Michael Bradley (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Who should start and who will start are obviously two different things, but this is a World Soccer Source proposal for a 2014 World Cup Starting XI for the United States Men’s National Team.
This Starting XI attempts to propose an American line-up that is based on a Front Six compressed of proven players with a proven goalkeeper – but with a totally new Back Four.
There are no guarantees in soccer, and the 2014 World Cup won’t be a tournament where the United States can attempt to control the outcome by just fielding a Starting XI that resembles the line-ups seen in World Cup qualifying.
Jürgen Klinsmann won’t field this Starting XI, but it is an attempt to support a set-up that can strengthen the United States’ defense with an inexperienced Back Four while using a logical and balanced Front Six made up of: Geoff Cameron, Michael Bradley; Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber, Clint Dempsey; Juan Agudelo.
Here is World Soccer Source’s 2014 World Cup USMNT XI Proposal:
Landon Donovan (10) and Clint Dempsey (8). (Photo: MexSport)
This is a roster prediction as opposed to a list of World Soccer Source’s preferred USMNT 2014 World Cup roster.
World Soccer Source has decided to cast the cowrie shells and divine Jürgen Klinsmann’s United States Men’s National Team 23-man 2014 World Cup roster.
What Klinsmann says he will do and what he does are two different things, and the coach of the United States has frequently made line-up changes and seemingly totally changed his mind about players on the basis of one game; other players have remained fixtures on the roster for no apparent reason.
Finally, there is nothing about Klinsmann’s tenure as coach to suggest that there is any way to be absolutely certain about his opinion of a player, with the exception of Jermaine Jones who is an excellent midfielder who starts every game whether he played well or poorly the previous game.
Five months before the selection of the 2014 United States Men’s National Team’s World Cup roster is a long time, and Klinsmann could change his mind about a number of players.
DISCLAIMER:
World Soccer Source’s predictions are based on the opinion that Klinsmann has recognized the need to up the collective skill-level and athleticism of his squad, which was evidenced by the inclusion of players like Shane O’Neill, DeAndre Yedlin, Chris Klute, Benny Feilhaber, and Luis Gil in the January camp.
This belief is based on Klinsmann’s comments about the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifiers not being a very accurate indicator of the teams’ ability to play in the World Cup.
Klinsmann said the following to U.S. Soccer:
“The level in the World Cup is two or three levels higher, and the reality is that the last two years of World Cup qualifying and the Gold Cup don’t give you the real picture. The global picture is facing the strongest nations in the World Cup, and you need to be prepared. It’s not easy to put a number on it, but it requires at least 30 to 40 percent more than what we have needed so far.”
Klinsmann also said the following in regards to Benny Feilhaber, which makes this writer think that he may be changing his mind about the American playmaker:
“There is no doubt Benny is very talented,” the US coach said. “What we are working on is having him be more consistent and having an impact on games for 90 minutes.”
Without further ado, here is World Soccer Source’s prediction of Jürgen Klinsmann’s USA World Cup roster, and it may be totally wrong, partially wrong, or a close approximation:
Jermaine Jones is too talented, too athletic, and too valuable to drop from the United States Men’s National Team roster, but Jürgen Klinsmann needs to use the time before the 2014 World Cup to build up some strong chemistry between Geoff Cameron and Michael Bradley as a two-man defensive midfield partnership.
Jones’ talent is undeniably, and he displays a level of size and athleticism that is impressive even by world football standards. Despite these realities, Cameron and Bradley seem to perform remarkable better as a two-man defensive midfield, even if they only started together in one game in this capacity.
Despite some criticism of the two defensive midfielders from the media, for this writer, Cameron performed quite well with Jones when the two started together in a World Cup qualifying lose to Costa Rica in September of 2013.
Many observers feel that Jones needs to always be the more stay at home defensive midfielder so that Bradley can be more involved in the attack, but Jones doesn’t necessarily need to just hang back deeper when he plays, as he should also be allowed to pick and choose his opportunities to advance forward in the attack.
The problem with the Bradley and Jones partnership is that Jones often doesn’t drop back to cover for Bradley when Bradley makes marauding runs, but Jones should still be able to make his own runs with the confidence that Bradley will cover for him defensively.
Freddy Adu evokes widely different opinions about him from Americans and non-Americans alike. (Photo: E.C. Bahia)
Along with Eric Wynalda, Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu are the two most polarizing figures in American soccer.
Both Feilhaber and Adu have been labeled as inconsistent luxury players who aren’t as impactful and consistent for 90 minutes as many people would like.
Nevertheless, the reason that both players are important for American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team is that both players fill a role that Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore can’t fill: the playmaker role.
This role as the central attacking midfielder or the playmaker is essential for the success of the United States Men’s National Team because it provides a link between Michael Bradley’s defensive midfielder role and the role of Dempsey, Donovan, and Jozy Altidore as attackers and goal-scorers.
