Colin Reese

Who Should the United States Select for the March World Cup Qualifying Roster?

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Who Should the United States Select for the March World Cup Qualifying Roster?

Bruce Arena’s has a big decision to make when he selects the U.S. Men’s National Team for the March World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama: how many of the new and impressive players will he give roster spots to?

There’s a possibility that all of the deserving new or newer players won’t all get a roster spot, if Arena feels more comfortable going with familiar regulars. Looking at the U.S.’ midfield, Arena needs Benny Feilhaber, Sebastian Lletget, Dax McCarty, Darlington Nagbe, and Kellyn Acosta all on the roster, but the American coach might insist on including the mediocre Alejandro Bedoya, who is something of a burning who offers little passing or quick combination play. There are also defenders like Walker Zimmerman, Steve Birnbaum, Eric Lichaj, and Jorge Villafaña who all offer qualities and skill-sets that the team needs, but several ineffective regular veterans could prevent them from receiving a roster spot.

Whatever starting lineup Arena plans on using dictates the rest of the roster because after planning on a certain lineup, the rest of the roster spots are substitutes for each of the 11 starters. Some of the roster spots are quite predictable – if Michael Bradley is the starting defensive midfielder, then Dax McCarty is the backup defensive midfielder, but other roster spots aren’t as clear-cut. If Christian Pulisic is the starting left wing, then is Darlington Nagbe or Sebastian Lletget the back-up, or is Lletget the starting right wing or box-to-box midfielder? Is Feilhaber or Sacha Kljestan going to play as the team’s Number 10, and if it’s Kljestan, which would be the wrong call, then will Arena include Feilhaber, Lletget, and Nagbe all on the roster?

In the defense, there are questions about who will be the backup center backs for Geoff Cameron and John Brooks. Will it be Gonzalez and Birnbaum, or will it be Birnbaum and Zimmerman? Will Matt Besler be called up?

There are tough decisions to be made in the attack as well. Should Arena call up Jordan Morris and Juan Agudelo, or is Jozy Altidore too experienced and still too young not to call up? Clint Dempsey and Bobby Wood have to be the starting forward pair, but Arena could insist on using Altidore and Dempsey and maybe crazily omit Wood from the lineup.

Who knows who the coach of the United States will select? But, here is a 23-man roster that is not exactly a prediction, but more of an opinion of which players should be selected:

Goalkeepers

Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, William Yarbrough

Defenders

Geoff Cameron, John Brooks, Steve Birnbaum, Walker Zimmerman, DeAndre Yedlin, Eric Lichaj, Jorge Villafaña, Fabian Johnson

Midfielders

Michael Bradley, Dax McCarty, Kellyn Acosta, Benny Feilhaber, Sebastian Lletget, Darlington Nagbe, Christian Pulisic, Paul Arriola

Forwards

Clint Dempsey, Bobby Wood, Jordan Morris, Juan Agudelo

 

Five Players the United States Should Include on its March World Cup Qualifying Roster

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Five Players the United States Should Include on its March World Cup Qualifying Roster

Going into the March World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama, the United States must place a premium on selecting enough skill players to not get outplayed and embarrassed. Here are five players that Bruce Arena would be wise to call up again.

Sebastian Lletget

Sebastian Lletget is an essential inclusion on the United States’ roster because he improves the team’s passing ability, creativity, and overall technical ability. Lletget is an active player that constantly passes and moves, and he offers a proactive and refined playing style that the United States lacks. With Christian Pulisic certain to start, Lletget is a player that complements Pulisic’s quick, creative, and skilled play. Whether Lletget is used as a wing, playmaker, or central midfielder, the LA Galaxy midfielder has a skill-set worthy of a starter for the United States.

Benny Feilhaber

Benny Feilhaber is still the best playmaker in the American player pool, and in the recent international friendlies, he showed why he is a more creative and dangerous option than Sacha Kljestan, who is a level below Feilhaber in terms of skill and efficacy against better teams. Feilhaber facilitates quick combination play and scoring opportunities, which the United States sorely needs. The Sporting Kansas City midfielder is still at the top of his game, and he’s the United States’ best option as the Number 10 or attacking midfielder beneath the strikers.

Kellyn Acosta

Kellyn Acosta has really come into his own over the last year, and he’s the type of box-to-box midfielder that the United States has been lacking. Acosta brings excellent two-footed skill on the ball plus tons of athleticism and ball-winning ability. Acosta is also a very aggressive and direct midfielder who opens up space for the attacking players with his spirited runs into the attack. The FC Dallas midfielder is also a scoring threat from the midfield, and his tendency to rip shots on target from outside of the box unsettles the opposing defense and draws defenders away from American attackers.

