I sat down with some soup and cheap table wine and later some cheese and crackers to watch the USA-Jamaica rematch. And it was much more fun than last time, I can assure you.
Obviously, there was Clint Dempsey making that face (see video):
But there was also some nice tactical decisions by Klinsmann to get the some good, intelligent play out of his team, as well as address the tactical issues of the last game.
Dempsey was kept in a central role behind the striker (though he tended to drop deeper than last game).
Zusi and Torres were kept on the wings, but rather than playing as traditional wingers, running up and down the sidelines, burning the field with pace, the took on a slower roles, more focused on tempo than speed. They played operated as outlets on the wing, slowing the play down and picking out passes. They maybe played a little narrowly, but definitely as outside midfielders.
Actually, that’s very similar to the 4-2-2-2 formation that Klinsmann’s predecessor, Bob Bradley played. But Bradley played Donovan and Dempsey as the middle ‘2.’ They played as somewhat narrow wide midfielders, but each is more of a driving player, using acceleration, quick first touches, and the ability to ghost in the area to attack. Zusi and Torres played much slowly, focusing on possession and also being more willing to play longer passes (though not long balls, per se).
In the midfield, only Danny Williams was tasked to stay deep and defend, while Jermaine Jones stayed around the center circle.
For the first time in a long time, Torres looked good for the USMNT. He was a steady, patient outlet for teammates who were under pressure and played some decent balls into dangerous areas. He wasn’t as good as Zusi, but Zusi benefitted by playing with Steve Cherundulo behind him at fullback, whose smart runs gave Zusi a lot more cover cut inside slightly while Cherundulo overlapped. Fabian Johnson on the left didn’t make nearly as man good runs from fullback, so Torres had to be more careful about coming inside.
I didn’t get anything I wanted last time. Let’s hope tonight is better, else we’re looking at potentially missing out on the 2014 World Cup and there is no excuse for either the US or Mexico to miss out because of the relative weakness of our group. Seriously. Every four years, CONCACAF needs to send us, Mexico, and then one or two other random teams (probably some combination of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Canada).
A lot of folks pointed out that the UMNT lacked width against a team that doubled up on width by playing a hyper-aggressive 3-4-3 (with two wide midfielders/wingbacks and two wide forwards).
But I’m going to give Klinsmann some leeway here, because we simply lacked the players. Only Brek Shea, Clint Dempsey, and Fabian Johnson were healthy and also (reasonably) natural wide players (albeit, with different interpretations of the role). But Dempsey almost certainly lacked the match fitness to run up and down the sidelines for the game (who, in one obvious failure by Klinsmann, should never have been asked to play the full match) and Johnson was needed to help with our lack of decent left fullbacks.
So Klinsmann made a justifiable choice in trying to play through the middle. If done well, the Jamaican strength on the wings could have been nullified by putting pressure on their back line and forcing the midfielders to drop back and cause the team to lose it’s attacking shape.
We played in 4-3-1-2 formation (sometimes also called a 4-4-2 diamond, in reference to the diamond shape of the midfield), but we lacked the players (or the players lacked the instruction or the will) to play in the necessary style to make the formation work.
Dempsey could work as a trequartista, but it doesn’t seem like a completely natural role and he wasn’t match fit – which means that the key to the entire offensive output was put in the hands of someone who was almost certain to run out of gas and whose touch was likely to be a little bit off.
But he shouldn’t have been the key to the offense. There were three players behind him who should have been doing something useful, but weren’t.
Kyle Beckerman has long been one of my favorite MLS players. With his smart play, leadership, and those awesome dreadlocks, what’s not to love? But he is not of sufficient quality to play for the national team. And, at his age (29 or 30, I think), he never will. On paper, he seems like a great, deep lying midfielder; primarily there to break up attacks and make those tackles and interceptions, but also with an admirable passing range. The problem is that he has not shown that he can handle the speed at which these games are played. He gave away possession and conceded too many free kicks, plain and simple.
