By: COLIN REESE
There’s no way to escape the obvious point that Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey would have been the strongest starting wing options for the United States in the 2014 World Cup.
Lots of people want American soccer fans to get over the Donovan omission, but the United States isn’t a soccer nation that can afford to omit technically-skilled and experienced attacking players that are only 32 years old and still fit. The laments about the Donovan omission aren’t going anywhere, and they shouldn’t.
Despite the exciting showings of DeAndre Yedlin and John Brooks in the defense, Klinsmann isn’t getting a pass on excluding Donovan, especially when he also showed a talented and experienced 23-year-old attacking midfielder like Joe Corona the door as well.
Since it also relates to the Front Six, it’s worth bringing up again that Klinsmann also cut Maurice Edu for Kyle Beckerman who is an athletic liability. Klinsmann has a lot to answer for in regards to his midfield and forward selections.
In other countries, Klinsmann would have been engulfed in criticism for these types of choices.
Without Donovan, Jürgen Klinsmann wants Americans to believe that Brad Davis or Graham Zusi or Alejandro Bedoya – who are both much better than Davis – are better attacking options for the United States against Ghana, Portugal, and Germany.
Since the 23-year-old Corona isn’t even on the roster either, the obvious question is what is the best way to field a Front Six that can keep possession, win back possession, create scoring chances, and score goals.
Looking at the USA roster, both Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley have to be deployed as the starting defensive midfielders. Even though Bradley and Jones for that matter are two-way players, they do fall into the category of defensive or box-to-box midfielders, and Kyle Beckerman lacks the quickness of foot and overall speed to realistically compete against Ghana, Portugal, and Germany.
The United States needs Jones and Bradley anchoring the midfield, but the United States also needs Mix Diskerud starting in order to provide the link-up play, technical skill, and creativity that is needed to keep possession and be dangerous in the attacking third.
Dempsey’s position on paper isn’t too important, and given the ability of Diskerud to provide a skill-set that the United States sorely needs, Dempsey should be deployed on the left wing where he has seen lots of success not only in the English Premier League and the Europa League, but also for the USA on the international level. Dempsey’s game is based on constant free-flowing movement, and starting him as a left wing doesn’t hinder his ability to get lots of touches in scoring positions.
With Jones and Bradley playing deeper and Diskerud at the central attacking midfielder spot with Dempsey out left, then the questions about the right wing and striker still remain.
One solution to this problem would be to use a 4-2-1-3 formation where Diskerud could line up as the Number 10 with Dempsey out left and Aron Jóhannsson out right. In this way, both players could float behind and play off Jozy Altidore who would line up as the striker.
Most soccer formations are fairly fluid in the attack, and having Diskerud orchestrating an attack where Dempsey, Altidore, and Jóhannsson have lots of freedom of movement in the attacking third is perhaps the best way for Klinsmann to maximize the skill of his roster.
Given Dempsey’s tendency to drop back and cover a lot of territory, it would be a mistake to think of Dempsey and Jóhannsson as players forced to stay out wide where they would be less dangerous.
The United States is using outside backs that like to get forward into the attack, and the attacking width of the United States will primarily come from the outside backs.
Keeping Diskerud and Jóhannsson on the bench to play substitute roles is a poor use of the USA’s talent, and it’s important to get theses important attacking players into the starting line-up, especially given the defensive coverage provided by Bradley and Jones.
The advantage of using Bradley and Jones is that both players can cover for each other and participate in the attack when they see fit, and having these two players affords the United States the ability to start a playmaker like Diskerud who can bring the creativity and skill on the ball than players like Dempsey and Altidore need to be more effective.
Adding Jóhannsson into the mix only improves the overall technical ability and firepower of the team, and this is more important than placing a premium on starting a left midfielder like Brad Davis whose main contribution is crosses, as almost any free kick would be taken by Dempsey, Bradley, Diskerud, or Altidore.
An overreliance on crossing is too much of a one-dimensional manner to attack Ghana, Portugal, and Germany who will all easily head these crosses out and invite the United States to send in more of them.
The best blend of defending and attacking for the United States’ midfield and attack is to start a Front Six made up of Jones, Bradley, Diskerud, Dempsey, Altidore, and Jóhannsson because this provides quality defending and passing deep in the midfield along with creativity and technical skill in the attack.
Jürgen Klinsmann has players that can be effective in the World Cup, but they need to be started to compete with the likes of Ghana, Portugal, and Germany.
This need to maximize the skill of the Front Six makes both Davis and Beckerman (and to a lesser extent Bedoya and Zusi) players that should be on the bench.