Juan Agudelo

Juan Agudelo is arguably the best center forward in the American player pool after Bobby Wood, and he might offer some more flair and creativity than Wood, who appears to have only displayed part of his creativity so far. Agudelo can play either as the Number 9 or as a second striker, and he offers a complete forward skill-set of two-footed finishing, individual dribbling ability, heading ability, speed, and the needed physicality. Agudelo is needed on the roster for his aggressive, proactive play that helps the team more than Jozy Altidore’s deeper, more subdued play.

Jordan Morris

Like Agudelo and Wood, Jordan Morris is just more aggressive and direct than Altidore. Morris’ creates multiple scoring opportunities every game, and he goes straight to goal. Morris has a tendency to never use his left foot, but he still consistently beats defenders and scores.  Morris also has a huge, game-changing weapon in his phenomenal speed that allows him to torch almost any defender in a foot race. The Seattle Sounders forward excels at getting behind the defense and attacking the goal, and even with less experience than Altidore, Morris is a more difficult center forward for opposing defenders to contain. The physicality that Altidore brings is also present in Morris who doesn’t let himself get pushed around either.

Clint Dempsey and Bobby Wood Can Form the United States’ Best Forward Partnership

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Clint Dempsey and Bobby Wood Can Form the United States’ Best Forward Partnership

Clint Dempsey and Bobby Wood can form the United States’ most creative and deadly strike duo, which means a spot on the bench for Jozy Altidore. Bruce Arena will likely start Altidore against Honduras no matter what, but Wood is the more talented striker, who has been scoring impressive goals in the Bundesliga.

For a while now, many have viewed Wood as just a nice foil or complement to Altidore as the Number 9, but Wood is a more skilled, more active, and more aggressive striker, which makes for a better partner for Dempsey. When Wood first started playing for the United States, he surprised a lot of people by scoring impressive goals in consecutive games, but after a while, it became clear that these goals weren’t just lucky goals in international friendlies.

Dempsey has long been in a class of his own for the United States, and he hasn’t had a smooth and creative center forward to combine with. When Obafemi Martins was playing with Dempsey for the Seattle Sounders, you could see how Dempsey thrived when he had a strike partner who played his same brand of one-to-two-touch street soccer. With Wood as the center forward, Dempsey will once again have a strike partner who plays quicker and smarter than Altidore, who still slows up the pace of play too much without enough movement off the ball or direct attacking play.

The upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama are must-win games for the United States, and the U.S. must go straight for the jugular with Dempsey and Wood in the attack. Dempsey is fully fit to play, and if Wood is also healthy, then these two have a greater capacity to score on Honduras and Panama than a Altidore-Wood partnership.

When Altidore plays, the American attack is slower and less deadly, and Wood is a true Number 9, even though his style of play is facing the goal and looking for balls played to his feet or into space. Nothing says that a center forward has to play with his back to goal and hold up play, and Wood’s style of play is more effective and more impressive.

When Arena makes his starting lineup for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, he would be wise to partner Dempsey with Wood because Dempsey doesn’t need any time to get used to playing with Wood. Dempsey just knows how to play, and anyone that aggressively attacks the goal will be welcomed by Dempsey.

Starting Dempsey with Wood should bring out the most in both players, and it will cause opposing defenders to have a hard time deciding who to focus on, which will leave one attacker in a dangerous scoring position.

Bobby Wood Represents a Milestone for American Center Forwards

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Bobby Wood Represents a Milestone for American Center Forwards

Bobby Wood represents a milestone for American strikers because he is a technical, fast, and direct striker who breaks the chain of American strikers who were primarily just a target for headers. In the past, the United States has essentially looked to bomb long balls and hit cross to their center forwards, but now Wood is an aggressive, skilled striker who looks to stretch the defense and go straight to goal.

While Eric Wynalda and Brian McBride were skilled strikers who played in the Bundesliga and the English Premier League respectively, Wood’s skill set and playing style is still something of a new phenomenon for American strikers.

In contrast to his contemporary Jozy Altidore, who is several years older,  Wood provides constant movement on and off the ball. He makes runs behind the defense, he checks back to receive a pass and turn, and he also dribbles straight at the defense.

The United States has been looking for a Number 9 who will attack the defense directly, and Wood has the ability and speed to beat defenders off the defense and create scoring opportunities.

