Michael Orozco Fiscal

WSS USMNT XI (August 2013)

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THE WSS USMNT XI (AUGUST 2013)

In a new series, World Soccer Source will propose a hypothetical United States Men’s National Team Starting XI that could possible improve the play of the United States.

Additionally, World Soccer Source will propose a Starting XI that is likely the first-choice of the U.S. national team coach.

For August 2013, World Soccer Source proposes the following Starting XI in a 4-1-2-1-2 Formation:

 

GOALKEEPER: Tim HOWARD

RIGHT BACK: DeAndre YEDLIN

CENTER BACK: Andrew FARRELL

CENTER BACK: Shane O’NEILL

LEFT BACK: Chris KLUTE

MIDFIELD DESTROYER: Geoff CAMERON

BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Michael BRADLEY

BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Benji JOYA

CENTRAL ATTACKING MIDFIELDER: Joe Benny CORONA

SECOND STRIKER: Clint DEMPSEY

FIRST STRIKER: Jozy ALTIDORE

 

The Starting USMNT Starting XI Formation above would line up as follows:

HOWARD; YEDLIN, FARRELL, O’NEILL, KLUTE; CAMERON; BRADLEY, JOYA; CORONA; ALTIDORE, DEMPSEY.

 

RATIONALE:

Jürgen Klinsmann has repeatedly expressed his desire to play proactive, one-to-two touch soccer where the attack starts from the back. This Starting XI aims to do just that.

DeAndre Yedlin and Chris Klute as the right back and left back bring electrifying speed and excellent technical ability on the ball. Both players look to get forward and both players have the defensive skills in addition to the speed to strengthen the USMNT’s ability to defend out wide.

Andrew Farrell is naturally a center back who has been playing as a right back. His comfort on the ball and his willingness to pass and go forward have been seen by everyone watching MLS closely, and this combination of athleticism and the ability to pass and dribble out of the final third, not to mention his keen defensive instincts and defensive fundamentals, make him a legitimate option at center back.

Farrell’s center back partner should be Shane O’Neill. O’Neill has received widespread praise for his overall skill-set and his defensive positioning and abilities. Like Farrell, O’Neill can play more than one defensive position, and Tab Ramos has praised O’Neill as the type of center back that the USMNT needs to be using.

The Front Six requires less explaining.

Geoff Cameron’s athleticism, passing, tackling, and overall technical ability are well-known, and there was a general consensus that he was more willing to hang back deeper to play the midfield destroyer role than Jermaine Jones.

Michael Bradley has developed into more of a box-to-box midfielder than in years past, and pairing Bradley with another box-to-box midfielder like Benji Joya could bring a nice balance of better attacking and playmaker abilities (Joya) and tireless running combined with strong defensive abilities and excellent passing skills (Bradley).

To be clear, while both Joya and Bradley attack and defend, Joya is better at playing final balls and setting up goals than Bradley, and Bradley is better at covering more territory to maintain ball possession than Joya.

The combination of two box-to-box midfielders who excel at different things and who both have a midfield destroyer behind them will help the United States to win the battle of the midfield.

Joe Benny Corona has proven to Klinsmann that he is a viable goal-scoring playmaker that can bring playmaking abilities that Dempsey and Donovan don’t have. Corona is a necessary and vital link between players like Bradley and players like Dempsey and Altidore.

 

Klinsmann’s Possible USMNT XI:

Tim HOWARD; Timothy CHANDLER, Michael OROZCO, Matt BESLER, Fabian JOHNSON; Geoff CAMERON; Michael BRADLEY, Jermaine JONES; Clint DEMPSEY; Jozy ALTIDORE, Landon DONOVAN.

 

Orozco at Midfield Destroyer vs. Honduras?

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The USMNT should start Michael Orozco Fiscal over Kyle Beckerman as the midfield destroyer against Honduras to give the U.S. superior speed and technical ability in front of the defensive back four.

Orozco is a faster and quicker player than Beckerman, and he is a better defender who has the athleticism to better time his challenges and keep up with quicker and more elusive opponents.

Whereas Beckerman always seems to be chugging along at a labored jog, Orozco is a quick defender who has a visibly higher technical skill-set than the other center backs on the Gold Cup roster.