The playmaker not only facilitates quality passing, but the playmaker turns the passing between Jones or Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, and Dempsey into goal-scoring chances, and the ability to set up goals or score goals are arguably the two most important skills in soccer.
For this reason, players like Feilhaber and Adu remain relevant figures for the United States, and Feilhaber currently appears to be close to winning over Jürgen Klinsmann who has had his reservations about Feilhaber due to a perceived lack of impactful play for the full 90 minutes of playing time.
The current USMNT January Camp appears to be one of the very first times that Jürgen Klinsmann is bringing in young, new American talents and seeing how well they do, and he should be applauded for doing this. This camp should give many of the new American talents a chance to impress the coach of the United States.
Nevertheless, some American soccer fans really bought into the default United States Men’s National Team XI from 2013 because they saw that everyone in the American soccer media just repeated it over and over so much so that suggesting that there might be a higher level at which the the United States could perform with a different starting line-up evoked mostly ridicule and accusations of being crazy or unrealistic.
A USMNT XI on XI match would provide a lot of answers about the abilities and readiness of many American players, and below is a look at the Standard Jürgen Klinsmann USMNT Starting XI along with a possible XI on XI match up:
Joe Corona, Playmaker and Attacking Midfielder. (Photo: Club Tijuana)
The United States should select three defensive midfielders and five attacking midfielders for the 2014 World Cup, and the United States would be wise to call up some attacking midfielders that are playmakers and some that are more along the lines of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, who both play off playmakers as scoring threats that are essentially forwards.
Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones have been the defensive midfielders of choice under Jürgen Klinsmann, and Geoff Cameron should occupy the third defensive midfielder spot on the roster to make room for the new crop of young American center backs because it doesn’t really matter if Cameron is listed as a defender or as a midfielder because some of the new center backs resemble Cameron in so far as they can play as defensive midfielders or as center backs.
Rounding out the group of eight American midfielders are Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Joe Corona who all provide the United States with true playmaker options, as none of the other players listed above are central attacking midfielders or playmakers playing in an advanced position.
Below is the rationale for choosing these eight midfielders:
Chris Klute, the Best American Left Back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
As the United States Men’s National Team is currently involved in its January Camp, now is the time for American soccer fans to support giving Chris Klute, Shane O’Neill, and DeAndre Yedlin roster spots on the United States Men’s National Team because all three played as well as Brad Evans, Omar Gonzalez, and Matt Besler in Major League Soccer, and the latter three have failed to truly impress against strong competition.
Besler, Gonzalez, and Evans are good MLS players, but their amount of experience at the international level doesn’t outweigh the superior technique, speed, defending, and aggressive play of Klute, Yedlin, and O’Neill.
The important thing to keep in mind about the new crop of Major League Soccer defenders is that they aren’t just promising players who showed glimpses of international ability, but rather they are players who started and played almost every minute of every game of the 2013 MLS season where they played better than Evans, Gonzalez, and Besler.
One of the points commonly made is that Yedlin started over Evans for the Seattle Sounders, so there is strong evidence that a reputable MLS coach considered the 20-year-old Yedlin to be the best right back option for the Seattle Sounders.
Therefore, Klinsmann’s practice of starting Evans over Yedlin when the skill-level goes up at the international level makes little sense.
Evans certainly displays a solid foundation of technical ability, defensive instincts and fundamentals, and a respectable level of athleticism, but Yedlin is just a much more electrifying player with a greater capacity to make an impact at the international level, even if he is inexperienced.
Turning to Chris Klute, Eric Wynalda told everyone in the American soccer community that Klute was a special talent with the ability to play at a high level, and Klute’s first season in MLS confirmed this.
At a certain point, you have to play the players with the greatest potential to be able to compete against elite competition and just accept the outcome knowing that you played the players with the best qualities and physical gifts. There’s nothing more that Klinsmann can do, and Klute is far too talented and fast to merely support because of the dearth of left back options.
The Colorado Rapids left back deserves more credit than that because skill and athleticism is more important than international experience, especially when someone like Fabian Johnson doesn’t particularly excel at tracking back on defense, marking, or tackling (but he does excel as an attacking midfielder deployed as a winger).
Coach Tab Ramos is the primary backer of Shane O’Neill, and given Ramos’ playing resume combined with his clear ability to judge talent and field good line-ups, O’Neill should be considered a serious starting center back option for the United States, especially given his excellent season in MLS playing with Chris Klute.
One of the main criticisms of using these new MLS defenders is the disruption of the chemistry of the American Back Four, but the reality is that O’Neill and Klute have good chemistry, whereas the American Back Four has constantly been changed and tweaked.
If Klinsmann is wise enough to not cut Klute, Yedlin, and O’Neill, the coach of the United States has a month to build chemistry between the three defenders while considering who the center back partner for O’Neill should be.
