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Alright Coaches-
The World Cup roster has been chosen. What do you think? And why? Let’s hash out some specifics in this thread- and see if we can be productive.
Who is brave enough to start?!?
Guess we should start with the elephant in the room so to speak? Donovan not being on the roster is surprising but I’m not going to cause the same type of uproar over it that you’re seeing in other places… He hasn’t been great for LA so far this season, looks to be a little out of shape to me, and he’s consistently been giving reasons to doubt his desire to push himself at this point in his career. Besides all that, I certainly haven’t been in the US training sessions so I have no idea how he’s looked compared to the other players. He may very well have looked a step or two behind the others…
As for the rest of the roster, I think the back line is the most interesting. We’re bringing several outside backs who can get forward and join the attack and have good speed/athleticism, but who also have somewhat suspect defending. Timmy Chandler, Fabian Johnson, DeMarcus Beasley, and Deandre Yedlin all fit that mold. Coupled with the fact that you’ve likely got a Bradley/Jones midfield as well as Bedoya and Zusi on the wings (neither of whom are true wingers in my opinion), you’re looking at a US team that I’m guessing is going to play relatively narrow and rely on their outside backs to provide a lot of width when playing through the thirds.
Of course, this is just a thought that occurred to me when I glanced at the roster. I’m sure others might see something different.
Agree with all of Eric’s points. Lots of guys that can play outside backs stood out to me right off the bat. With these guys hopefully flying up and down the flanks it’ll be vital to have a lot of cover at those positions in those temperatures. Obviously we’ve seen Cameron play out there as well as the guys that Eric had already mentioned.
There is definitely some type of tension between Donovan and Klinsi or other players on the team (shocker). In reality though, a guy like Donovan either is a starter or shouldn’t be on the roster. Clearly from the looks of it, he isn’t fit enough to handle the extreme heat or in form enough to get chosen over the other guys taken over him. No need to take a guy that is out of his prime moping on the bench to bring on as a late sub if it will hurt team chemistry/morale. This isn’t the NBA, 1 guy isn’t going to win a team anything, as much as this country believes otherwise.
Personally like the inclusions of some of the younger players (Green, Brooks, Yelling, etc..). As much as I want to be optimistic, we’re not getting out of this group so some experience in a setting like this will be good to build on for 2018.
Still heart broken, long over due since he wasn’t even in the camp, for no Torres or Benny. Corona also not making it was a little upsetting for me. He’s one of my favorite talents in the USA player pool.
Looked at the roster a little more and would love to hear what everyone else continues to think but here’s a few more thoughts I had:
– Looking at the young players included, I think I can start to see why more and more. I’ll start with Brooks. As I said earlier, I expect to see the US playing fairly narrow in the midfield and using the outside backs to provide a lot of width (more on formation later…). As such, you’re going to need centerbacks who are not only mobile but comfortable being dragged out wide to defend. This is why I’m almost positive you’ll see Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler starting at CB for the US against Ghana as well as why Jurgen took John Brooks over Clarence Goodson. Brooks is still very inexperienced but he has made several starts in the Bundesliga this season, is more mobile than Goodson, is left-footed (don’t underestimate that sometimes), and is probably just as if not more comfortable with a ball at his feet that Goodson. I actually like Besler, Cameron, and Brooks in all these regards as centerbacks given what it looks like he’ll do with the outside backs. That said, I still don’t rate Omar Gonzalez that high. Very athletic and big, but poor on the ball and very prone to mental lapses. Cameron should get the nod.
– The more you look at the midfield, in particular Bradley, Jones, Beckerman, Zusi, Bedoya, etc… you see that there are really not any true wide players here. Zusi, Davis, and Bedoya are more central players who can go wide when necessary but none of them are burners out wide either. This leads me to two possible conclusions, I suspect that not only will we play relatively narrow in the midfield (stay compact in the middle especially and force teams to go wide against us and try and beat us with crosses), but I wouldn’t at all be shocked to see the US play a diamond midfield. Beckerman is superb as a holder in the system for RSL and Bedoya, Zusi, and Davis are almost ideal wide players in a diamond and Klinsmann has shown a fondness for the RSL system and players.
– Julian Green. This is a pick that only makes sense because there are no true wide players on the roster otherwise. At least as I see it, he’s on the roster because he can bring speed out wide and create problems 1v1. There is a reason Klinsmann gave so many looks to Brek Shea over the years and why Landon Donovan was so incredibly dangerous early in his career. I’m not sure if Green is the best choice for this role but I understand that he provides the team with a tactical option that might not be there otherwise.
– Finally, formation. I expect the US to line up in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. Your starting backline should likely be Fabian Johnson, Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron, and Timmy Chandler. In front of them, it’ll be either Jones or Beckerman, along with Bradley, Zusi, and Bedoya. Finally, up top, you’ll have Jozy Altidore playing as a target striker and Clint Dempsey playing as the supporting striker underneath him.
Lots of great stuff above, I’ll add what I can!
