By: COLIN REESE
The United States was able to hold Germany to only one goal in the final game of the Group Stage at the 2014 World Cup, but in the upcoming Round of 16 match up with Belgium, Jürgen Klinsmann will be looking to improve the possession and attacking prowess of the USA.
Based on previous games and the performances of various players, the USA will likely start Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Graham Zusi, and Clint Dempsey against Belgium.
The problem with this Starting XI is that it still doesn’t address the need for better passing in the midfield.
At this point, starting Mix Diskerud as the central attacking midfielder is the single most important change that has to be made if the USA wants to improve its passing and increase its possession, and Michael Bradley would need to be deployed as a defensive midfielder, which would leave no room for Beckerman in the USA XI.
Despite Beasley’s consistent performances, perhaps DeAndre Yedlin and Fabian Johnson as the right and left back is the strongest option to play to win against Belgium, rather than playing overly defensive soccer with Beckerman, Jones, and Bradley all starting together.
Beasley doesn’t deserve to be dropped, but starting Yedlin and Johnson as the outside backs is a bold move to bring more attacking firepower to the line-up. Beasley has defended well, but playing Johnson at left back allows room for Yedlin to start.
In the attack, Klinsmann’s first-choice striker Jozy Altidore is likely still out for the Belgium game because of his serious hamstring injury, despite being able to jog for the last four days, and back-up striker Aron Jóhannsson hasn’t been used since the USA’s first game against Ghana.
This suggests a likely formation with Dempsey playing out of position as a lone striker, and whether or not Dempsey starts as a False 9 instead of starting Jóhannsson at striker affects the rest of the line-up.
If Altidore is healthy, then he will start, but this seems unlikely given the recovery time needed for a hamstring injury.
With all of this in mind, the USA has several line-up adjustments that it can make, but there are risks both to making too many adjustments and to making too few adjustments.
For example, Besler has had a strong World Cup at left center back, but in the USA’s sole victory, John Brooks replaced Besler at halftime of the first game against Ghana and provided a full package of defending, athleticism, skill on the ball, and goal-scoring ability against a technical and athletic Ghana side that tied Germany in an electrifying 2-2 draw.
Also in the center of the defense, Gonzalez did well against Germany making several vital tackles and clearances, but Cameron started and played all 90 minutes of the first two group stage matches. Cameron is also clearly the more talented player, the better 1v1 defender, and the more gifted athlete.
Against Portugal, Cameron shanked a clearance of a cross that was itself shanked, resulting in a goal by Nani, and Cameron was criticized for making a costly mistake, albeit on ball that Gonzalez could have likely shanked as well.
It bears mentioning that Gonzalez totally whiffed a dangerous square pass played across the six yard box. Mistakes are a reality for all defenders, and defenders are frequently the target of media and fan criticism.
Michael Ballack working for ESPN as a studio analyst stated that he thought the 6’5’ Gonzalez might have been given the start against Germany because of Miroslav Klose’s ability to score with his head, but Klose didn’t actually end up starting.
The coach of the United States has shown a willingness to make changes to his starting line-ups, some of them good changes, and some of them bad changes, as was the case with the misguided selection of Brad Davis to start as a left midfielder against Germany.
For the United States to advance against Belgium, Klinsmann likely needs to tweak his line-up again.
The United States needs to balance effective defending with the personnel needed to produce a higher quality of passing with more potent attacking play, so a few changes are in order for Klinsmann’s side.
Using Bradley as the team’s playmaker is not working because Bradley is a defensive midfielder that lacks the requisite vision, touch, creativity, and quick feet needed to play the central attacking midfielder role.
Diskerud was selected to the national team to play as a creative midfielder that plays as a central attacking midfielder, and it’s quite evident that his skill-set is sorely needed for Dempsey to see more service and for the USA to pose a greater attacking threat. With both Landon Donovan and Joe Corona cut from the 30-man preliminary roster, it’s somewhat surprising that Diskerud hasn’t seen any playing time.
Looking ahead to the Belgium game, at the very least, Cameron needs to replace Gonzalez, and Diskerud needs to replace Davis. This would change the USA XI to something of a 4-3-2-1 formation made up of: Howard; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley; Bradley, Beckerman, Jones; Bedoya, Diskerud; Dempsey.
This group of players gives the USA a playmaker to link Bradley, Beckerman, and Jones to Dempsey, so this is an improvement and a simple change to make to the line-up used in the majority of the United States’ three group stage games.
This minor adjustment seeks to correct the two major problems the USA has been having: lack of quality possession and little attacking strength.
The following USA XI offers the team continuity with some needed changes:
Howard; Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley; Bradley, Beckerman, Jones; Bedoya, Diskerud; Dempsey.
CAVEAT: If Jozy Altidore is fit to play then Bedoya should be benched and Dempsey should move back to play as an attacking midfielder alongside Diskerud with Altidore as the lone striker.
This USA XI is a bolder option with some fairly radical changes:
Howard; Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, Beasley; Bradley, Jones; Johnson, Diskerud, Dempsey; Jóhannsson.
CAVEAT: If Jozy Altidore is fit to play, then he should replace Jóhannsson in the line-up proposed above.
Final Note:
For all of the understandable excitement about the USA advancing out of the Group Stage for the second World Cup in a row, it should be pointed out that several players off the 30-man preliminary roster are sorely needed.
Maurice Edu would offer the United States another defensive midfielder and center back with lots of experience, and Kyle Beckerman has looked like a constant card risk. For all of the praise Beckerman deserves for solid showings, Edu is a much more athletic and disciplined player with years of European experience plus previous World Cup experience. A defensive midfielder that doesn’t need to purposely foul players that can outpace him would be helpful to continue to allow Jones and Bradley to play as box-to-box midfielders.
Landon Donovan and Joe Corona are certainly two attacking midfielders that the United States could use given the limited efficacy of Brad Davis, Alejandro Bedoya, and Graham Zusi – not to mention the fact that Julian Green hasn’t played at all.
Finally, Terrence Boyd is a first striker that the USA could have sorely used after Altidore injured his hamstring in the first half of the USA’s first game.