Another excellent quality of Wood’s play is how he doesn’t need an invitation to shoot. So many American soccer players will not hit shots on target when they only have half a chance, and so many American soccer players will not take risks.

Wood is undoubtedly the best American center forward right now, and the evidence of this is both the fact that he starts and scores in the Bundesliga and the fact that his game is based on skill and creativity as opposed to physicality. He is tough and physical, but his game isn’t based on pushing people around or looking to head in crosses and corning kicks.

When the United States has its all-important World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama at the end of March, Wood’s name should be the first name on the sheet. The United States may have Clint Dempsey to combine with and create chances for Wood, but even if they don’t, Christian Pulisic, Benny Feilhaber, and Sebastian Lletget are all players who will look to constantly involve Wood and play final balls to him.

Rather than using Wood as a striker partner for Altidore, Wood should be used as the focal point of the attack, and he should be given plenty of space to operate at the front and center of the attack.

 

Where Does Clint Dempsey Rank All-Time Among United States Soccer Players?

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Where Does Clint Dempsey Rank All-Time Among United States Soccer Players?

Landon Donovan is widely regarded as the best American soccer player of all time whether at the club level or on the international level, but is he really better than Clint Dempsey?

No disrespect to Donovan, but the touch, skill, directness, and toughness that Dempsey has displayed over his career in the English Premier League, in Major League Soccer, and at the international level is beyond anything that Donovan has shown in all of his impressive highlights and stats in Major League Soccer or for the United States at the international level.

The two biggest things that separate Dempsey from Donovan are Dempsey’s individual ability with the ball and his willingness and ability to use that ability effectively even against the toughest opponents. Whether people wish to admit it or not, Dempsey has always played with an intensity and aggressiveness that Donovan has never really shown, even in several of his most memorable goals.

Dempsey’s club resume far exceeds Donovan’s as well because there is no reasonable way to claim that all of Donovan’s stats and awards in MLS compare to Dempsey’s seven years of consistently scoring in the EPL as a midfielder. It’s important to remember that for much of Dempsey’s career he was playing in the midfield where he had less passes played to him in scoring positions.

While Donovan is a highly-skilled and smooth player who uses both feet interchangeably, there can be no comparison with the way that Dempsey harnessed his skill and mind to be effective and never intimidated by elite competition. The 2006 World Cup saw Donovan being bullied around and shut out of games, whereas Dempsey was attacking Italy and Ghana directly with his technical ability, creativity, and intensity.

It’s a shame that so frequently that former American players and soccer pundits claim that Donovan is the best American player ever, and it would be interesting to see some sort of poll of former American players and soccer media members where they either selected Donovan or Dempsey as the best American player ever.

Ranking Dempsey as the greatest American soccer player ever isn’t about criticizing or downplaying Donovan’s play and achievements, but it is about acknowledging that Dempsey has a more impressive playing resume combined with an ability to be more effective and dangerous against better opponents. Dempsey wasn’t selected to play for the United States until some three years after Donovan, and Dempsey’s scoring stats for the United States are very close to Donovan’s.

On a personal note, I remember a German friend telling me that Dempsey’s goal against Ghana in the 2006 World Cup was so good that it looked like an American didn’t score it. That comment really sheds light on how non-Americans really do view American soccer players as inferior and how Dempsey’s play has truly stood out among all other American players.

Arena’s United States Roster Options for March

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Bruce Arena’s United States Roster Options for March

Bruce Arena has more deserving players than he has roster spots for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama, and the last couple of international friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica have left him with some tough roster decisions.

For one, his former LA Galaxy player Sebastian Lletget looked good enough to start because of the positive impact he had on the team’s overall passing and skill level, plus Lletget can play the position that the suspended Jermaine Jones plays.

Benny Feilhaber also showed very well as an attacking midfielder, and he outplayed Sacha Kljestan, which isn’t surprising given the fact that Feilhaber is a more dynamic and creative player than Kljestan, who still offers qualities that the team needs. Darlington Nagbe looked dangerous as a left wing, and Nagbe might be more useful as a center midfielder.

Feilhaber and Lletget demonstrated that they offer the type of passing, possession, and creativity that the U.S. has been lacking, so starting them together with Christian Pulisic would make a lot of sense. This possibly leaves Fabian Johnson on the bench, but Arena has the option of using Wood as the lone forward, which would allow Michael Bradley, Johnson, Feilhaber, Lletget, and Pulisic to all start in the midfield.

