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.
The USMNT Should Consider Starting Two Strikers in a 4-1-3-2
Choosing between two defensive midfielders or two strikers is a toss up, unless a 4-4-2 formation is used, but the United States Men’s National Team would be wise to test out how starting two strikers would affect the United States’ attack.
Using two strikers is an attack-minded line-up, but attacking the opposition with more urgency is also a form of defense where one’s weakness becomes one’s strength – if one attacks one’s opponent more then that opponent has to defend more and has less time to attack.
Jozy Altidore and Aron Jóhannsson starting together as strikers with a line of three attacking midfielders including a playmaker behind them is a strategy that Jürgen Klinsmann might consider using to improve the potency and goal-scoring capabilities of the United States.
Klinsmann has started both players together, but Klinsmann has deployed Jóhannsson as an attacking midfielder out wide, at least on paper.
Starting both players together as center forwards would require starting only one defensive midfielder in a 4-1-3-2 or one less attacking midfielder in a Brazilian 4-2-2-2.
Altidore and Jóhannsson have demonstrated that they can combine well together and that they are complementary, and starting two strikers of their caliber would force opposition defenses to focus their attention on both players – assuming both strikers received adequate service from a playmaker and at least one additional attacking midfielder.
The USMNT’s line-ups under Klinsmann have been mostly based on a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is a strong tactical approach, but the coach of the United States for the most part hasn’t really used three attacking midfielders behind the striker because often one of the outside attacking midfielders has been a striker forced to play out wide and out of position.
Using Altidore and Jóhannsson together is a weapon, and the logical midfield adjustment to allow for it is to deploy only one defensive midfielder, which would be Michael Bradley. This change would be best be accounted for by using Geoff Cameron as a center back where he could use his skill on the ball, his athleticism, his size, and his defensive skills in the center of the American defense.
With Altidore and Jóhannsson starting as center forwards, the rest of the line-up should feature Tim Howard in goal, Geoff Cameron at center back, Michael Bradley as a defensive midfielder, and Landon Donovan or Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud or Benny Feilhaber, and Clint Dempsey as the line of three attacking midfielders.
The other open positions in the Back Four are a matter of debate just as the line of three attacking midfielders is, but provided that Altidore and Jóhannsson receive adequate service and Bradley was patrolling the back of the midfield, the tactical set-up of using two strikers can be effective, even if there is only one defensive midfielder.
While this writer would like to see DeAndre Yedlin or Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, and Chris Klute filling the remaining spots in the Back Four, certainly using Eric Lichaj, Steve Cherundolo, or Jonathan Spector at right back over Yedlin or Farrell would also make sense – as would starting John Anthony Brooks instead of Shane O’Neill.
Finally, Klinsmann would be remised to not test out different combinations of Juan Agudelo, Aron Jóhannsson, Jozy Altidore, and Terrence Boyd before the World Cup.
Altidore and Jóhannsson would pose a real threat to opposing defenses, but there is a need to see how well different two-man combinations of those four strikers can perform. Having all four strikers at the ready and used to playing with one another will be a useful tool at the World Cup.
What would starting two center forwards look like? This writer would support seeing the following Starting XI as one of multiple options:
