US National Team: Questions for 2011

January 12th, 2011 | by: Tyler | Comments Off

Enter 2011, exit 2010 and another decent, but somewhat forgettable U.S. World Cup campaign.  So far, I am left with many questions and few answers as the U.S. National team looks forward to the Gold Cup beginning in June.  Just which USA team is going to show up for the Gold Cup in June?  Will it be the team that beat Spain in 2009 at the Confederations Cup (yes, I know that the U.S. team was lucky that they scored both times they touched the ball)?  Or, will it be the infuriating train wreck that surrendered 4 goals in the opening minutes in their four matches at the 2010 World Cup?  What have we learned from our most recent adventures?

We’ll have a preview of what to expect in the 2011 Gold Cup when the U.S. team plays a friendly against Chile on Jan. 22^nd at the Home Depot Center.  Of course, Bob Bradley may use the Chile game as another chance to evaluate young domestic based talent, giving the Europe based players reprieve from a 9 time zone forced march.  In such a scenario, we could peek into the not so near future.  It can be fun to watch the new talent take their baby steps in these games, but more often than not, these experimental youth laden lineups feature more choppy and chaotic play than the full men’s team normally exhibits.

Maybe the Bradster will call up some of the U.S. mainstays like Dempsey, Altidore, Bocanegra and company for the Chile match, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see these players left out.  Some teams have no problem calling up their best players whenever the public relations spirits are restless.  Argentina called its full national team home for a friendly against Spain in the opening days of the European preseason this past fall, and a compliant Del Bosque had no problem dragging his exhausted Spanish national team all the way to Mexico City and weeks later to Buenos Aires for friendlies.   While I would welcome any chance, as soon as possible, to see whether or not the full U.S. team has been able to overcome the tactical and personnel issues that haunted them in the 2010 World Cup, coach Bradley probably has other ideas that involve tinkering with whatever talent is stateside, at least for the Chile Match.  When the team travels to Egypt in February, it may be more feasible to use the Europe based players.

Probably, the on again off again friendly between the U.S. and Argentina in March would be the first real chance to see if Bob Bradley’s and Sergio Batista’s new projects have improved on the teams’ respective weaknesses from WC 2010.  Both teams will likely call on their big guns for that game.  So, assuming that happens, I’d like to see if Bradley has found the right players and tactics to overcome some deficiencies such as team defense, inconsistency in moving the ball through midfield with a purpose and lack of converted scoring opportunities in the attack.

Except for a few minutes of the world cup, the U.S. defense had been playing fairly well.  I think that the individual defenders are ok.  I would like to see Eric Lichaj getting some more caps.  He has been a solid addition to the team so far.  The defensive midfield and its cohesion with the defenders is a big question mark for me.  I expect to see more coordinated effort between Edu, Bradley and maybe Rico Clark.  These three are excellent individual athletes.  It’s the consistency of the team aspect of their play that needs improvement. In the USA v Ghana WC 2010 match, Boateng was allowed to take an innocuous loose ball and run unchallenged through a massive gap for 30 yards, where he thumped a shot past a stunned Tim Howard.  At least a third of the team was out of position on that play.  These breakdowns must be eliminated or the  USMNT will not be able to keep pace with the world’s best without divine intervention.  I am sure that Leo Messi and company will help coach Bradley assess his team’s defensive progress, or lack thereof, should they play against the States in March.

In the midfield, Bradley really needs to find a way to consistently, smoothly transition the ball from defense to attack without the relying on a nauseating and futile series of punts or the usual hour long sprint culminating in exhaustion for the last 30 minutes of the game.  This pattern has played out too many times when the U.S. has played against quality opposition over the years.  The team needs to create more quality possession to better control the tempo and take some of the pressure off of the defensive players.   I’d like to see Benny Feilhaber and José Torres getting more minutes in midfield because they can provide precisely those qualities.  They are both calm on the ball, with solid individual skills and are capable of linking up with players all over the pitch.

Up front, I believe that the striker role is Altidore’s to win or lose.  Is Altidore the team’s best striker?  To be fair, the quality of the midfield passing to Altidore has left a lot to be desired.  However, when the the passes have found him, he’s looked a bit awkward on the ball in recent months, a trait that I would not have expected him to pick up while at Villareal.  I’d like to see more quality passes at Altidore’s feet in the central part of the field, not the wings, where he doesn’t even see the goal.  In the middle of the field he can be very useful with his back to the goal as well as being an aerial threat on the crosses.  If he can get better passes in a better part of the field, I’d hope he could settle into the striker role so that finally the U.S. team could fill the void that was left behind when Brian McBride retired from international duty.  By the time the Gold Cup arrives I hope that Bradley will have been able to address these concerns, but only time will tell.  After the group has a couple more friendlies under their collective belt, I am sure to have more topics for discussion, but these were my questions for now.