World Soccer Source has long supported Klute, Yedlin, O’Neill, and Andrew Farrell, and the primary reason for this writer’s support of these players is that they have displayed over an entire season that they bring a combination of skill on the ball, speed, defensive ability, and youth that is greatly needed on the United States National Team.
There are no guarantees in a World Cup, and continuing to use Evans, Gonzalez, Besler, and Beasley doesn’t ensure that the United States will have a strong enough defense to perform well against Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.
Five months is a long time before the World Cup, and CONCACAF experience isn’t a vaccine against the nerves that will be felt in the USMNT’s first game of the 2014 World Cup, which will be against a very technical and creative Ghana side that brings truly exceptional speed, strength, and agility found in players like Kevin-Prince Boateng, Sulley Muntari, Kwadwo Asamoah, and Asamoah Gyan.
Americans shouldn’t underestimate Ghana, and the next group stage games against Portugal and Germany will also require the use of defenders with the tools to have a chance of competing and beating either national team.
A Back Four made up of Evans, Gonzalez, Besler, and Beasley won’t cut it in the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean that any of those players aren’t solid professionals who have done a good job in World Cup qualifying.
If Yedlin and Klute start as the right back and left back respectively with O’Neill as one of the center backs , the USMNT has a variety of center backs who can partner with O’Neill such as Geoff Cameron, John Anthony Brooks, Michael Orozco, and Andrew Farrell.
If you support starting Cameron as the midfield destroyer half of the defensive midfield partnership with Michael Bradley, then starting Farrell, Brooks, or Orozco at center back makes more sense because all three bring a better combination of defensive ability, skill on the ball, and athleticism than Gonzalez, Besler, or Clarence Goodson display.
This new USMNT Back Four would look something like this:
Shane O’Neill (center). (Photo: Bart Young / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann did a good job of selecting players to try to improve positions where the United States Men’s National Team needed to improve. World Soccer Source applauds him for calling up players such as Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Dax McCarty, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, Luis Gil, and Tally Hall.
While this writer feels that both Andrew Farrell and Amobi Okugo deserved call-ups, the German’s picks showed a willingness to look at new talents in order to improve the overall technical ability and athleticism of the USMNT.
Thus, here is World Soccer Source’s Preferred USMNT XI for the match against South Korea after the January Camp:
Chris Klute (right) is likely the best American left back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann and the coaching staff of the United States Men’s National Team called up to the January Camp a number of players that can shore up positions where the United States is weak.
Most notabaly, Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Dax McCarty were called up.
Klute and Yedlin address the United States’ major problems at the outside back positions, and Feilhaber, Diskerud, and Gil address the United States National Team’s inability to keep possession and break down opposing defenses.
Maicon has returned to form with Roma. Photo: (Tony Gentile/REUTERS)
A Seleção 23-Man World Cup Roster (January 2014)
Felipão has stated that either Kaká or Ronaldinho will go to the 2014 World Cup, but not both, so the race is on between two footballing legends and masters. Of the two, Ronaldinho Gaúcho is The Grandmaster.
Kaká has been playing for Milan with energy, speed, creativity, and passing and attacking skill and vision, and Ronaldinho is Ronaldinho.
No one can deny that an inspired Ronaldinho is a monster of a footballer and still perhaps the most gifted current player, if not ever.
Atlético Mineiro might have lost early at the FIFA Club World Cup, but that Ronaldinho free kick golaço was ruthless, magical, and unstoppable.
Nevertheless, as with the choice between Kaká and Ronaldinho, the problem for Felipão and O Canarinho is deciding which players should go to the World Cup. The Seleção now has an abundance of totally complete center backs (zagueiros), and the Seleção also has many attacking midfielders and forwards to chose from.
Really, Brazil is just absolutely loaded with players at every position, and more and more world-class Brazilian players keep making their case for inclusion on the 2014 World Cup squad.
In almost six months, the 2014 World Cup will begin, and a lot can happen. When the time comes, players like Pato, Robinho, and perhaps Ronaldinho might prove to be just too good to exclude from the roster.
Despite the quality of Germany, Spain, Italy, and others, Brazil is truly the clear favorite to win this World Cup.
Brazil is often every non-Brazilian’s second favorite team (with the exception of Argentineans), and Brazil is the team that neutrals love to watch and support.
From an American perspective, Brazil’s ability to constantly have so many world-class players at its national team’s disposal is hard to even fathom, if it weren’t a reality that soccer fans everywhere have grown accustomed to.
Brazil can beat your national team by four goals, and the loss will just be dismissed be the frequent excuse of, “It was Brazil.”
Without further delay, below is World Soccer Source’s 23-man currently-preferred Brazil World Cup roster, which is somewhat an approximation of Felipão’s ideal roster and somewhat this writer’s preference (and several world-class players have been omitted due to Brazil’s depth):
GOLEIROS: JULIO CESAR (Queens Park Rangers; rumored to be moving), JEFFERSON (Botafogo), RAFAEL (Napoli)/GABRIEL (Milan).
