Chris Klute (arms raised). (Photo: USA Today SPORTS)
After a player has played 17 MLS games with 15 starts at left back plus five assists, you stop referring to someone as “just a promising player.”
1,436 minutes of playing time is an enormous sample to consider someone as a left back on a United States Men’s National Team that really needs depth in its defense, particularly at left back.
Many people have been closely watching Chris Klute’s play in MLS for several months now.
With Chris Klute, all of the signs were there in the beginning.
He was recommended to MLS by Eric Wynalda, and he was a 6’2,” two-footed left back with a 4.3 40-yard dash time.
Beyond the physical gifts, which should have made Chris Klute stand out to Jürgen Klinsmann, was the comfort on the ball with both feet along with the ability to attack and defend aggressively but with elegance.
Klute’s smooth running and his tendency to go forward make him a very noticeable player in MLS games, and his defense isn’t lacking because of all of his attacking forays. In fact, his defense is as good as his attacking, and his defense shows a strong ability to pass and dribble out of his own final third.
With so many people watching MLS games and looking for players to improve the USMNT, Klute is the perfect example of a talented player being undervalued or dismissed as “inexperienced” or “raw” or “promising,” which are all just clichés that are irrelevant to a national team that needs to close the gap with much more technically-skilled national teams.
Chris Klute is way too good to continue to be overlooked by the national team without evidence of two better left back options, when Klute is likely the very best left back option.
Maybe it took playing against Thierry Henry and the New York Red Bulls for people to really notice Klute, but with more members of the media watching this particular game on the Fourth of July because Thierry Henry was playing, Klute had a statement game characterized by his dribbling, his tackling, his world-class speed, and the two-way threat he posed attacking and defending.
It’s too bad that it took many people so long to notice Klute, but after tonight’s game, people will be paying more attention.
Klute’s ability and athleticism really challenge the belief that Jürgen Klinsmann has surveyed the American talent pool and that he is limited by it.
Many people will say that one particularly good game against Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls doesn’t warrant a national team spot or the title, “Best American Left Back,” and that’s fair. But, this wasn’t one game; this was 17 games and 1,436 minutes of playing time, in addition to the personal recommendation of Eric Wynalda.
Klute’s skill-set and physical gifts look to not just be MLS-caliber but international-caliber. Klute may not show his full potential in his first international game, but it’s hard to argue that his technical ability, defensive skill-set, size, and speed won’t translate to the international game.
Call it premature if you want, but Chris Klute looks to have the two-way skill and the athleticism to be the best left back option for the USMNT, even including Fabian Johnson who is a right-footed player who prefers playing on the wing.
Check out German Sferra’s coverage of Chris Klute for the Colorado Rapids’ website:
The United States Men’s National Team roster selected to participate in two friendlies (Belgium and Germany) and three World Cup qualifying games (Jamaica, Panama, Honduras) contains several solid, international-caliber selections, but the roster also fails to correct weaknesses in the balance and technical ability of previous rosters.
Despite criticism of the quality of Major League Soccer, there have always been talented American players in MLS who have been able to perform and excel at the international level. Here are several American MLS players who the USMNT can use and why they need to be used by Jürgen Klinsmann:
Juan Agudelo
The U.S. Men’s National Team is simply not good enough to not need strikers of Juan Agudelo’s technical ability, fearlessness, nose for goal, and creativity—not to mention that all of these playing qualities are found in a quick, tall, fast, and strong athlete.
Juan Agudelo is way too skilled and athletic to not play for a team like the United States which not only struggles to score goals or produce a technically-advanced style of play but that also is regarded by national teams and people from around the world as a physically-fit but somewhat technically weak national squad.
George John
* From a previous World Soccer Source article found here .
For several years now, it’s been unclear why Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, and George John weren’t all incorporated into the USMNT and steadily given more playing time. It took Klinsmann about five or six months to even call Cameron and Gonzalez into a USMNT camp, but Klinsmann essentially totally ignores John besides all of the praise of his play from players, coaches, scouts, and foreign clubs. The Greek national team has even expressed interest in having John play for them. Like Cameron and Gonzalez, John is technically-skilled with the ball while also being a strong defender, and he has a level of athleticism above players like Clarence Goodson and Carlos Bocanegra. Matt Besler of Sporting Kansas City has been used by Klinsmann, but John is visibly more talented than Besler who is largely one-footed.
