Bruce Arena’s Forward Options for the United States Men’s National Team
Bruce Arena has five good forwards for arguably only four forward roster spots. Some of these forwards are clearly better than the others.
For starters, Clint Dempsey is the best forward in the pool, and the best American soccer player ever.
Next, Bobby Wood is the best center forward in the pool, even better than Jozy Altidore. Wood is more technical, faster, more aggressive, and more clinical, and all of these reasons make him better than Altidore.
After Altidore, comes Juan Agudelo, who is more creative and more skilled than Altidore. Like Wood, Agudelo is a more aggressive and direct player than Altidore, who himself has undergone something of a Renaissance. Altidore has vastly improved his playmaking and passing, plus he has been attacking defenders more directly and beating them off the dribble.
Finally, we have Jordan Morris, who plays like Bobby Wood, but Morris still heavily favors his right foot; Morris has also not shown the type of clinical finishing that Wood has shown, but Morris can definitely put the ball in the back of the net. Morris offers speed like Wood, but Morris has to be faster than Wood, who himself is devastatingly fast.
So, we see that Arena has a good problem, and the way the Dempsey plays makes him something of a playmaker, which allows Arena to put all five of these players on the roster. Maybe it’s too many forwards since all are center forwards, but Agudelo, Wood, and Altidore all also play like second strikers or withdrawn forwards.
Because the United States historically has had problems scoring enough goals against elite competition, there is something to be said of just making a habit of calling up four to five forwards who have no problems scoring. Using two forwards at once is common enough and often wise, and a substitute for two forwards would give the roster four forwards, plus Dempsey who of course is also an attacking midfielder.
The major story line for the United States’ next game will be whether or not Arena will be wise enough to start Dempsey and Wood together without getting distracted by all the attention and buzz around Altidore’s much improved play. There is also the storyline of Agudelo’s more consistent club play where he’s starting and scoring as a Number 9 for the New England Revolution, and leaving him off the roster would be a big mistake. If one forward has to be left off, then it might have to be Morris, but not calling up a forward with world-class speed combined with aggressive and skillful play might be a big mistake too.
Is Altidore’s improved play more impressive than Agudelo or Morris’ abilities?
Certainly, strikers shouldn’t require all of their goals to be laid on a silver plater for them to score, but their teammates need to be able to maintain possession and provide enough service to the striker or strikers in the final third.
Despite, Sunderland’s poor quality of play, Altidore is still a striker that the United States is lucky to have because the United States didn’t have strikers like him in the past. Altidore is a two-footed, fast, strong, quick, and tall Number 9 that is also good with his head.
For the purposes of the USA national team, Altidore is a striker that can slip behind defenders with his speed and he can finish with both feet, in addition to being a more technical and creative player than he gets credit for, and this technical-skill, creativity, and combination play is more evident when Altidore is partnered with a second striker or when Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey are used as wings with the freedom to float behind him.
If Altidore is deployed up top with attacking midfielders that can keep possession, provide him with finals balls, and combine with him, then he won’t be stranded up top where he sees little of the ball.
Regardless of what happened at Sunderland this past season, the fact hasn’t changed that Altidore is a striker that not only has the physical gifts to stretch defenses and make them run and battle, but Altidore is also a striker with cultivated technical skills that allow him to score from the run of play or with him taking free kicks or being the target of balls played by other free kick and dead ball takers.
Unlike basketball where one player has more of an ability to take over a game due to the smaller size of the playing area, soccer is played on a very large field that demands quality team passing for strikers to really have any chance of getting in scoring positions. A striker can certainly create scoring chances by himself provided that he is within some reasonable distance from the goal, but a striker that doesn’t get enough touches on the ball or receive the ball in the final third is normally doomed to going scoreless.
The bigger problem with the United States Men’s National Team is the poor collective team passing and poor collective technical quality with the exception of about five players.
Altidore has strengthened the areas of his game which needed improvement, which were his technical ability, his movement off the ball, and his willingness to take on defenders and go straight to goal.
It’s the responsibility of Jürgen Klinsmann to field a Starting XI that can keep possession and provide Jozy Altidore with enough service and touches in the final third.
Clint Dempsey, Giant Killer . (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The United States Men’s National Team is close to becoming a Giant Killer.
Granted, there is a big talent gap between the technical ability of the United States as a collective unit, but someone like Clint Dempsey is a world-class soccer player, even if someone like Robinho is much better.