For me this is the same old boring, uninspiring team that gets put our for basically every game. There is a great deal of size and energy and a terrifying lack of real quality players, especially considering the ones Jurgen has left at home.
The like of Beasley, Davis, Omar, Wondo, and Yedlin really shouldn’t be near the National Team. Then there’s the insanely average players like Jones, Mix, Besler, Bedoya and Zusi. There’s the athletic, but usually useless Altidore and Chandler (add bealsey and yedlin to this). Also the unknown quality of John Brooks and Julian Green. Hard to comment fully on them yet.
So that leaves me with a very limited squad of quality or at least potentiality useful players. The omissions of Landon, Benny, Torres, Rowe, Okugo, Gil, Ream, and others suck because they have some real quality. If Landon was omitted for real personal reasons (which seem to be true), then good on Klinsmann.
I think JK has to start Beasley in the back. How can we rationalize a back 4 with exactly zero WC experience. Funny how important the first 15 minutes of the Ghana game are going to be. If we can somehow hold down the fort and get settled in I will feel a bit better that we have a remote opportunity to win that game. I have my doubts though- visions of Asamoah causing havoc down the left.
I like the diamond 4-4-2 particularly if Beckerman is the starter. He and Bradley looked very comfortable together in the first half of mexico game when I was sure I was not watching ‘my fathers USMNT.’
Do not want to lament the Donovan snub too much. All I know is if we are sitting on 3 points – it’s the 68th minute of a 0-1 Germany game and JK looks to the bench for ‘that guy’- sure would be nice to see Landon sitting there waiting for word to score it.
England has a mix of youth and experience, trouble is they are still mediocre, over hyped and kin over paid.
Sorry have no clue about US team
For me, I view what happens in the World Cup through the lens of “what significance it could have domestically”.
With that in mind:
I hope we get absolutely smashed in Brazil!
With that out of the way, I really don’t know how these games will go…
It feels like if we come out and try to play straight up, all our group opponents will abuse us on any change of possession. I know there’s this sentiment of our outside backs projecting forward, but that would get massively exploited.
Now, in the more likely scenario where we play a conservative, submissive role, and hope for set pieces … the games could be close and anything can happen. But as we all know, the team that commands the ball, pretty much commands the game, and the odds.
So … as always outside Concacaf, the United States is in the position of “pick your poison”.
I went to the open practice session the USA team had yesterday and thought I’d share a few things. Obviously this was open to the public, so who knows how much this replicates one of their actual training sessions.
Tab Ramos ran most of the session, and worked more with the defensive players. Klinsman and Hertzog with the attacking players. They had a light technical warmup, then kind of a short – short – long passing pattern around a square. Then the group split into offense/defense. I couldn’t see the defense group very well, but the offense worked on some small combination play involving one of the strikers checking towards the ball to create space for the second one to run into. After that was an 8v8 scrimmage with 2 outside players on each side (one for each team) and some light shooting at the end of practice. Klinsman was fairly active in shouting encouragement to players and occasionally would step in and talk with the strikers.
Dempsey and Bradley clearly stood out as the strongest of the group (not surprising). I tried to focus on watching Julian Green for a bit (given the hype and only seen him for a few minutes in the Mexico game), and he seemed to fit in fine with the group in terms of skill level, but certainly no standout. Beasley looked atrocious crossing the ball all session. Mostly poor delivery but on occasion he would play a good ball in, no one would be there. It was certainly a contrast to Zusi who seemed to always be looking for a target and being able to get it to them.
Two things surprised me about the practice. The first was the absence of any type of rondo/keep away exercises. Given how popular it seems those have become (or maybe only in 3four3 circles?) I thought for sure a portion of the practice would be used on that. The second was comparing the emphasis on the 3four3 curriculum on choreography and patterns to the attacking drill that seemed to have an ultimate goal (having one striker check back to create a passing lane), but without a clear way of reaching it. Everything was fairly random with no set sequence leading up to the desired outcome. Perhaps Gary or others who have observed pro teams might have more insight into if this is typical or not. But overall I found this seemed to contrast some of the concepts that have been highlighted with this coaching course.
I’ve been meaning to write about it on my own blog… but I guess I’ll summarize a little here.
Last month I went down to LA to watch the U18 national camp. I had never attended one before, and had no idea what to expect. What I saw wasn’t surprising though. And actually puts everything in US Soccer into a little bit better perspective.
There was NO coaching being done. None. The staff simply explained the rules for each training exercise and then threw in a few buzz words while the guys were running around aimlessly. I must add- the session I watched was the final session before the team played a friendly the following day. If that were my team- that session would have been loaded with tactical instructions. It wasn’t.
Looking back at this weeks friendly against AZE… I can only imagine that the Senior USMNT trains in a similar fashion. A heavy emphasis on and lengthy time slot for proper warm up with a lot of dilly dallying around for the first 25-30 minutes. From the videos in the past on US Soccer’s YouTube account, it looks like Jurgen likes to use scrimmaging and shooting exercises as a chance to bark things like “Come on, guys!” and “More pace!”