Perry Kitchen
The U.S. Men’s National Team needs Perry Kitchen. If Michael Bradley were ever injured or suspended (like in the 2009 Confederations Cup Final when Brazil scored three second half goals), then the United States would only have Jermaine Jones as a technically-skilled defensive midfielder to replace Bradley. While Edu is a much better player than many Americans give him credit for, Kitchen is a player who can bring the U.S. another effective defensive midfielder with advanced two-footed skill on the ball, and there is room for Kitchen on a 23 man roster. Kitchen’s ability to play center back along with his comfort on the ball make him a player that is needed in a balanced USMNT roster with skilled replacements at every position.
Benny Feilhaber
Benny Feilhaber (along with Freddy Adu) is the only American playmaker who has ever demonstrated with the national team that he has the ability to bring the technical ability needed to not only play at Michael Bradley’s, Clint Dempsey’s, and Landon Donovan’s level, but also to bring the vision and passing ability to break down defenses in a way that the other three midfielders listed above can’t. Once a player consistently performs well for the USMNT for six years even against the most elite competition in international soccer (and he’s under 30 years old), there really is not a good excuse for not including a player like Feilhaber on the roster, unless you have better playmakers who are improving the U.S.’ passing and setting up goals. The USMNT does not.
Gale Agbossoumonde
Agbossoumonde has everything you could want in a center back: defensive instincts, skill on the ball, speed, controlled tackling, strong heading ability, lateral quickness, and calmness. Agbossoumonde is young, but he is way too talented and athletically gifted to ignore. Now playing in MLS at 21 years old, Agbossoumonde has demonstrated in a string of starts that he deserves to be strongly considered for the upcoming friendlies, World Cup qualifying, and the Gold Cup. It’s important to give Agbossoumonde his first USMNT cap, so that he can serve the American defense for years to come.
Andrew Farrell
Andrew Farrell’s versatility, skill, speed, and strength is needed on a USMNT with a history of poor defensive performances. The sooner players like Farrell are incorporated into the national team, the sooner the players without the skill and athleticism to be effective defenders against elite attackers will be phased out of the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Amobi Okugo
Amobi Okugo now plays as a center back after being converted from a defensive midfielder, but he can certainly play both. Okugo certainly is the type of player the USMNT needs: a fast, technically-skilled, two-footed, quick, tall, and defensively strong center back. Okugo continues to improve as a center back, and his style of play based on skill plus athleticism is a major upgrade from many of the American center backs in the past who simply headed balls out of the back or cleared the ball 50 yards downfield. Okugo can help prevent the United States from being in the situation it was in against Mexico where the United States needed Maurice Edu at center back and defensive midfielder at the same time (instead Klinsmann had to use both Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu as defensive midfielders to protect Matt Besler at center back).
Chris Klute
Chris Klute has all of the technical and physical tools to perform well at the international level. Klute as an outside back brings a strong combination of attacking and defensive skill. Whether Klute is just included in a USMNT camp to be looked at more closely or put on the roster for the upcoming friendlies or even considered for the Gold Cup or World Cup qualifying, American soccer fans should keep an eye on Chris Klute. There is often talk of putting certain MLS players on the USMNT, but their technical abilty and athleticism doesn’t translate to the international level. Klute just might be a sleeper who has all of the tools and gifts to play international soccer.
José Villarreal
José Villarreal is exactly what the United States Men’s National Team needs: a creative, quick, aggressive, and technically-skilled striker. Villarreall has garnered a lot of attention for his play in MLS, in Under-20 World Cup qualifying, and his play in the CONCACAF Champions League. If one watches Villarreal closely in games for the LA Galaxy and reviews his highlights, it becomes clear why he’s knocking on the door of the USMNT roster; he’s probably ready to play for the USMNT right now.
Honorable Mention:
Zach Loyd
Kofi Sarkodie
DeAndre Yedlin
Dax McCarty
Jeremy Hall
EDIT: DeAndre Yedlin belongs on the USMNT now. His combination of attacking skill and bravado combined with his speed and defensive tenacity and timing makes him a modern outside back who the USMNT sorely needs.
Michael Bradley (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Fielding a line-up that is strong defensively and offensively is only Jürgen Klinsmann’s first step in having a United States Men’s National Team that will be truly respected around the world as a team capable of beating top national teams.
For now, the United States, which means Klinsmann, needs to start a group of players with the ability to win in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
Setting aside the laundry list of players frozen out of the United States Men’s National Team by Jürgen Klinsmann, the coach of the United States is now two starting line-up changes away from proactive soccer: Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber.