Furthermore, a defensive or box-to-box midfielder like Michael Bradley isn’t anywhere close to Paul Pogba in terms of skill or athleticism, but that certainly doesn’t take anything away from Bradley’s qualities and physical gifts.
For the United States to become a Giant Killer, the entire Starting XI needs to be players who are close to or equal to Dempsey’s and Bradley’s level.
The key is a team comprised of technically-skilled and athletic players who have different and complimentary skills that allow them to play their own natural positions better than other American players.
There has been real progress in American soccer, and even if Jürgen Klinsmann isn’t using the best outside backs at his disposal and even if he doesn’t seem to be entirely convinced that he needs to start a playmaker, the talent and athleticism is there in the core group of United States internationals.
To be fair, it was already there when Bob Bradley was coach because Tim Howard, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore were all regulars during his tenure.
The good news is that Bradley and Altidore are drastically better than they used to be, and Bradley was somewhat close to being a finished product before Klinsmann took the reins as coach of the United States.
Altidore is really the player who has seen an enormous improvement in his technical ability, his smoothness on the ball, his finishing, and the aggression with which he attacks the goal, but the reason for these improvement was his time spent in Dutch football.
On the other hand, Dempsey is a player who has just progressively become better over time, but Dempsey’s skill-level and his ability to excel against top competition was already excellent when he first started playing for the United States and before he went to play in the English Premier League.
Of all the core group of strong U.S. internationals, Donovan has been around the longest, and players like Bradley and Dempsey provided skills and qualities that he didn’t have or they served as needed support. Dempsey and Donovan play the same position, and they can just be started together on opposite sides of the field and allowed to roam free.
Looking really closely at Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore, what one sees is a defensive midfielder, two attacking midfielders who aren’t playmakers but who can score, and finally a first striker who combines athleticism with size and technical ability.
These four players along with Tim Howard give the United States half of a Starting XI minus the Back Four and a playmaker, and the role of playmaker has a front-runner: Benny Feilhaber, a proven and experienced central attacking midfielder.
Giant Killing is the next step for the United States.
Jürgen Klinsmann needs to start Bradley as a defensive midfielder behind Donovan, Feilhaber, and Dempsey as a line of three attacking midfielders with Altidore as the first striker.
If Klinsmann does that, which he hasn’t done, then he simply needs to find four quality defenders and either a second defensive midfielder or an additional center forward or a second striker, the latter of which can play off Altidore as a sort of secondary playmaker to compliment Feilhaber.
Once Klinsmann fields something like the Starting XI proposed in the paragraph above, then the United States Men’s National Team is inching closer to becoming a Giant Killer.
There are probably very few people in the American soccer media or in the American fan base who would strongly doubt the logic of starting Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore together, especially if Geoff Cameron was inserted into the Front Six to be the midfield destroyer in place of Jermaine Jones so that Bradley had more license to go forward and attack.
Although Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the like would be better in terms of collective team skill, starting Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore together is certainly a competitive and legit Front Six that national teams would take seriously.
The Front Six proposed is strong because it has a more stay-at-home defensive midfielder or midfield destroyer, a defensive midfielder with more licence to attack, a playmaker flanked by free-roaming attacking midfielders who can score, and a first striker that has the skill and speed to stretch the opposition’s defense. The Front Six is also all players who can keep possession by playing one-to-two touch soccer with purpose.
Despite the skill of the Front Six, the weak area is thus the American defense because no matter how well that American Front Six does, what happens when really first-rate midfielders and attackers terrorize the American Back Four?
This is the true impediment to American success because Tim Howard or Brad Guzan can only make so many game-saving saves before top national teams or second-tier national teams eventually find the back of the net. Howard and Guzan cannot be expected to stop every shot off the feet or head of elite players.
Klinsmann has Brad Evans, Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, and DaMarcus Beasley as his preferred Back Four, but questioning their ability to stop the type of competition in the World Cup is a fair question, and it is a question that needs to be taken seriously.
Many people have placed too much trust in the ability of those four defenders (two of which aren’t defenders) to stop elite attackers or even merely international-caliber attackers, and this mentality could doom the United States in the World Cup.
American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team has improved, although not really because of Klinsmann, but the American defense is a problem and a matter of concern.
