiérrez, which resulted in Chile’s second goal of the night.

Dazzling Displays From Julian Hall

Julian Hall was the brightest spot on the pitch.

In his first-career senior start, Hall was the main attacking force for much of the game, adapting brilliantly to the unique challenges Chile presented. The 18-year-old striker for Red Bull New York understood the dense middle block Chile operated with and did his part to stretch the backline and grant the midfielders more space.

More importantly, though, Hall knew that long balls overhead would work, and on the few occasions in which they were played, Hall did not waste the opportunities. He timed his runs into the final third perfectly to get on the end of then, staying onside while leaving Chile’s defenders reeling. He ended the night with the joint-most shots (five) and the most touches in the opposition’s box (nine).

Hall displayed his mature field awareness all match, but in one particular instance, it was next-level. He received a cross from Sergiño Dest in the 37th minute inside the 18-yard box, and although he had a small opening to take a one-touch shot on frame himself, he instead chose to dummy the ball, understanding that Berhalter was running in behind him toward the back post. With Chile’s defenders utterly confused, Berhalter had a wide-open shot to secure the USMNT’s first of the night.

For the team’s second of the night, Hall finished it off himself, scoring his second goal in as many national team caps. Capitalizing on a cross from Reyna, the youngster leapt into the air to flick the ball to the back post with his head.

“It’s been amazing to share the field with some amazing players,” Hall said humbly post-match on TNT. “They put me in the right spots, and I’m just doing as much as I can to finish them off.”

Although the USMNT added two more goals before the final whistle, it was ultimately because of Hall that the team was able to gain its attacking edge.