Klinsmann likes to use Tim Howard, Timothy Chandler, Omar Gonzalez, Geoff Cameron, Fabian Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore, and all of those players can produce the type of one-to-two touch soccer that breeds victories.
Despite the loss to Honduras, that starting XI fielded by Klinsmann was really close to being a strong and balanced line-up.
Even though the starting line-up used to face Honduras was close to being a balanced and talented starting XI, every Klinsmann line-up has the same fatal flaw of not including the personnel needed to attack and maintain possession.
On the one hand, Klinsmann has sometimes been close to fielding balanced and talented line-ups, but, on the other hand, his failure to include the right mixture of defensive and attacking midfielders has allowed teams like Honduras and numerous others before them to pass the United States Men’s National Team off the park and create scoring chances.
Even though some of the players listed above are open to debate, none of them are liabilities or inexperienced players.
Specifically, Jozy Altidore has received a lot of criticism for his lack of shots on goal and goals scored for the USMNT, but the types of goals he has scored in Holland as well as his goal-scoring rate there indicate that the primary reason for the United States’ lack of scoring is really a lack of final balls and skilled passing.
Klinsmann certainly has made a lot of decisions worthy of criticism and questioning, but like World Soccer Source has discussed before, the starting line-up chosen to face Honduras was almost a totally balanced and essentially full strength line-up.
Feilhaber and Donovan were particularly singled out above as deserving of a starting spot for the United States because they can strengthen the U.S.’ weaknesses with proven skill-sets at the international level.
If Bradley and Jones are played deep as defensive midfielders and pseudo-box-to-box midfielders with Donovan, Feilhaber, and Dempsey in front of them from right to left, then the United States has five midfielders who can maintain possession, regain possession, and ensure that Altidore receives adequate service up top.
Adding Donovan and Feilhaber to the starting line-up used in the loss to Honduras means that Danny Williams and Eddie Johnson would be relegated to the bench.
The essential thing to remember about the line-up proposed is that while it uses 11 skilled, proven, and athletic players, it can be adjusted during the game if the roster also includes people with the skill and athleticism to play if a change is needed for whatever reason.
There’s no reason to think the United States doesn’t have the personnel to start playing better in World Cup qualifying, but Klinsmann’s continued refusal to make any sort of tactical changes to the players used in the midfield and up top is a reason for concern.
Donovan and Feilhaber correct this primary flaw with Klinsmann’s tactics.
Donovan brings technical ability, speed, experience, assists, and goals, and Feilhaber provides the creativity to be the missing passing link between players like Jones and Bradley and attackers like Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore.
Additionally, Feilhaber’s passing and movement of the ball put the American midfield in a passing rhythm (a favorite Klinsmann term) where he improves the passing and scoring threat of the team.
More technically-skilled players used at the same time produce a more attractive and effective style of play where all of the players can combine with each other and play off each other.
Donovan allows Dempsey and Altidore to have another elite player to combine with in the final third and elsewhere, and Feilhaber brings the vision and passing ability to break down defenses (and the ability to also score himself).
As in the past, Klinsmann needs to keep using the skilled and effective players he does use, but he needs to incorporate Donovan and Feilhaber to form a cohesive United States Men’s National Team that can defend, maintain possession, and create scoring chances.
His current line-ups never do all three of those things in the same game, and they almost never create a reasonable amount of scoring chances.
Tactics and style of play are entirely dependent on the skill level and the athleticism of the players started and used, and the United States Men’s National Team can no longer afford to use players who don’t have the ability to play with a high level of technical skill even when the speed of play and the quality of the opponents increase.
The line-up proposed here is a balanced line-up made up of proven players who all fulfill certain roles to form a cohesive unit.
The United States not only needs substitutes for every one of these players but also players on the roster to allow Klinsmann to alter his formations and tactics depending on the opponent.
Proposed Starting XI That Should Satisfy Klinsmann’s Requirements For Now:Howard; Chandler, Gonzalez, Cameron, Johnson; Bradley, Jones; Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey; Altidore
It’s a mystery why Jürgen Klinsmann doesn’t always put Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, and George John on the United States Men’s National Team roster as three of the four center backs. In the list below, World Soccer Source ranks George John fourth in the USMNT center back depth chart (below Gale Agbossoumonde). Both Soccer America and Soccer By Ives have ranked American center backs, but World Soccer Source believes those rankings don’t include many of the center backs with the athleticism and skill to help the United States improve as a national team on the international level.