There are two solutions to the problems with the USMNT’s Back Four: 1.) Start a more proven Back Four such as Jonathan Spector, Michael Orozco, John Anthony Brooks, and Eric Lichaj; or 2) Start a Back Four made up of DeAndre Yedlin, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, and Chris Klute.
Of course, the obvious third solution is some combination of the more-proven defenders with the newer MLS defenders.
Plenty of people will contend that the young MLS defenders are unproven and inexperienced, but at least they are defenders that are both skilled and athletic. Their youth or their lack of international inexperience doesn’t change the fact that they have the skill and the athleticism to compete at the international level, and their youth and inexperienced shouldn’t be used against them.
How long until the U.S lets the better defenders play?
The real question is not which players Klinsmann prefers, but rather who are the best American players at each position?
Given the amount of teams in the 2014 World Cup that are frankly much better than the current preferred Klinsmann starting line-up, the United States would be wise to start the Front Six advocated in this article and use a new Back Four that has the ability to compete with the types of players who will be in this World Cup.
The United States won’t be a Giant Killer in this World Cup if Klinsmann’s makeshift defenses are used or if no playmaker is used.
These two things need to change because starting Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore as the Front Six at the very least makes for a competitive group of players with the skill and the athleticism to do well in the 2014 World Cup.
No one will know how good the United States Men’s National Team really is until Klinsmann fields the best American players at the same time in a balanced formation that tactically makes sense.
Brad Evans, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, DaMarcus Beasley, Graham Zusi, and Brad Davis are solid MLS players, but they are not Giant Killers.
They really aren’t as good as other American options such as DeAndre Yedlin, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud.
Many of Jürgen Klinsmann’s first-choice starters hold players like Cameron, Bradley, Dempsey, Feilhaber, Donovan, and Altidore back, and this needs to change.
Jürgen Klinsmann and the United States Men’s National Team have four complete first strikers going into the 2014 World Cup.
Jozy Altidore is the number one striker option right now, but Aron Jóhannsson is equally as skilled from a technical standpoint, if not more so. Additionally, Juan Agudelo and Terrence Boyd are very technically-gifted, fast, tall, and aggressive first strikers who are ready to face high-caliber international competition at the World Cup.
While Eddie Johnson and Herculez Gomez are quality options who are also international-quality strikers, Altidore, Jóhannsson, Agudelo, and Boyd are the best four American first strikers according to World Soccer Source.
The competition at the World Cup is daunting. Teams like Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, France (if they qualify), and others are stocked full of world-class players, but the United States can take comfort in the fact that Altidore, Jóhannsson, Agudelo, and Boyd are capable first strikers who can score on elite national teams. Every one of those American strikers is technically-advanced and fast, and every one stands above 6 feet.
The Best USMNT XI has yet to be determined, but taking the four strikers listed above to the World Cup gives the United States the firepower to score, if those strikers receive quality service and final balls.
Four USMNT Strikers for the 2o14 World Cup in Brazil:
Jozy ALTIDORE (Sunderland)
Jozy Altidore is a beast of a first striker who has cultivated a more polished set of technical skills inside of a strong, tall, and athletic physique. Altidore brings two-footed skill, size, speed, and a growing ability to do real damage against better opponents.
Aron JÓHANNSSON (AZ Alkmaar)
Aron Jóhannsson is a textbook for footwork, touch, ball striking techniques, finishing, and movement off the ball. Quick, fast, and aggressive in his pursuit of the back of the net, Jóhannsson is a clinical striker who plays with elegance and imagination.
Juan AGUDELO (New England Revolution/Stoke City)
Of all the American strikers, Juan Agudelo is the most inventive risk taker who doesn’t hesitate to attempt to outfox and best defenders and goalkeepers. The United States cannot leave a striker with his invention and technical ability off the World Cup roster, especially given the fact that he also brings excellent speed and strength inside of a 6’2” frame. Agudelo is known for his creativity and refined technical-ability, but Agudelo is a big and athletic striker who will make World Cup defenders expend a ton of energy containing and marking him. Agudelo is a gifted goal-scorer who doesn’t need any extra motivation to aggressively attack the goal with skill, and Agudelo looks to create space for himself to score, which helps to open up games that have stalemated.