There are also some decisions to make with regards to the defense, but starting DeAndre Yedlin, Steve Birnbaum, John Brooks, and possibly Jorge Villafaña as the Back Four might be Arena’s best option, if Geoff Cameron is out. Walker Zimmerman played well enough to earn a spot on the roster as a center back, and he has developed some chemistry with Birnbaum.

Arena is supposed to call up about 25 players for the upcoming games, and here is a look at the players who deserve to make that list right now:

Goalkeepers

Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, William Yarbrough

Tim Howard and Brad Guzan are automatic inclusions for this roster, if Howard is healthy, which he is reported to be, and William Yarbrough is likely the more talented and qualified goalkeeper after them. Yarbrough has played well in Liga MX for several years now, and he looked commanding and qualified to man the goal for the United States when he has featured in the past. There are many other excellent goalkeeper options for the U.S. such as Ethan Horvath, David Bingham, and Nick Rimando, but Yarbrough is likely better and more prepared for this type of game, which is a World Cup qualifier. Yarbrough plays against better competition than the other third goalkeeper options. The question of who is the best third goalkeeper for the U.S. still doesn’t have a clear answer, but Arena’s comments indicate that he is leaning toward Rimando.

Defenders

Steve Birnbaum, John Brooks, Omar Gonzalez, Walker Zimmerman, DeAndre Yedlin, Eric Lichaj, Jorge Villafaña, Greg Garza

This group of defenders is fairly straight forward. There are four center backs and four outside backs (two right backs and two left backs). Lichaj plays both right back and left back. Villafaña thoroughly outplayed Garza in the United States’ friendlies in January and February against Serbia and Jamaica, but Garza played against the better team in Serbia who fielded something of a C Team against the U.S. Nevertheless, Villafaña played with much more skill, activity, and influence than Garza who still looks very one-footed. Unlike Garza, Villafaña was cutting inside onto his weaker right foot to play crosses and combine with his teammates. With Geoff Cameron possibly not available for the March World Cup qualifiers, Walker Zimmerman will likely be his replacement on the roster with Birnbaum likely starting with John Brooks. Omar Gonzalez seems a likely pick to round out the fourth center back spot, although the U.S. should be calling up a more agile and skillful defender than Gonzalez who still looks prone to be left for dead by shifty and skillful attacking players.

Midfielders

Michael Bradley, Dax McCarty, Kellyn Acosta, Sebastian Lletget, Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber, Darlington Nagbe, Fabian Johnson, Christian Pulisic, Paul Arriola

This list has three defensive midfielders in Bradley, McCarty, and Acosta, and it also includes three playmakers in Feilhaber, Kljestan, and Lletget. It arguably has four attacking midfielders or playmakers if you include Nagbe. Lletget also excels as a box-to-box midfielder and wing on either side, and it’s important to note that both Kljestan and Feilhaber play as central midfielders or box-to-box midfielders where Nagbe also thrives. As for wings, this group includes five wings in Lletget, Pulisic, Johnson, Nagbe, and Arriola. Whether Arena uses a 4-2-3-1, 4-1-3-2, 4-3-3, or 4-4-2 formation, this group has the personnel to field an effective and talented lineup in any of those formations. This list of midfielders offers more technical skill, more ability to keep possession, and more attacking ability than the midfielders that the United States has used in the past.

Forwards

Bobby Wood, Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo, Jordan Morris

The United States has never had a group of forwards as skilled as these four, and Wood is clearly the best of the bunch. Wood plays with a combination of smoothness, directness, speed, and clinical skill where he routinely stretches the defense and goes straight to goal. Wood is a more skilled and effective center forward than Altidore, and Wood is better at beating defenders and goalkeepers with both skill and speed. Agudelo is likely the second most skilled forward in the pool, and he is also able to bring hold up play and physicality along with his more important qualities of individual skill and creativity. Morris is a skillful and direct forward who also uses his excellent speed to beat defenders and attack the goal. Like Wood and Agudelo, Morris is a more aggressive and involved player than Altidore who needs to be more direct and ruthless in his attacking play. Wood and Altidore are the likely starting forward duo, but Agudelo with Wood would offer more of an attacking threat for the United States.

What is the best starting lineup from this group?

Guzan; Yedlin, Birnbaum, Brooks, Villafaña; Bradley; Johnson, Lletget, Feilhaber, Pulisic; Wood.