One thing is certain- the US players do not have a clear understanding of their roles or what is expected of them as individuals or as a team, other than they’re all supposed to work hard and play together. It was obvious there wasn’t single objective for Tuesday’s friendly. We didn’t get the ball wide and whip in crosses. We didn’t play long balls from back to front. We didn’t do anything with any type of consistency.
Like Gary said- the one thing this team can possibly do is pray for set pieces. But against teams like Germany and Portugal though… I’m not sure how effective of a strategy that is.
I think we crash and burn. I think Jurgen gets the boot. I think we have a new coach by September with a completely different looking squad than what is going to Brazil. Unfortunately- that doesn’t necessarily mean things will change for the better.
So John, what you are saying is our MNT trains like 99% of the youth teams in America…… 🙁 .
John,
If that’s what’s going on in the US camp as well, it would explain a lot. The players looked a little lost on the field last game. Personally, I’m extremely skeptical of the shift to a diamond midfield this close to the world cup. Personally, I like the formation and think it could fit the personnel of the US team fairly well in theory but it’s also a system that can be very tough to run and takes a lot of chemistry and understanding between players. This is a formation you start to train in your camps at least a year out from a major tournament, not three weeks out.
However, if we’re going to run it, I definitely see the idea behind it from Klinsmann’s point of view. The idea is not to free Michael Bradley up for attacking like I’ve seen a lot of people suggest on sites other than this one. Bradley is definitely a quality player and very much capable of being a very strong center midfielder on the international level with his possession ability, but first of all, he’s not a truly creative player. He’s simply a player who makes his reads extremely quickly and finds the right pass quicker than most players, but he’s not one that makes something out of nothing. That said, as I see it, the true purpose of the diamond with a designated holder and Bradley up higher is to allow him to provide high pressure up the field on the opposing team’s deep-lying midfielders. The closest comparison I can think of, and one where it was actually Michael Bradley used as an example, is this: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/01/22/roma-1-1-inter-bradley-guarin-sum-up-serie-as-obsession-drivers-rather-than-creators/
The US is going to play teams with midfielders playing deeper to start their possession. For Ghana this is Essien, for Germany it’ll be Kroos and Schweinsteiger, and for Portugal it’ll be Moutinho a lot of times dropping back to help in possession. By freeing up Bradley with a designated holding midfielder behind him (whether Jones is the best player for that is another argument considering I prefer Beckerman…), he can pressure these players and hopefully disrupt some of these teams’ ability to build up play centrally. Likewise, the use of Zusi and Bedoya on the flanks provides extra cover in the central part of the midfield. Then, the idea would probably be for the US to try and win the ball central through Bradley and then spring Dempsey or Altidore on the transition. Klinsmann can call it a more proactive style if he wants (again, Klinsmann’s words could be a topic all by themselves…) but it’s essentially a defensive formation as he’s using it.
Anyone agree or disagree with this guess?
My goal as an opposing coach would be to draw Michael Bradley out by starting possession deeper. Creating more of a back 3 with someone like Essien… pushing outside backs forward and giving Zusi/Bedoya something to worry about… then completely dominating the US holding midfielder with a 2v1 advantage. Basically, Bradley (or anyone in that attacking mid role in the 4-4-2 diamond) coming forward would be a dream come true.
What is more likely to happen though, and more sensible in my mind, is for the US to try to sit back and invite Ghana forward, and letting Michael Bradley be a ball winner between our half of the center circle and about 10 yards higher than our 18. From there… Bradley, Dempsey, Jozy on a counter could do some damage.
The problem is that the US (players, coaches, fans, admins, etc) do not have the discipline or patience (or understanding) to sit like Greece (circa 2004) or Chelsea under Mourinho.
My guess… nothing really changes from the last friendly and it looks like chaotic with no real direction or flow, offensively or defensively.
I just want to bring this over from another thread in which John posted:
“If you go look in the thread I started called “US to Brazil” you’ll see someone made a comment about training the 4-4-2 diamond a year in advance, not 3 weeks from the first game of World Cup. There is some truth to that… and here is what it is… If you’re going to completely OVERHAUL a system and change EVERYTHING… yeah, that takes time. But if you’re simply moving a few players around, but not reinventing the wheel… it’s doable. The problem the US is having is that there has NEVER been a clear style of play under Jurgen. It’s been a mixed bag and he basically sticks his hand in and pulls something out the day of and goes with it.”
I think you’re absolutely right and you put it very nicely considering now I feel as though my original comment on needing more time to switch to a diamond wasn’t quite thought out enough in light of this. As always, very nice input, John.
It will be interesting to see if this diamond MF scheme is more than a one-off. Last year I went to take the US B License and it should have been titled the “How to Play the US 4-2-3-1”, because EVERYTHING that was taught revolved around the tactics of this formation. It was explained that ALL US national teams of all ages and genders will be playing this “National Style”, and coaches in the course were encouraged to follow suit. Presumably, this shift in focus for the US Soccer courses went hand in hand with JK’s 4 year extension through the 2018 WC. If he changes horses midstream it shows a pretty deep lack of commitment to his own long term plan.
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