Terrence BOYD (Rapid Wien)
Of all the American strikers, Terrence Boyd is the most aggressive of the bunch, and he plays with no respect for his opponents. Agudelo and Jóhannsson may or may not be more technically-skilled than Boyd, but Boyd is a very technically-skilled striker who is the tallest and fastest of the bunch. Boyd plays with real fire, and the United States will need a complete striker like Boyd if it wants to have strikers who can really compete against top national teams and score on them. Boyd has everything: skill with both feet and his head, good finishing, speed, quickness, a tall frame, and excellent movement off the ball.
Outlook:
When the 2014 World Cup rolls around, Jürgen Klinsmann and the USMNT would be wise to put Altidore, Jóhannsson, Agudelo, and Boyd on the roster as the four strikers. Other names have been tossed around in the American media as the best American strikers, but all four of the strikers listed above are complete strikers who can score against even the best national teams. While none of these strikers is an unstoppable goal machine, each of them is unfazed by elite defenders for the most part.
Other American Strikers to Watch:
Mario RODRIGUEZ
Herculez GOMEZ
Eddie JOHNSON
Gyasi ZARDES
José VILLARREAL (second striker)
Alonso HERNANDEZ (second striker or attacking midfielder)
The United States Men’s National Team and Jürgen Klinsmann should go ahead and start Aron Jóhannsson and Jozy Altidore as two center forwards because they give the United States two skilled goal-scorers to disrupt the opposition’s defenses.
Starting Altidore and Jóhannsson shouldn’t just be something that is tried in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, but it should now be something that forces Klinsmann to change his 4-2-3-1 formation.
In addition to having some history and chemistry from playing together for AZ Alkmaar, Altidore and Jóhannsson give the USMNT center forwards who are international-caliber goal-scorers who can score on anyone.
Whereas Altidore took a while to refine his technical ability to a level that matched his athleticism and incredible physique to create a striker that was essentially complete, Jóhannsson has always been the type of striker that is described as clinical in regards to his technical ability.
Standing 6 feet tall with great speed and quickness, Jóhannsson is an aggressive striker who has textbook technical ability with both feet. He doesn’t hesitate to shoot when the opportunity presents itself, and he is an accurate shooter with the full arsenal of ball-striking techniques.
The advantage of using two quality strikers is that it forces the opposition’s defense to mark both strikers closely, as both are threats to score or slip behind the backline. If the United States begins to start Altidore and Jóhannsson plus Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan on a regular basis, then the United States is fielding four players who can combine with one another and force the opposition to keep a close eye on all of them.
Combination play amongst these players can certainly produce lots of chances on goal and many goals, but the insertion of a true playmaker to orchestrate the attack and play final balls to these attacking players would be a major upgrade for the USMNT.
Just as Altidore demonstrated for two years with AZ Alkmaar and against Bosnia and Herzogovina that he was a striker to be taken seriously by elite competition, so too has Jóhannsson demonstrated a visibly aggressive elegance to his game as a striker that results in goals. Jóhannsson also has the goal-scoring rate to back up this description of his play.
The United States has a lot of options at its disposal for starting line-ups in the games leading up to next year’s World Cup, but the use of two strikers of Altidore’s and Jóhannsson’s level plus Dempsey and Donovan floating around behind them in the attack is a way for the United States to use offense as a form of defense. Constant waves of attacks and shots on goals disrupts the ability of the opposition to develop any possession or rhythm to its play.
Four defenders plus a defensive midfielder and obviously a goalkeeper is plenty of players who are tasked with providing most of the defense, but the attack-minded players can play defense in their own way, which is pressuring the opposing defense into making mistakes and giving away possession.
While two defensive midfielders is a common strategy and a logical formation option, the United States should make it a priority to start attacking threats like Altidore, Jóhannsson, Dempsey, and Donovan at the same time.
If Jürgen Klinsmann were to also start a playmaker such as Mix Diskerud, Joe Corona, or Benny Feilhaber to orchestrate the attacking play of the other attackers listed, then the United States would be raising the quality of its play to a new level.
What would a Front Six with two strikers look like? It would look like the Front Six below:
Coming into October of 2013, and since the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, here is the Best Starting XI that Jürgen Klinsmann can start for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in October.
Michael Bradley and John Anthony Brooks are currently injured with an ankle injury and elbow injury, respectively, but here is the best Starting XI that the United States could use, if both players are healthy in time.
This starting line-up combines proven-players with players who have shown a real ability to offer the United States Men’s National Team upgrades in certain areas, most notably in the defense and at the playmaker role.
The national team must keep starting its very best players like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, and Jozy Altidore, but it should fill the rest of the starting line-up with new players with the tools to compete at the next level.