Jermaine Jones, on paper, sounded like a great addition, too. An experienced, hard nosed midfielder with experience playing as a regular in one of the Europe’s top leagues. But all he’s done for his national team is give away stupid fouls, spend entire games looking like a red card waiting to happen, give the ball away, and generally show decision making skills so insidiously bad that you assume there is some complex, Illuminati-esque plot at work behind it all, because, seriously, no one with his pedigree could play so consistently bad for his country and continue to be picked to play, right? I mean, that would be just crazy, wouldn’t it?
Maurice Edu is a player with huge upside and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because, while I can’t remember much he did, he couldn’t have had much time for anything else besides trying to staunch the hemorrhaging wound that was the other two thirds of the central midfield.
So, what do I want to see?
I want to see Dempsey not being forced to shoulder the entire burden for the offense and coming on as a substitute in the second half, rather than starting.
I want to see Maurice Edu played as the deepest midfielder, with Danny Williams and Jose Torres playing just in front – Williams being tasked with shuttling up and down the field, staying in motion and helping the defense and Torres spreading the ball around from a midfield position and also taking positions to allow him to be outlet to receive a pass and keep possession with other players are under pressure. I also want to see what Joe Corona can do by putting him on in the second half (probably for Torres, if we’re leading; instead of Williams or Edu if we’re not).
I want to see our three attackers bring some width and give our main strike, Jozy Altidore, some service by some combination of playing Hercules Gomez (and asking him to play wide, but knowing he’ll cut in and use his movement to create space for Altidore) and/or Graham Zusi (who will drift centrally and act more like a playmaker, but without the burden of being asked to play as a trequartista) and/or Brek Shea (to be a more traditional wide player, using speed, acceleration, and crossing ability to torment defenses).
Speaking of Graham Zusi, he’s been amazing for Kansas City in MLS and Klinsmann needs to give him a solid run out and see what he can do. He did a decent job for us in a friendly; some nerves, but that’s to be expected.
Of course, I’d rather not be having to do any of this in what is very nearly a must-win match, but the team is low on options. We could do a 4-4-2 with Shea on the left and a either a half fit and probably tired Dempsey on the right, but the options for substitutions are limited and would probably require changing formations half way through the game. Not ideal.
Oh, and finally, I want to see a g-d damn win!
Tomorrow night is an important World Cup qualifier against Jamaica, to be played in Kingston, Jamaica. It’s an important game because a win or at least a draw puts us in good shape to not exactly cruise through the rest of this part of qualifying, but at least to have the freedom to try out young players and new strategies in hard fought games and not just meaningless friendlies.
So, I hope for a win.
I also hope to find a good place to watch the damn game in DC because it’s not going to be readily available on television. Any recommendations for which bar to go to? And not the Lucky Bar. That place is too crowded for me.
Mostly, I hope to see Jose Torres justify the coach’s faith in him.
The US Men’s National Team (USMNT) is fast and physical, but sometimes, it’s nice to actually keep possession of the ball for stretches of time. Michael Bradley can do that, sort of, but he’s more of a driving force than someone who can tweak the tempo of a game.
Torres is supposed to be that guy. The problem is, his role isn’t immediately obvious. He’s not a defensive midfielder – he’s not particularly strong in the tackle and doesn’t have that sixth sense for putting himself into opposition passing lanes. He also isn’t a trequartista, that final, killer pass or ghosting into the box to score the odd goal or providing a shooting threat from medium distance.
But even Klinsmann, who is more forward thinking that either of his two USMNT coaching predecessors, keeps trying to shoehorn him into the wrong role.
He’s been played on the wing, where he lacks the speed to be effective or the eye for the cross. Most recently, he was played at the top of a 4-4-2 diamond (or as the ‘1’ in a 4-3-1-2, whichever nomenclature you prefer), which isn’t his spot either because he likes to drop deeper, which leaves the forwards isolated.
