Today, the United States Mens National Team (USMNT) had their 2nd international friendly against Turkey as they prepare for the World Cup in 2 weeks. However unlike last week’s game against the Czech Republic where coach Bob Bradley rested all of his star players and let the fringe players of the team play, he started his strongest players today to see how’d they perform.
On defense, Bradley started Jonathan Spector on the right, Carlos Bocanegra on the left, and Jay Demerit and Clarence Goodson in the center. In the midfield, he had Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, and Ricardo Clark, with Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore as the two forwards.
The first half was absolutely atrocious. You could say that the defensive back was porous, but the entire defensive formation of the entire team was lacking. While the defensive back was shaky, I think more blame had to fall on the midfield, specifically Fielhaber and Clark. These two players just couldnt control the midfield and allowed the Turks to string passes along and get scoring chances. Our offense had chances, but still nothing substantial was able to come out of the midfield.
At the halfway mark, Bradley made numerous changes to the defense, bringing on Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo and Jonathan Bornstein, as well as replacing Clark and Feilhaber for Jose Torres and Robbie Findley in the midfield. Boy what a difference these players made. Torres was able to control the midfield so much better than Clark and Feilhaber were able to. I criticized Bradley’s inclusion of Findley on the team, but he surprised and me and showed a speed and pace that I think could benefit the team tremendously. However, like England’s Theo Walcott, Findley needs to improve on his decision making. Too many times he made a beautiful run and too many times he kept on the ball for way too long. On more than once occasion, Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore were yelling for the ball which never came. Once Findley understands the game better, he can be a much more dangerous player.
With all these changes, the US was able to turn a one goal deficit into a 2-1 victory, highlighted by this tying goal by Jozy Altidore with assistance from Donovan and Findley.
The US has never seen this much skill and talent on the national team ever before, and it’s such a joy to watch these players compete.
However, I feel one of the biggest concerns regarding this team is their transition defense. During the game, there were numerous occurrences where the US was in a set piece situation (corner kick or free kick) and all the tall defenseman came forward to try to win a header. However, all the time, the Turks were able to clear the ball and quickly pass the ball and run the other way. The only problem was that the defenders werent back in time to stop these rushes.
The following video shows how the US was able to capitalize on this same exact problem. A team like the Turks might not be able to take advantage of these breaks, but a team like Spain or the Netherlands would be.
Quick thoughts from other national team camps..
1) France looks really, really good. First off, I dont really think France deserves to be in the World Cup after struggling through the qualification stage and Thierry Henry’s handball fiasco against Ireland. I didnt have that high expectations for France. However, after watching them win a 2-1 game against a decently strong Costa Rica team, I am convinced that they will be a dangerous team once again in South Africa. Les Bleus’ success at the World Cup will obviously hinge on the play of Franck Ribery, the successor to Zinedine Zidane, who’s playing phenomenally right now. The only thing that I noticed that could be a problem is the lack of finishers on the team. Thierry Henry is way past his prime, and until the French can find a striker, goal scoring may be a problem.
2) Ghana was once considered to be a dark house candidate to make it far in the elimination rounds, since this was a team that just finished 2nd to Egypt in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament. However, star midfielder/defender Michael Essien was just ruled out of the tournament after being unable to recover from an injury suffered while at the ACN. On top of that, Stephen Appiah is still trying to regain form after suffering through multiple injuries. With Essien out, Ghana still has a slight chance of success with Appiah on the field. If Appiah cant regain fitness, Ghana will suffer tremendously in South Africa.
3) The Netherlands will definitely be a team to watch. Once again, the x-factor for their success is whether or not Robin van Persie is playing at his top form. Like a numerous players, he had an ankle injury back in November that sidelined him for 5 months, and only started playing competitively two months ago. As you can see from his two goals against Mexico last week, Van Persie is back and ready to go. Watch out for the Dutch next month.
4) Germany – The once strong Germans will be a big question mark this year. Michael Ballack, their captain and one of the best players in their history, is out with an ankle injury, suffered during the FA Cup finals against Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince Boateng, who also happens to play for Ghana…which also happens to be in Germany’s group at the World Cup. Coincidence maybe? Anyways, without Ballack patrolling the midfield, Germany will be very very weak. It doesnt help too that Germany’s most capped and best strikers, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski are suffering a horrible form, having only scored a combined 9 goals in 48 games this past season. It’ll be interesting to see what coach Joachim Low does in South Africa…start these two senior, veteran players or play “rookies” and less experienced (on the international stage) players such as Cacau, Thomas Muller, or Stefan Kiebling who have less than 20 appearances total on the national team, but have scored a combined 56 goals in 107 appearances this past season and are all in top form.
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