Here is World Soccer Source’s Best Starting XI for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers:
GOALKEEPER: Brad GUZAN
Chosing Brad Guzan over Tim Howard is a tough decision because Tim Howard excels at making game-saving stops that register high on the difficulty scale. There is some concern that Howard doesn’t always come off his line to collect balls played in the air fairly close to his own six-yard box, but goalkeepers are often judged too harshly. Nevertheless, it’s time to see if Guzan comes off his line better than Howard, and if Guzan is better at saving shots from distance than Howard is. Either way, this choice between two excellent keepers is a toss up, and until Guzan plays more, it will be hard to determine which keeper should start. Starting Guzan isn’t risky, nor is it a drop off in skill.
RIGHT BACK: DeAndre YEDLIN / Andrew FARRELL
The time for Jürgen Klinsmann to let DeAndre Yedlin or Andrew Farrell play right back is now. The United States has qualified for the 2014 World Cup, and both Farrell and Yedlin are better than Brad Evans. Both players are more technically-skilled than Evans, and both can stay with faster and more-skillful attackers better than Evans. Although Geoff Cameron can play right back quite well, Cameron has shown how he excels as a midfield destroyer with his tackling, passing, and running, so it’s better to let a natural and explosive outside back like Yedlin or Farrell play right back. Both Yedlin and Farrell are extremely fast and technically-skilled, but Farrell’s tackling is likely better than Yedlin’s (but Yedlin’s defense and tackling are quite good). Time will tell if Yedlin or Farrell is better or if they are just different, and time will tell if Farrell proves to be better suited to be a starting USMNT center back.
CENTER BACK: Shane O’NEILL
Just like DeAndre Yedlin and Andrew Farrell are legitimate options for the United States and likely upgrades at right back, Shane O’Neill is an upgrade at center back to both Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler. O’Neill is a better defender and a better soccer player in general, and O’Neill possesses a complete skill-set that allows him to play better defense and pass and dribble out of trouble better than Gonzalez and Besler. Both Gonzalez and Besler have become familiar to American soccer fans, and the recent winning streak makes people afraid to accept the possibility that there is another level above that at which Besler and Gonzalez play.
CENTER BACK: John Anthony BROOKS
Assuming he’s healthy, John Anthony Brooks should start at left center back for the USMNT. Brooks is a starting center back for Hertha Berlin at 20 years old, and he was named to the Bundesliga Team of the Week twice already this season. These facts combined with his agility, size, skill on the ball, and athleticism are just too much to ignore, and Brooks showed that he was ready to play international soccer against top competition when he started against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
LEFT BACK: Chris KLUTE
Chris Klute is the best American left back in the American player pool. Klute offers better defending and more speed than Fabian Johnson or DaMarcus Beasley, and Klute is a constant attacking threat who creates a lot of goals. Klute’s defending and attacking skills combined with his athleticism (most notably his world-class speed) make him too good to not incorporate into the national team now. Skeptics will argue that Klute is inexperienced, but since any defender has the potential to make a mistake or be beaten in any game, the possibility that a new defender may be beaten a few times is just an irrational excuse to ignore a talented player at a position where the United States is weak.
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER: Geoff CAMERON
Geoff Cameron’s passing, tackling, skill on the ball, and tireless and smooth running make for an excellent midfield destroyer to patrol the back of the midfield, while Michael Bradley has more freedom to attack and drop back as he sees fit. Jermaine Jones also likes to participate in the attack when he plays for the United States, and starting Cameron over Jones prevents a hole from being left in front of the American defense.
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Michael BRADLEY
Michael Bradley is a defensive midfielder who was always skilled as a passer and as a defender, and his trademark was his ability to run for the full 90 minutes participating all over the field. Bradley’s passing and technical ability have progressively improved, and Bradley’s forays into the attack and his combination play with Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan make him the ideal player to provide Cameron passing and defensive support deeper in the midfield, in addition to providing the link from Cameron to the attacking midfielders and strikers.
RIGHT MIDFIELDER: Landon DONOVAN
Landon Donovan’s skill-level and experience are a vital component of the USMNT, and using Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan together as attacking midfielders gives the United States good passing and excellent attacking in the midfield. Donovan’s speed and his ability to score and set up goals are well-documented. Starting Dempsey and Donovan together should be a priority for Jürgen Klinsmann.