The closest thing to Torres is Luka Modric (or at least the Luka Modric of the last several seasons at Spurs) and Xavi (the Xavi of Barcelona; the role he plays on the Spanish national team is a little higher up the field, closer to the forward) – which is not to say he’s remotely close to their quality. They don’t score many goals (not usually anyway; Xavi actually racked up some good scoring numbers last year) and they don’t even get many direct assists. What they do it keep possession and keep things carefully ticking.
Modric’s play especially is illuminating, playing next to a more purely defensive central midfielder, giving him freedom to sit near the center circle and play smart balls out to the wingers. Torres can do that.
On another note, I’d also like to see Freddy Adu given more chances. He is actually better for the roles that Klinsmann keeps shoehorning Torres into. He can keep possession (though he doesn’t set the tempo so well) in either a trequartista or winger role – playing the winger as more of a playmaking winger (think Sebastian Larsson or David Beckham a dozen years ago) who doesn’t burn you with speed, but with calmness and vision and a sense of when to play the ball into the strikers and when to keep it for an extra two seconds.
So. I like the statement of intent, wrapping up deals for the powerful, physical striker Olivier Giroud; for the talented and tricky striker cum winger Lukas Podolski; and, it seems, for the crafty, tactical winger/attacking midfielder Santi Cazorla.
Those are all signs of intent from Arsenal to become a real force in the Premier League and a real threat to win cups and titles. But…
Anyone else notice that their biggest problem last season was at fullback?
And while Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been busy stocking his team with more tricky attackers, Newcastle locked down a deal for French right back Mathieu Debuchy, Barcelona signed left back Jordi Alba, and Manchester United has the inside line on Everton’s Leighton Baines, who can patrol the entire left flank like a young Roberto Carlos.
Arsenal had better do something or they really will miss that Champion’s League spot this coming season.
I confess, I haven’t been to many DC United games this year, but on Saturday night, I took the neighbor’s daughter (a goalie with her youth team) to meet with some friends from work and watch the game.
For much of the game, at least the first half, the scoreline flattered to deceive.
Montreal was significantly better in the midfield and had significantly more possession. For the entire first half and part of the second half, the only DC players who say much of the ball were our two centerbacks. They played high and with the Montreal midfield pressing, the ball kept coming back to them. Dwayne DeRosario made some creative moves – flicks and back heels – but no one picked up on them, so the ball was just lost. He should have seen earlier that the forwards weren’t on his wavelength and gone for simpler moves focused on keeping the ball.
The first goal was against the run of play and was not generated by DC getting its act together, but rather by a brilliant jinking run by Chris Pontius (see the video above). Pontius played at forward in college and was converted to an outside midfielder in his first few seasons with DC but now he’s back up top and playing fantastic.
In the second half, we still weren’t keeping possession very well, but with both of Montreal’s star strikers, former Italian internationals Bernardo Corradi and Marco Di Vaio (I was disappointed that Di Vaio didn’t get any minutes) out, they lacked the power and skill to take advantage of the midfield dominance.
DC got two late goals. The first was by reliable fullback Robbie Russell, but the real story was the brilliant free kick from Branco Boskovic to get the assist. The ball was at just the right height and fast, perfect for Russell to slightly redirect into goal. The comparison to Montreal’s corner kicks was illuminating: whereas this one stayed too low for the goalie to risk coming out for it, Montreal’s service into the box was consistently too high, just lumping high arced balls in and hoping DC goalie Bill Hamid couldn’t handle it.
The other story from that was this: that’s all that Boskovic did. He was invisible and you have to think that this contributed to Montreal’s ability to dominate the midfield. If they’d had a predatory striker on the field, this game could have been a lot different.
The final goal game off of late sub, Hamdi Salihi. He might not be worth the money he’s paid, but he can knock in the goals. After some ugly movement around the Impact 18 yard box, he started a nice move and then slipped in front of goal to receive the final pass of the move he started and bury it.