At 27 years old, Orozco has been playing for years at the highest level in Mexico, and his skill-level and quickness as a defender have been highly regarded by the U.S. Soccer set-up for years.

While there was a time that Orozco was the subject of ridicule by American soccer fans, no one ever questioned his skill on the ball or the improved agility that he brought to the American defense compared to other center back options except for Geoff Cameron.

With Orozco’s speed and skill on the ball and Klinsmann’s likely preference to start Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler at center back, using Orozco as the midfield destroyer allows the USMNT to start both Stuart Holden and Mix Diskerud in more advanced roles relieving them of having to constantly track back on defense or playing deeper than they naturally play.

The only tactical problem with using Holden and Diskerud together in place of Beckerman was that both players had to focus more on playing defense deeper in the midfield, as opposed to focusing on their strong suit which is using their passing and technical ability in a more attacking role.

By starting Orozco as a midfield destroyer over Beckerman, the United States can have Stuart Holden, Mix Diskerud, Joe Corona, and Landon Donovan combining together to break down Honduras as a unit of skilled attacking midfielders, while Orozco covers for them deeper in the midfield.

Using Orozco deep in the midfield and pushing Holden and Diskerud forward to play closer to Corona and Donovan allows both Holden and Diskerud to concentrate on playing more final balls for Eddie Johnson.

If Beckerman is susceptible to being beaten with speed or quick combination passing by Honduras, why not use Orozco as a defensive midfielder since he clearly has the skill on the ball, the heading ability, the speed, and the defensive skills to protect the American center backs from either counter attacks or just quality attacking play from Honduras?

It is very likely that Beckerman will be unable to keep up with Honduras, so why not start Orozco in his place?

While this suggestion may seem experimental or risky, Orozco has demonstrated than he passes well out of the back with both feet and he has the speed and defensive skills to fulfill the role of the midfield destroyer.

Any passing or defending that Beckerman can do, Orozco can do better.

Orozco plays in a better league, and his superior athleticism, defending, and skill on the ball are documented with ample video evidence from this Gold Cup and previous USMNT games.

While Beckerman is a MLS veteran, Michael Orozco Fiscal is a Liga MX player who is an aggressive and intense player who is always fired up to play. Below are Orozco’s club and international playing record:

http://espnfc.com/player/_/id/84160/michael-orozco?cc=5901

This mentality combined with his ability to receive and release balls quicker  than Beckerman, in addition to his athletic gifts outline above, make him the only option Jürgen Klinsmann has at his disposal to compensate for Beckerman’s lack of speed and quickness.

With Orozco floating between the realm of the center backs and the realm of the midfield destroyer, the United States has a capable gatekeeper to support the defensive back four in order to allow Holden, Diskerud, and Corona to focus on possession, attacking, and scoring.

Honduras should be better than El Salvador, and El Salvador was only down by one goal to the United States until the 60th minute. Additionally, Beckerman’s lack of quickness was particularly on display when he was left for dead in the penalty box by Rodolfo Zelaya of El Salvador.

Starting Michael Orozco Fiscal as a midfield destroyer would certainly catch Honduras off guard and help to shore up the USMNT’s defense.

USMNT XI Proposal with Michael Orozco as a midfield destroyer (4-1-2-1-2):

Nick RIMANDO; Michael PARKHURST, Omar GONZALEZ, Matt BESLER, DaMarcus BEASLEY; Michael OROZCO FISCAL; Stuart HOLDEN, Mix DISKERUD; Joe Benny CORONA; Eddie JOHNSON, Landon DONOVAN.

 

 

Who Should the USMNT Start vs. El Salvador?

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Joe Benny Corona (Photo: Evan Habeeb/USA TODAY Sports)
Joe Benny Corona (Photo: Evan Habeeb/USA TODAY Sports)

 

The Starting XI will be greatly affected by the four new players added to the United States Men’s National Team’s roster.

Jürgen Klinsmann added four new players to the USMNT’s Gold Cup roster off the preliminary 35-man roster, and he sent four players back to their club teams.

Per the rules of the tournament, at the conclusion of the group stage, Klinsmann was allowed to add up to four players off his preliminary roster to his 23-man roster, if he removed four players from the current roster.