PLAYMAKER: Benny FEILHABER
Benny Feilhaber brings playmaking qualities that Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan don’t have. Whereas Donovan and Dempsey are skilled-attackers who can score or help to create goals, Feilhaber is an actual playmaker who makes sure players like Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey receive service when they make their runs in the final third. Feilhaber is a proven-performer, and he allows Dempsey and Donovan to focus on scoring goals and combining with Altidore, rather than being tasked with providing all of the playmaking responsibilities.
LEFT MIDFIELDER: Clint DEMPSEY
Whether Clint Dempsey is playing as an attacking midfielder out on the left or playing as a second striker, his role is a fluid role built around passing and moving throughout the attack in an effort to score or set up goals. As the best American soccer player ever and the most skilled American player now, Clint Dempsey is an obvious inclusion in any USMNT Starting XI that is looking to have the United States playing its best soccer.
STRIKER: Jozy ALTIDORE
Jozy Altidore has shown that he has blossomed into a more-refined striker with improved technical-skill and better movement off the ball; Altidore has also become a more aggressive striker and a more ruthless finisher who can score with both feet and his head. Altidore’s scoring drought with Sunderland is a product of no longer playing for a team like AZ Alkmaar that places a premium on quality passing and good technical play. Sunderland’s poor form doesn’t change the fact that Altidore has become a complete striker who brings skill, athleticism, and size to the front of the American attack.
Jozy Altidore. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)
Over the past two years, Jozy Altidore has dramatically improved his movement off the ball, and he has refined his technical ability and finishing skills.
Now, Jozy Altidore has blossomed into a first striker whose athleticism and physique are matched by his technical skill and movement off the ball. Altidore has two years playing club soccer in Holland to thank for these improvements, and now Jozy Altidore tops the list of World Soccer Source’s best American strikers.
After Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo and Aron Jóhannsson are tied for second due to the difficulty in trying to scientifically rank all of the various criteria like finishing, club form, the league played in, technical ability, scoring-rate, and athleticism.
1.) Jozy Altidore (Sunderland)
Easily the best American striker, Altidore showed just how far he’d come in polishing his technical ability, finishing, and movement off the ball when he scored an outstanding hat trick against Bosnia and Herzegovina after two years with a prolific scoring-rate with AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie. Two months shy of his 24th birthday, Altidore is a complete first striker, and he will continue to improve in all areas of his game as the years go by.
2.) Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution / Stoke City)
Juan Agudelo is one of the crown jewels of American soccer, and it will be interesting to see how he compares to Jozy Altidore in a few years or sooner.
It took Altidore several years and the right club situation to become a more finished product who had harnessed his physical gifts and honed his skills, so Agudelo should be allowed the same amount of time to become more polished and deadly.
Whereas Altidore was accused of needing to refine his technical ability several years ago, Agudelo was never criticized for his technical ability. Agudelo has been criticized for trying to do too many tricks, for overcomplicating things, and for taking too many touches, but Agudelo has become more efficient without eliminating the trickery and creativity from his game.
The young American striker has had multiple opportunities to showcase his talent against top national teams playing at full strength, and he has never looked overmatched or fazed by the opposition.
There are too many excellent goals with both feet and his head to not consistently have Juan Agudelo on the United States Men’s National Team, and despite a few injuries, there have been plenty of occasions when Agudelo has been unjustly snubbed by Jürgen Klinsmann and the national team.
2.) Aron Jóhannsson (AZ Alkmaar)
Aron Jóhannsson is as good as or better than Juan Agudelo, and Jóhannsson plays for Jozy Altidore’s former club, AZ Alkmaar.
Altidore has backed Jóhannsson due to his time playing with Jóhannsson and seeing him in action, but Jóhannsson’s play last season and this season combined with his excellent play against Bosnia and Herzegovina prove Jóhannsson’s skill and ability to excel against top-level competition.
The AZ Alkmaar striker is fast and clinical with a nose for goal, and he never hesitates to go straight to goal or hit shots the instant the opportunity presents itself.
If started right now for the United States, there’s no reason to think that Jóhannsson couldn’t do as well or better than any other American striker who has played for the USMNT in the past.
He will continue to grow and get stronger, but Jóhannsson is already a tall striker with excellent speed and textbook technical ability.
Jóhannsson’s biggest strength is the combination of his technical ability with his instinct to attack the goal.