The United States Finally Have the Skill Players to Abandon Hustle Soccer

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Bruce Arena and the United States Have the Skill Players to Abandon Hustle Soccer

For far too long the United States prided itself on its hustle soccer and fighting spirit, and even Clint Dempsey was unfairly characterized as more of a toughness player than a skill player, which must have really bothered him.

Bruce Arena has a direct, fast, creative, and clinical center forward in Bobby Wood, and he has an electric young winger in Christian Pulisic, who is playing as an attacking player for one of the best club teams in the world. Being skillful and creative is a given for anyone starting or seeing playing time as a winger for Borussia Dortmund.

The United States also has Sebastian Lletget who is another skillful, creative attacking player who can play as an attacking midfielder, wing, or even as a box-to-box midfielder.

Benny Feilhaber has also returned to the national team as a playmaker, and the addition of him and the other players mentioned means that the United States has the critical mass of technical and active players needed to actually keep possession and attack the opposition.

Michael Bradley is the clear first-choice defensive midfielder, and his overall skill level and technical ability is high despite experiencing something of a slump over the past year. Bradley excels at distributing from the back, covering lots of territory, and recovering possession, so he is another important piece of the lineup that helps with the team’s passing and tempo.

While Darlington Nagbe proved himself to be another excellent wing option or center midfielder, Lletget is arguably the more dynamic and talented player, which isn’t to say that Nagbe isn’t a dangerous and creative player with plenty of exciting skills.

Going into March, Arena can deploy a 4-1-3-2 where the Front Six is Bradley, Lletget, Feilhaber, Pulisic, Dempsey, and Wood, and that group of six is easily a more talented and technical group than anything the United States has used before.

With several new players and some veterans, Arena and the United States have the personnel to no longer deploy tactics where the game plan is to out-hustle and out-tough more skillful opponents. Now is a clear turning point in American soccer when the United States can look to use skill and creativity plus the obvious requisite athleticism to outplay most opponents save the likes of soccer’s true giants.

Sebastian Lletget Has Earned Starting Role for the United States

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Sebastian Lletget Has Earned Starting Role for the United States

Sebastian Lletget showcased his creative skillset and ability to defend when the United States played Serbia in San Diego, and he has earned a starting midfield role. The United States continues to be a national team that passes the ball poorly by international standards, but Lletget is a player than can and does facilitate better passing through one-to-two touch soccer.

Bruce Arena used Lletget as a Number 8 or box-to-box midfielder, as he did with the LA Galaxy, but Lletget is an attacking midfielder who also thrives as a wing. Nevertheless, Lletget has shown well as a central midfielder where he provides much more defending, running, and physicality than perhaps many people knew about. While soccer isn’t a sport dictated by physicality, being able to not be pushed off the ball or overpowered is important.

Given Lletget’s skillset as a creative and technical player, using him as a box-to-box midfielder does feel like something of a waste, and he seems more suited to play alongside Darlington Nagbe and Benny Feilhaber in the line of attacking midfielders playing in a more advanced role than the holding midfielders.

Against Serbia, only Nagbe was threatening the penalty area or the goal in the first half, but Lletget provided these things as well as soon as he was subbed in. The primary reason that Lletget should have earned a starting role was that the ability and playing style than he showcased was much better than everybody but Nagbe was able to display against Serbia.

It’s fair to point out that Bobby Wood and Christian Pulisic are unavailable for these January and February friendlies, and those two players provide much more skill, creativity, and movement than the rest of the regular United States squad. The U.S. needs to field anyone who can continue to add to the skill-level and playing style of its best players. Based on what Nagbe and Lletget showed against Serbia, the United States now has four lively, influential, skillful, and creative players in Nagbe, Lletget, Wood, and Pulisic.

Going forward, Lletget is a player who can provide more of the things that the United States needs to improve: skill, creativity, direct play, scoring ability, and passing ability.

A Better Passing Midfield for Bruce Arena and the United States

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A Better Passing Midfield for Bruce Arena and the United States

There is still a big gap between the quality of passing that the United States displays and the better quality of passing that top national teams display.

Bruce Arena has specifically mentioned better passing as something that the United States needs, and he does have the players to improve the passing, even if that passing isn’t on par with world soccer elites.

Michael Bradley anchoring the midfield with Darlington Nagbe and Benny Feilhaber playing more attacking central midfielder roles would certainly be a move toward a more skillful passing midfield for the United States.

Both Nagbe and Feilhaber have been playing truly central midfield roles in MLS, even though both players are attacking midfielders by trade.

With Bradley playing a clearly defensive midfield role in front of the American defense, having two more attack-minded midfielders in more advanced roles is a common enough tactical setup on the club level and international level around the world.