USMNT: The Best 40 American Soccer Players (May 2013)
*This list is a counter argument to the ASN Top 100 put out by the website, American Soccer Now, on a monthly basis, except for April. The next ASN Top 100 comes out in May.
*Jürgen Klinsmann doesn’t use many of these players on the USMNT, and that has caused some less than stellar USMNT performances.
Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates after scoring on the United States in the 2010 World Cup. (Photo: AP Photo)
There is a disconnect between what the people making the roster, formation, and line-up decisions for the United States Men’s National Team say they want and what they actually do.
Even if they don’t have 11 players to start together who have the technical ability of Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Uruguay, etc, Klinsmann and his staff can still select the most technically-skilled players at their disposal.
Klinsmann and company cannot just keep claiming that it’s a process; the process would be taking the very best technically-skilled players and improving how each of them play and how they play together.
This writer has written about these topics extensively, but Paul Gardner of Soccer America called Klinsmann out in a major publication and Andrés Cantor called Klinsmann out in an episode of The Best Soccer Show from over a year ago.
Many American pundits, ex-USMNT players, and soccer writers continue to question even the attempt to play one-to-two touch soccer or use more skilled players, as opposed to criticizing Klinsmann for not even trying to do what he said he wanted to do.
They actually have a problem with even using newer and more talented players in friendlies to improve the quality of the United States Men’s National Team play because they write off the newer and better players as inexperienced and raw.
Even using Benny Feilhaber as a playmaker in a World Cup qualifier wouldn’t be the risky use of an unproven player because he’s proven at essentially the highest levels of international soccer.
Joe Corona, Terrence Boyd, Juan Agudelo, Benji Joya, and Gale Agbossoumonde all receive these “raw and inexperienced” tags from the media and many fans, never mind the fact that all of these players, except Agbossoumonde, have proven that they can perform on the international level.
Let some American pundits tell you about how set pieces are so important and how the United States Men’s National Team needs to play like Americans, but there is only one correct way to play soccer; everyone around the world knows it.
Even non-soccer fans in the United States see the Brazils, Spains, and Italys of the world working the ball around the field by stringing passes together, as they try to get into scoring positions.
Getting to the root of the problem, the primary problem with American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team is that Americans, the United States Soccer Federation, and Jürgen Klinsmann don’t place a high enough premium on technical ability, even though they claim that they do.
Any style of soccer not based on refined technical ability, movement off the ball, and the mastery of fundamentals like using both feet or playing recovery defense isn’t real soccer that will lead to wins against elite national teams.
Klinsmann can claim that he wants to implement a philosophy of a style of one-to-two touch soccer that’s proactive, but this claim cannot be taken seriously as long as a player like Kyle Beckerman is selected to be on a critical World Cup qualifying roster over Perry Kitchen.
Kitchen is faster and more technically skilled. If Klinsmann wants to play proactively then someone like Beckerman cannot be selected over Kitchen who has the skill on the ball plus the physical gifts to compete against better and faster opponents, which Beckerman cannot do.
Even Clint Dempsey is frequently unfairly made one of the scapegoats of the media and the fans for the United States Men’s National Team’s lack of offensive production and quality passing. No one comments that Dempsey has only one striker to combine with and no other attacking midfielders to help him keep possession and attack.
A great example of the continued complaints about Clint Dempsey was the wave of complaints about Dempsey being made captain of the United States.
Recently, Clint Dempsey was made captain of the United States Men’s National Team, and the American soccer media, rather than praising Dempsey, was quick to complain that Dempsey was made captain instead of Michael Bradley.
The American soccer media complained like a Greek chorus that Dempsey didn’t care about the United States Men’s National Team as much as himself and that he wasn’t a vocal leader, despite the fact that Dempsey gives 100% in every game, tries to take the game the to the U.S.’ opponents, and has no problem mixing it up and getting in the faces of opponents who other American players are intimidated by.
Despite the unfounded character attacks on Clint Dempsey, the American media actually complained that the player with the most skill and the greatest proven ability to perform against high level competition was chosen as the leader.
On the other hand, a more serious publication, The Wall Street Journal, ran an article about Clint Dempsey after the 2009 Confederations Cup Final praising Dempsey’s play and effort and proclaiming Dempsey the new leader of the USMNT.
If the American soccer media and fan base is going to call Clint Dempsey lazy and selfish while also questioning his ability to lead the team, then what will they say about other American players, and how much does the American soccer media really know?