4.) Terrence Boyd (Rapid Wien)
A year ago, the young Terrence Boyd looked poised to make a run at Jozy Altidore’s starting spot, but with Altidore’s improved international form came less playing time for Boyd.
Nevertheless, Boyd is a direct-to-goal first striker who attacks the goal constantly with his skill and athleticism. Unlike Altidore who took some time to develop more of a ruthless streak, Boyd has always been very aggressive and his ability to score with both feet should serve the United States well.
Boyd has all of the tools to be a starting striker with the USMNT, and it’s time for Klinsmann to start seasoning more of his strikers besides Altidore.
Boyd is a faster and more athletic player than Altidore, Agudelo, and Jóhannsson, and his technical ability is equally good.
A striker with Boyd’s gifts and skills should prove to be a very valuable weapon for the United States. Once Boyd plays more with the United States, it will be easier to compare and contrast him with Jozy Altidore.
Of all the American strikers, Boyd is the most ruthless, and he attacks opponents with pure rage and no respect.
Conclusion:
Jozy Altidore leads the pack as the best American striker, but Juan Agudelo, Aron Jóhannsson, and Terrence Boyd deserve more opportunities to gain international experience. Until the other three play more for the United States, it’s unclear how they compare to one another or if one of them partners particularly well with Altidore. There is also the real need to make sure that the United States has four first strikers who are ready to play well in the World Cup.
Jürgen Klinsmann hasn’t been using playmakers in his United States Men’s National Team starting line-ups for the most part, but he did start Mix Diskerud as a playmaker against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Rather than using true playmakers who have the unique skill-set and abilities to see openings in the defense and play killer final balls, Klinsmann has preferred to use Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan as second strikers who are tasked with the responsibility of setting up goals for strikers like Jozy Altidore.
The United States has the option of starting a playmaker in between Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan who should be allowed the freedom to roam around in the attack where they see fit, and starting a playmaker would force the opposition to contend with marking Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore who would all be making final runs.
Recently, Mix Diskerud and Joe Benny Corona have shown how the way that they play the game and the way that they see the game is more along the lines of a playmaker than Dempsey and Donovan, who are really attacking midfielders or second strikers.
American soccer fans and the American soccer media should be mindful that despite the good winning streak under Jürgen Klinsmann, only Benny Feilhaber and to a less extent Freddy Adu have ever really proven that they can excel as playmakers against quality international competition.
Until there is a real contest between Corona, Diskerud, Feilhaber, and Adu, no one will know which American playmaker truly performs the best against international competition.
1.) Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City)
Of all the playmakers, Benny Feilhaber has been the one who has a track record of success on the international level.
There are many journalists and fans who want Feilhaber to play more like a box-to-box midfielder, but this over-emphasis on playing more defense makes little sense especially in a system with one or two defensive midfielders playing in front of four defenders.
Feilhaber should certainly apply defensive pressure on the opposition to make mistakes when they have the ball, but expecting Feilhaber to bring the same amount of defense and tackling that defensive midfielders bring is unnecessary and unreasonable.
Feilhaber’s role is to constantly make himself available as a passing option for his teammates and to facilitate the quick movement of the ball around the field, and he should be focused on doing this and looking to unlock the defense with incisive passes or final balls whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Being a playmaker requires hitting effective and quality passes as soon as the playmaker sees the opening to play the pass, and Feilhaber has been the American playmaker who has the best track record of being able to do that in World Cup games and in other big games.
2.) Freddy Adu (E.C. Bahia)
No one ever questions Freddy Adu’s talent, but he has been on the receiving end of lots of criticism for the amount of club teams that he’s played for and the lack of consistent playing time at the club level.
From the United States Men’s National Team’s perpective, Adu has always shown the ability to not only play up to the level of top competition but also to distinguish himself.
Regardless of Adu’s club history, he remains a special talent blessed with excellent vision, trickery, 1v1 abilities, passing skill, goal-scoring abilities, and great quickness.
The United States is not at the level yet where players of Adu’s individual ability who can win games with one pass, one trick, or one shot can be left off the roster.
Like it or not, the United States will have a hard time beating top national teams in the World Cup without Adu or one of the other playmakers in this article on the national team.
Freddy Adu is a controversial enigma, but if he’s physically fit to play, then his skills are needed by the USMNT.