Since poor passing and a lack of possession and creativity is a major problem for the United States, a decisive effort to bolster the technical skill and vision in the American midfield makes sense for Bruce Arena.

The coach of the United States has yet to reveal his midfield, but he has dropped several hints that he’s leaning toward using Sacha Kljestan in the attacking midfielder role.

Kljestan is a proven attacking midfielder in Europe, in MLS, and for the United States at the international level, but Feilhaber and Nagbe bring more skill and a bigger attacking threat.

Feilhaber has long been considered one of if not the best American attacking midfielder, and Nagbe is regarded by his peers and the press as one of the most skillful and creative players in the American player pool.

This three-man midfield setup would be part of a 4-3-3 formation, which leaves three attacking spots to fill. Given the roster, Jozy Altidore and Juan Agudelo are the best two forwards on the roster, and using Sebastian Lletget just behind those two as a true playmaker or Number 10 would be another very offensive move for Arena.

Nagbe and Feilhaber are center attacking midfielders by trade, and even though Lletget played as a center midfielder for the LA Galaxy due to a need for him to fill this role, Lletget is an attacking midfielder or wing by trade.

There is a possibility that using Bradley, Nagbe, and Feilhaber in the midfield might leave the United States without enough ball recovery and defending, and if that is the case, then Kellyn Acosta as the box-to-box midfielder with Bradley as the defensive midfielder would be a strong option for Arena.

Claiming that Acosta isn’t ready to start for the United States is an overly conservative and overly safe approach as Acosta has been excelling in MLS for years and introducing newer, younger players into a national team is a necessary process for any national team.

If improved passing and possession is one of the first goals for Arena as head coach of the United States for the second time, then going uber offensive with Nagbe, Feilhaber, and Lletget all starting would be a bold attempt to play possession soccer against a strong European opponent in Serbia at the end of January.

 

Bobby Wood: The Best American Striker

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Bobby Wood: The Best American Striker

Contrary to popular belief in the American soccer media, Jozy Altidore is not the best American striker. Bobby Wood is. Wood starts in the Bundesliga, a much better league than the league that Altidore plays in: MLS. Wood is also a more technically-skilled and smoother player who is more clinical than Altidore while also stretching the defense and moving with and without the ball better than Altidore.

In Wood’s first games with the United States Men’s National Team, he was scoring impressive goals against top national teams in friendlies, but the fact that he kept scoring for the United States in any type of game signaled that his first goals weren’t just a fluke. Wood’s current play is the result of steady and gradual improvement since his days as a youth player. Last year, Wood’s great form was in the second division of German club soccer, but now that it’s in the Bundesliga and on the international level, Wood’s play is the most impressive of any American forward. Wood is the type of electric and elegant striker that the United States has been looking for since the 1980’s and earlier.

The Hawaiian is also a more aggressive striker than Altidore, and this was showcased in Wood’s recent solo goal against Schalke with his weaker left foot.

On that occasion, Wood received a ball along the right side of the field some 40 meters from goal where he proceeded to dribble straight at the defense until cutting the ball on to his weaker left foot while creating a small amount of space for him to blast a left-footed shot over the goalkeeper’s head and arms and into the back of the net. It was the type of impressive solo goal that you don’t really see Americans scoring very often, and it was just one example of why Wood is the most talented, the most effective, and the most dangerous American striker.

There’s an argument to made that Altidore and Wood should start together, but if the United States is going to start just one forward, in order to be able to have more creative midfielders to keep possession and break down the opposition, then Wood is the forward who should start. Wood’s skill-set suits a lone forward. He stretches the defense, so you can play him through balls or balls played over the top of the defense. He makes runs for his teammates to play him passes in dangerous spots in front of the goal, and he combines well and quickly with attacking midfielders and wings.

From all appearances, it would seem that Wood is quicker and faster than Altidore because Wood certainly looks like he’s moving faster, more gracefully, and easier than Altidore.

Just because the Hawaiian has been compared to Altidore frequently here doesn’t mean that Altidore is a forward without great qualities and assets, but there should be no debate about whether Wood or Altidore should start.

Wood has been praised by the American media and fan base, but not many have gone as far to outright declare Wood superior to Altidore, but that is the claim here. Wood is the more talented striker who is more of a scoring threat against better teams. You can see how much more skillful, active, and effective Wood is compared to Altidore when you watch them, and Wood should be Bruce Arena’s default starting center forward.