By: COLIN REESE
What’s a realistic USMNT XI that Jürgen Klinsmann could use based on his coaching history and World Cup preferences?
In the defense, it seems likely that Jürgen Klinsmann will be looking to start making the transition to using Brad Guzan in goal, and DeAndre Yedlin, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler/John Brooks, and Fabian Johnson is Klinsmann’s likely preferred Back Four.
Brooks proved that he was more than capable of playing as good or better than the older and less technical and less two-footed Besler, and Cameron is the best right center back (and center back) in the American player pool.
Forming the two-man defensive midfield, Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones or Maurice Edu are locks for Klinsmann. Jones appears to still have several years in the tank, and it was clear at the World Cup that Bradley doesn’t perform very well when playing as a central attacking midfielder.
Klinsmann will need to decide if Jones or Edu partners better with Bradley, and Edu is several years younger than Jones.
An Edu-Bradley partnership gives the American defensive midfield a clear designation of roles where Edu plays the stay-at-home defensive midfielder role and Bradley plays the box-to-box midfielder role.
To link the defensive midfielders to the attack, Klinsmann has demonstrated that Mix Diskerud and Joe Corona are certainly at the top of his list as central attacking midfielders with Corona also capable of thriving on either wing as a right or left attacker.
While Diskerud made the final World Cup roster and didn’t play, Corona made the preliminary 30-man roster only to be cut from the final 23-man roster, so it’s certainly likely that Diskerud could play the central attacking midfielder role with Corona playing as the right wing.
As wings, Graham Zusi and Brad Davis were poor and out of their element at the 2014 World Cup, but Alejandro Bedoya was notably better.
Nevertheless, Corona is the better winger; Corona is not only better than Bedoya in his passing and overall skill on the ball, but Corona is also better at getting into scoring positions and scoring.
Corona is a more composed and smoother player than Bedoya who plays somewhat out of control and with his head always down. Corona plays with his head up constantly looking to pass and move, set up goals, and get in scoring positions.
With all of that being said, it’s also very possible that Julian Green could be Klinsmann’s starting right wing with Diskerud and Corona competing for the central attacking midfielder spot, or Klinsmann could elect to play Dempsey at the Number 10 role with Corona at right wing and Green at left wing.
Like Corona but slightly different, Clint Dempsey has a more fluid role than Diskerud. Dempsey thrives out left or centrally, and Klinsmann’s best use of Dempsey is to play him at left wing where he can play wide, cut inside, and go where the game takes him.
It should be noted that Dempsey performed well as a right midfielder in the 2006 World Cup and at other times, and Dempsey’s showing against Italy in the 2006 World Cup as a right midfielder was very much his coming out party.
Dempsey’s tendency to go where he’s needed and his two-footedness makes him a player that can be used on either wing, centrally, or as a second striker.
A midfield consisting of Edu, Bradley, Corona, Diskerud, and Dempsey is certainly a solid, balanced, and talented group of U.S. internationals that shouldn’t be considered controversial starters as all of those players are experienced and have proven their skill and worth.
Spearheading the attack at striker, Jozy Altidore vs. Juan Agudelo should be the two players that Klinsmann is considering starting. Altidore is the incumbent starter, but Agudelo has always appeared to be more dangerous, more creative, more aggressive, and more capable of opening up the attack.
For all of Altidore’s power, skill, and athleticism, Agudelo is a tall, strong, and smooth striker that brings more skill on the ball and more audacity.
If the choice is between Altidore and Agudelo, then Agudelo is the more dynamic and dangerous player that is a more consistent attacking threat.
Whereas Altidore has great games and anonymous games, Agudelo is always a major protagonist that threatens the goal whenever he plays. On pure skill, Agudelo is clearly superior to Altidore.
A realistic USMNT XI for Klinsmann is Guzan, Yedlin, Cameron, Besler/Brooks, Johnson, Jones/Edu, Bradley, Corona, Diskerud, Dempsey, and Altidore/Agudelo, and looking at the positions that are 50/50, Brooks, Edu, and Agudelo are arguably the better options – but not necessarily Klinsmann’s preferences.
Jones is certainly a Klinsmann favorite – and with good reason- but the argument for Edu is that he and Bradley would form a unit with more defined roles.
Jones is a more talented player than Edu in terms of his overall skill, but Edu, in addition to being a younger player than Jones, stays back more on defense, which gives the defensive midfield partnership more defined roles. Edu’s technical ability is underrated and his experienced often is forgotten, but Jones is a more skilled and experienced player.
Klinsmann often used three defensive midfielders in the World Cup, but this is a way too defensive-minded midfield. Using Edu and Bradley behind Corona, Diskerud, and Dempsey is a strong midfield going forward, and that midfield improves the overall quality of the American midfield and national team.
Nevertheless, Klinsmann prefers to use Jones with Bradley and Dempsey as a withdrawn striker or second striker with Dempsey lining up where a central attacking midfielder would play.
Given Klinsmann’s high regard for Green, it’s likely that Klinsmann plans on making him a starter now as a left winger. Corona should be the starting right wing for the United States, especially given the poor play of Davis, Zusi, and Bedoya in the World Cup, but it’s difficult to predict the starting right wing. Corona is certainly the most qualified and the most deserving.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s Possible USMNT XI:
USA XI (4-2-3-1)
GUZAN
YEDLIN CAMERON BROOKS/BESLER JOHNSON
JONES/EDU BRADLEY
CORONA DEMPSEY GREEN
ALTIDORE
OR
USA XI (4-2-3-1)
GUZAN
YEDLIN CAMERON BROOKS/BESLER JOHNSON
BRADLEY JONES/EDU
CORONA DISKERUD DEMPSEY
ALTIDORE