The USMNT added Eddie Johnson, Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, and Alan Gordon to the roster, so Klinsmann chose to select two strikers and two center backs. Klinsmann sent Herculez Gomez, Jack McInerney, Corey Ashe, and Oguchi Onyewu back to their club teams.

Gomez and Onyewu were dropped from the roster due to injuries, whereas McInerney and Ashe were dropped presumably due to the fact that they didn’t impress Klinsmann (Ashe had a minor injury before the Gold Cup).

Both McInerney and Ashe are an example of Klinsmann filling up roster spots with players he has no intention of using. One has to wonder why two players who he was more likely to use weren’t put on the preliminary roster or the final Gold Cup roster.

Klinsmann didn’t add Benny Feilhaber or Graham Zusi as midfielders, but Stuart Holden, Joe Corona, Landon Donovan, Mix Diskerud, and even José Torres give Klinsmann good options in the midfield.

The area where the U.S. needed to strengthen its roster was at defensive midfielder, center back, and right back, but the preliminary roster didn’t offer Klinsmann these options (except at center back), which is an example of his continued inability to call up balanced rosters.

Of the four players added to the roster, it seems likely that Klinsmann would definitely start Eddie Johnson at first-striker with Besler at center back, as it has been reported that Gonzalez will not join the U.S. until the semifinal game, if the U.S. beats El Salvador.

Michael Orozco has been playing well in the Gold Cup, and the argument can be made that Orozco is simply a better soccer player than both Besler and Gonzalez.

Besler is less one-footed than he used to be but still favors his left foot and Gonzalez isn’t as quick, fast, or as skilled as Orozco.

Orozco also seems less prone to falling asleep on defense compared to Gonzalez.

 

Based on these new additions Klinsmann’s likely Starting XI just might be:

Nick Rimando; Michael Parkhurst, Michael Orozco, Matt Besler, DaMarcus Beasley; Kyle Beckerman; Stuart Holden, Mix Diskerud; Joe Corona; Eddie Johnson, Landon Donovan.

 

In all fairness to Klinsmann, this is a fairly solid line-up, even if Klinsmann’s 35-man and 23-man rosters omitted a number of very promising and even proven players.

It’s possible that Klinsmann might elect to chose either Holden or Diskerud to start, thus opening up a Starting XI spot for José Torres, who really did have a strong game against Costa Rica, but Klinsmann might start Beckerman, Holden, and Diskerud at the same time.

Diskerud and Holden aren’t anything close to defensive midfielders, whether one is referring to midfield destroyers or more box-to-box midfielders, but the two did a good job when they shared the defensive workload in the midfield.

Beckerman’s actual skill-level is good, but his lack of athleticism makes him a liability in the midfield because when he gets beaten off the dribble or with passes, he tends to go into reckless tackles as a result of the inability to run fast enough or move quickly enough to get into position to make clean tackles.

 

World Soccer Source supports using  the Starting XI option below:

Rimando; Parkhurst, Orozco, Besler, Beasley; Holden, Diskerud; Donovan, Corona, Shea; Johnson.

 

World Soccer Source obviously prefers the Starting XI option presented above, but Klinsmann is more likely to use the option presented as Klinsmann’s likely Starting XI. Klinsmann could possibly decide that Beckerman might not have the athleticism to keep up with El Salvador and use World Soccer Source’s preferred Starting XI, which is surely an option that Klinsmann himself has been considering for days.

Whoever the USMNT elects to start, it seems likely that Holden, Diskerud, Corona, Donovan, and Johnson will all be starting, and this collection of midfielders and attackers is a solid group that would do well for the USMNT’s A Team as well.

Johnson should bring the speed, movement off the ball, and skill to allow all of the players above an excellent target to whom they can play final balls, and that target has world-class speed for any level of international soccer.

Hopefully Klinsmann and the United States learned their lesson that Joe Corona is an essential player in the midfield because he gives Diskerud and Holden a strong passing option in the midfield, which helps to connect the midfield to the attack.

Corona was missed for the 80 minutes that he wasn’t playing in the previous game against Costa Rica, which the U.S. didn’t need to win.

 

The strongest option for the USMNT would be to use a Front Six consisting of: Holden, Diskerud, Donovan, Corona, Shea, and Johnson.

This Front Six with Parkhurst, Orozco, Besler, and Beasley as the back four and Rimando in goal should give the United States the tools needed to win.