If Americans say this stuff about Dempsey, how will they ever be convinced to pressure Jürgen Klinsmann into playing more than one player like Dempsey at the same time in order to create possession and attacking soccer?
Clint Dempsey should be applauded because he plays soccer the right way, and he learned how to play outside of U.S. Soccer’s official development system.
This was the key to Dempsey’s success: not learning to play soccer like an American but rather learning by studying Diego Maradona and playing with Latinos in Texas.
His game is based on technical ability, creativity, two-footed skill, movement off the ball, bravado, toughness, physical endurance, and mental strength.
There is only one correct way to play soccer, if you want to compete with the best in the world, and that way is skill soccer, as opposed to long ball and all crosses: the English way.
There are a lot of great American soccer minds in the United States, and there are lots of people from other countries with so much valuable expertise and wisdom to offer Americans; none of them advocates a style of play not based on one-to-two touch soccer.
One-to-two touch soccer leads to victories. Brazil, five World Cup trophies. Italy, four World Cup trophies. Germany, three World Cup trophies.
Other countries take the most talented players they can find, determine if they have the requisite athleticism to play soccer, and they hone the skills of these players.
Elite teams use the whole field, but they don’t restrict their attack to just running up and down the sidelines with the intention of always looking to play a cross.
Americans need to permanently get rid of this notion that more width and more crosses is the key to more scoring opportunities.
Brazil would never play that way. That style of soccer would never fly in Brazil, Spain, or anywhere else with a good soccer system.
Better soccer nations work the ball around and look for openings in the defense and probe for weaknesses, and if one gateway into the penalty box is closed then they work the ball around until there is an opening somewhere else or in the original place they looked.
From better national teams, you will see crosses played in the air to players who have made runs or who are making runs, but you won’t really see balls just crossed into the box blindly.
You might see balls played across the goal mouth in the attempt to sneak a pass through to a teammate in front of the goal, but you really will not see crosses crushed into the penalty box without a specific target.
Again, the root of the problem of American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team is the low premium placed on technical ability.
Before players are weeded out at a higher level because of a lack of athleticism or a lack of confidence in their abilities, players are supposed to be weeded out if they lack the technical ability to perform in say Major League Soccer or for the United States Men’s National Team.
The United States has plenty of talented and athletic players at every position with the ability to play a brand of soccer more along the lines of the world’s best national teams, but the first steps were already taken by Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley.
Bob Bradley reluctantly played Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey at the same time, which allowed the United States to have the requisite ability to perform against Spain and Brazil in the 2009 Confederations Cup and advance out of the group stage in the 2010 World Cup.
Jürgen Klinsmann must take the next step of fielding starting line-ups where all eleven players are technically-advanced and athletic and where the line-ups balance defensive strength with effective and inventive attacking players.
There will always be complaints about which players are used by a coach, but Klinsmann needs to at least use a reasonable balance of defensive and attacking players who all have advanced technical ability and sufficient athleticism.
It takes courage to lose because you tried to win.
With Geoff Cameron having a natural tendency to making dribbling forays out of the back, using Cameron as a right back allows the United States Men’s National Team to attack wide and defend well along the flanks.
Many of the best teams in the world put their best attacker out left, so the player can cut onto their right foot as the player attacks the goal by going at the center of the defense.
Using Cameron out right would allow the United States to have a skilled and athletic defender marking this type of attack by either forcing the player out wide toward the sideline or into the center of the defense which should be guarded by Gale Agbossoumonde and Andrew Farrell.
Many American soccer fans seem to judge Freddy Adu with the same illogical criterion with which Jürgen Klinsmann judges him: only total domination merits a roster spot.
Klinsmann has said that he wanted to see Adu taking over games more and dominating games more before he could play for the United States, but this make little sense from a coaching standpoint.
Why does a technically-skilled playmaker with a special skill-set need to dominate every game in order to play for the United States, when no other American is subjected to this standard?
Klinsmann and American fans want the United States to score more goals, but yet they invent nonsensical reasons to exclude all of the natural playmakers from the starting line-up or roster: Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud.
Klinsmann and the United States are lacking players that have the technical skill to play a brand of quick-passing soccer that Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo, Geoff Cameron, and Fabian Johnson play. Among the players listed above, none of them are playmakers that play the final passes that produces goals.