3.) Joe Benny Corona (Tijuana)
While Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu were given the opportunities to show what they could do for the USMNT under Bob Bradley, Joe Benny Corona hasn’t been given the same amount of chances to show Jürgen Klinsmann how he can improve the play of Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Jozy Altidore.
Corona has proven himself in the Copa Liberatores against teams like Corinthians, but Corona has only been given limited opportunities to play as a playmaker under Klinsmann.
Based on Corona’s playing-style, his ability to use both feet, his touch, and his ability to score and set up goals when deployed as a number 10, the United States would benefit from seeing what Corona can really do.
With the World Cup one year away, Klinsmann will need players like Corona if he hopes to unlock elite defenses in the World Cup, and if Klinsmann is going to totally freeze out Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu.
3.) Mix Diskerud (tied with Joe Benny Corona) (Rosenborg)
Mix Diskerud may be equal to, better than, or worse than Joe Benny Corona, but until Klinsmann really lets both players play more, it’s hard to decide which playmaker is better.
Certainly, Diskerud has shown that his passing, vision, and playmaking abilities are rare in the American player pool, but the way to evaluate playmakers is to play them with the best attacking players on the team and see what happens.
Both Corona and Diskerud haven’t really been started with or seen significant minutes with Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore, and giving them these minutes will help to answer questions about who the best American playmakers are and which ones the USMNT needs.
Conclusion:
Benny Feilhaber is the most proven playmaker of all American playmakers, and his play in MLS this season has demonstrated that there is nothing to suggest that he’s experienced any drop in skill or fitness that would somehow make him not play as well now with Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore as he did in the past.
The most bizarre aspect of Klinsmann’s line-ups and formations is why he has refused to use a true playmaker when he is using two defensive midfielders, four defenders, and a goalkeeper. The use of a playmaker to link the defensive midfielders with the attackers and to set up goals is internationally-recognized as a key aspect of soccer tactics.
It’s unclear why a former striker of Klinsmann’s level would not place more of a premium on using true playmakers to set up the U.S.’ strikers and attacking midfielders.
If Jürgen Klinsmann doesn’t want to use Feilhaber and Adu, then he would be wise to put Corona and Diskerud on the roster and actually start one or the other on a consistent basis.
Jozy Altidore. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)
The United States has a world-class first striker. Jozy Altidore is now the first world-class American striker.
From age 16 until roughly age 22, Altidore was labeled as another example of a overly-hyped American soccer player who wasn’t the answer to the United States Men’s National Team’s lack of a world-class striker to spearhead the attack.
Two years ago, Altidore began to display an increased ability to score goals against better competition in European club soccer, which began a two year process of refining his technical ability and finishing to match his exceptional athleticism and physique.
In many ways, the weaknesses that critics pointed to in Altidore’s game were true. His movement off the ball often wasn’t good enough to force his teammates to pass to him, and he simply didn’t move enough without the ball. In the past, Altidore used to not attack the goal as aggressively as he does now because now Altidore will dribble with both feet through crowds of players to get himself into position to shoot.
It would appear that the primary reason for the enormous improvement in Altidore’s technical ability, his 1v1 skills, his finishing, his movement off the ball, and his increased attacking aggression was playing club soccer in Holland, which is one of the best soccer nations in the world in terms of technical ability.
To be fair to Jozy Altidore, he really became more of a finished product and a better first striker at a normal age, which was around age 22.
Altidore’s time spent club hopping was largely time when he was honestly quite young, even by professional soccer standards, so it makes sense that his promise and skill didn’t really manifest themselves until he was about 22.
By the time he arrived at a club team like AZ Alkmaar in a country like Holland that placed a premium of technical skill and attacking soccer, he was the right age to begin to make drastic improvements in his game.
One conclusion that can be drawn from Jozy Altidore’s recent increase in technical ability and attacking skills is that by playing in an environment that valued quality soccer and in which he saw consistent playing time Altidore was able to blossom and begin to harness his full potential.
Looking back at the years that Villarreal loaned Altidore out when he was a teenager and before he turned 22, it’s hard to really decide if the environments that he played in weren’t conducive to his development or if those experiences were part of the process that made him ready to blossom in Holland.
Altidore’s hat-trick against Bosnia-Herzegovina yesterday was a statement game where he showcased his ability to score with his left foot in traffic, his ability to score off free kicks, and his ability to quickly pounce on balls in the penalty box and put them away while avoiding an onrushing goalkeeper and a defender behind him.
