Grab Your Partner, Dosey Doe

With the two warm-up games in the books, one thing sticks out more painfully than the rest. The statistic that reads “Goals - USA: 0″.

While some of the weight of that tarydactal sized goose egg can be placed on the lack of quality in the midfield, the forwards are, in fact, the players contracted to score the goals.

The partnership between Jozy Altidore and Brian McBride, as you have read earlier in this space, has not quite lived up to the billing. And that would be an understatement if these weren’t fixtures of the “warm-up” variety. Although if it is called the ING Cup, you would have to imagine someone is getting a nice silver spray-painted bread plate or something right? Whoever it is, it certainly isn’t the USA. Not with that zero goals tally.

Ok, now we are going to take a trip in the way back machine, all the way back to….Summer ‘07. Yes, I know, it seems like forever. But those were truly the days for USA youth soccer. The site was the U-20 World Cup in Canada, and the domination was done by the boys in the red white and blue for quite a while before they were ousted. Two boys in particular. Jozy Altidore up top, with Freddy Adu snuck right in behind him. Are you reading this Nowack?

For a visual aid, watch this…

If you managed to work your way through the sprinkling of Brazil highlights in there, you would have seen Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu up top working some ESP(N) type magic. And it was there throughout the whole tournament. Now, correct me if I am mistaken, but aren’t those two young lads on this very Olympic roster we speak of? Yes, yes, I believe they are.

You get the point.

Now, let’s get one thing straight. I’m not trying to say you get McBride all un-retired and pumped up to ride the bench in the Olympics. Nowack just has to pick his spots and choose his match-ups wisely. For instance, the McBride and Jozy pairing was too much like a metal concert mosh pit against the physical African foes the USA just faced. It was power on power, without much room for improvisation. Against a weaker back line such as the Japanese or an opponent to be faced (hopefully) in the knockout rounds, I could see a pairing of McHead and Jozy working out very well, especially on set-plays. Freddy and Jozy up front, on the other hand, would be most useful against teams that need a little more in the imagination department to score on.

No matter how they do it, one simple thing is for certain. They need to score.