Oh, a special shout out to Nick DeLeon: my neighbor’s little girl thinks you are an awesome player (I and I agree after watching you help create Salihi’s goal).
Sam Allardyce, who currently manages newly promoted English team, West Ham United, comes in for a lot of stick.
He coaches his teams to play ugly soccer. To play ‘route one’ or long ball soccer, where the ball is simply launched towards a big guy near the opposition goal in hopes of causing some havoc and getting a lucky break.
No creativity, just boring, blunt force. Nothing attractive to watch or cheer for.
In short, it’s the emblem of the worst stereotypes of the English game.
But I don’t think it’s fair.
When ‘Big Sam’ managed Bolton in the first half of the noughties, for a time, he had his team playing the most exciting, attacking soccer around. Because he had two skillful attackers in Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff.
Okocha was the heartbeat of one of the Nigerian national team, a talented ‘no. 10’ who directed the attack for club and country.
Djorkaeff played on the 1998 World Cup winning French squad alongside Zidane. He played behind a lone striker for both France and Bolton, drifting from side to side like a (not very speedy) ‘floating winger’ or ‘central winger.’
Allardyce gave both of these players a free reign in midfield and attack. Yes, he had ‘boring’ bulldozer of striker upfront to feed off the delicious efforts of Okocha and Djorkaeff and a pretty boring midfield behind them, but the efforts of his two ‘fantasistas’ made Bolton’s games amazing viewing.
What I believe Allardyce does is get the best out of the players available to him. After that Bolton team, he never really had those kinds of players on his squad. If the West Ham ownership were to give him sufficient funds to not only shore the most pressing needs, but also buy a creative, luxury player (Aston Villa might be ready to ditch Charles N’Zogbia), I think you would see him put out a much more interesting side. What he doesn’t do is ask players to play beyond their abilities.
Their central midfield will be picked from: Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard, and Scott Parker.
All players worthy of being on that plane (except maybe Barry).
All over 30.
There is Phil Jones, who is listed as a defender, but can also play as a defensive midfielder, but ultimately lacks the right kind of positional sense for that role and would probably be overrun by the opposition. And James Milner, who can play as an attack minded central midfielder, but is more likely to play as a defensive minded winger.
So, not a single likely starter under thirty.
Like it or not, you’re not going to win a major international tournament without more youth, because those legs will get tired if they make it out of their group.
I don’t care how long the rumors go on. I don’t think he’ll go to Manchester United and if he does, I think it will go badly.
Why? Because Sneijder can’t play in 4-4-2.
If you play him in the middle, you put too much pressure on his partner to perform all the defensive duties (because he’s not at all suited to doing much defense work himself). Or else you require the outside midfielders to come inside frequently to provide defensive support in the middle. The first option leaves the midfield in danger of being overrun, plus leaves a big gap between the central midfielders and no good way to connect them and just generally leaves the team unbalanced and with easy to exploit holes. The second option completely wastes the primary talents of the team’s best outside midfielders, who bring pace, width, and direct running and also requires a complete reworking on the team’s focus on speed on the outside.
If you play Sneijder on the outside, you lose speed on the wings and also put a lot of pressure on the full back, who will be tasked with covering that flank while Sneijder invariably goes on walkabout in the center of the park, instead of covering the outside.
Basically, you have to play him centrally behind a lone striker.
Wayne Rooney can absolutely play that role, but is Danny Welbeck, rising star of the Manchester attack ready to be relegated to the bench? He’s a rising player for England with a good chance of representing his country at the European Championships and he’s worked his way into a starting role for his team. But there’s no room for him if Sneijder is playing, except as a sub or on the flanks. So how long before he starts looking to leave? So in return for getting a 28 going on 29 year old midfielder with 2-3 more years at the top of his game, you will probably lose a rising striker who can be a key player for the next decade.
Sneijder belongs in Italy, where the classic playmaker is still used.
the coffee philosopher 