Using a baseball example as an analogy...the Braves' hall of fame pitchers, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddox were very successful at the highest level and rarely threw much more than a 90-91 mph fastball. I had the occasion to sit with a Yankee scout watching some high school kids. One pitcher I was scouting for colleges was really good, but the Yankee scout said he lacked arm-strength and would never make it at the Div I level and certainly never reach the pros. I commented that Glavine and Maddox didn't throw hard...the scout said, Ah!! but they can! They have the arm strength to reach back and hum one. And that arm strength allowed them to pitch 8-9 innings too.
Well, at the highest level of international soccer, it's not so much that a team, especially the midfielders, have to possess the ball for some given % of time, or say "we have to hold the ball for at least 55-60 minutes," nah! but it is having the ability to do so! The striker has to have the ability to play with his back toward the goal and hold the ball. Possess it...often it's for a few seconds at a time, but it's steady and consistent. And midfielders, in particular, have to individually, and as a unit, be able to possess the ball when needed. NOT that there is some magical number of percentage time a team has to possess the ball.
The US men's team has historically been horrible at possessing the ball, especially against stiffer competition, and has not been able to climb to the next level. Often "good" but not "good enough." By contrast the USWNT has dominated in the midfield often having back-ups much better than other sides' starters, and the women's team OWNS the midfield i.e. possession. No surprise they have enjoyed such success.
Berhalter needs to back away from that hardline, stubborn adherence to playing from the back and instead initiate a hybrid of it. Our back line has no business trying to out-skill opposing strikers and midfielders and finesse the ball up the field from the defending 1/3. Get the ball up field onto the feet of a midfielder and go from there. Of course the back line plays a role in the offense, overlaps, making runs up the line, and serving as a drop when the midfield gets into heavy traffic. That is just good soccer. But don't put such pressure on the back line like that. Makes no sense.