Plenty of Americans as well as Klinsmann feel that either Bradley or Dempsey should be forced to be played out of position as playmakers, but this opinion overlooks the reality that neither player is a true playmaker as Bradley thrives playing as a deep-lying defensive midfielder that has strong technical and attacking skills and Dempsey is skilled at attacking defenses and scoring goals.
While both of these players are much better than the majority of their teammates that Klinsmann has been calling up, they have never demonstrated the ability to play a constant stream of inch-perfect balls in the final third that Adu and several other playmakers have shown.
The criticism of Adu has mostly been that he has played for a lot of clubs and that his coaches at the Union this year chose to not start him multiple times.
These two pieces of criticism do not disprove the fact that Adu is the most technically-skilled player in the American player pool and that Adu has performed well for the United States, especially when he has played with players like Bradley, Dempsey, and Donovan, who have the skill level to play one-to-two touch soccer and read his passes.
Adu played most recently for the United States in Olympic qualifying where he not only scored but he also set up two crucial goals to go one goal ahead of El Salvador in the last game of Olympic qualifying.
Adu formed a good playing relationship with talented young players like Joe Corona, Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, Mix Diskerud, Brek Shea, and others.
The last time Adu played for the United States’ senior team was in the 2011 Gold Cup in which Adu immediately changed the game against Panama where he not only played the killer pass to set up Donovan’s assist to Dempsey, but he also played a diagonal pass on the ground and on a silver platter for Bradley, which Bradley failed to shoot with conviction.
Additionally, in the final against Mexico, Adu was praised by both Pablo Ramirez and Hugo Sanchez of Univisión for his ability to unsettle the Mexican defense by taking defenders off the dribble and playing elegant passes and corner kicks; Adu also took the well-placed corner kick which Bradley put in the back of the net with a glancing header.
The United States only lost to Mexico once Steve Cherundolo sustained an injury, and the then-coach, Bob Bradley, made the mistake of subbing in Jonathan Bornstein, who Mexico instantly identified as the defensive weak link.
The problem that Adu comes up against is that when he goes to play overseas he has the stigma of being an American and when he plays in MLS people expect him to take over every game he plays in.
Many American fans seem to expect Adu to set up multiple goals every game and score multiple goals every game, or they do not want him to play for the United States. This line of thinking overlooks the fact that Adu has proven for five years in international play that he has the skill-set to be an effective playmaker even against teams like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Mexico.
This ability to be a dangerous playmaker is needed in an American midfield that has Dempsey as a free-roaming attacking midfielder and quasi-forward and Bradley as a technically-skilled defensive midfielder with the skill to play defense, pass the ball well, and to participate in the attack when needed.
While Dempsey and Bradley are the two most proven midfielders at the club level and international level for the United States, neither one has the same gift that Adu has to create goals, and this skill is the most needed quality that the United States lacks, along with a skilled center back partner for Geoff Cameron.
Adu can be used by the United States with a degree of flexibility because the United States and really Klinsmann could elect to deploy him as a second striker with an additional playmaker behind him or use him in a line of three technically-skilled midfielders with the ability to maintain possession and play one-to-two touch soccer.
Whether or not Klinsmann, American fans, American commentators, and American soccer writers think that Adu has performed well in MLS, there is nothing to suggest that Adu has ever demonstrated any difficulty being an effective attacking force for the United States in international play.
Even if the Philadelphia Union’s coaches have left Adu on the bench or off the game day roster on several occasions, these were decisions made by coaches Peter Nowak and John Hackworth, whose coaching abilities have been questioned by many.
These coaching mistakes do not change the fact that Adu has an advanced technical skill-set as a playmaker, and the United States desperately needs a playmaker to create more scoring opportunities.
As this writer has contended in other articles, the United States even has more than one playmaker; lots of observers invent perceived problems with all of them, so they advocate for the United States to force someone to play out of position.
Among many Americans there appears to be some misunderstanding of the importance and the role of a playmaker. The best teams in the world all use playmakers because goals are the most important thing in soccer, and playmakers create goals, which create victories.
The playmaker is certainly expected to pressure the opposing team’s defense when the opposition has the ball, but playmakers are not supposed to be routinely tracking all the way back deep into their own half to play defense because then they would be out of position to fulfill their role on the team, which is to control the tempo of the passing and to convert their team’s passing into goal-scoring opportunities.
No one with an advanced understanding of the game has really ever questioned Adu’s talent, but people have argued that Adu should not play for the United States if he is not starting and dominating every game in MLS.
The United States does not have the luxury of not including someone of Adu’s ability on the roster because the United States is not good enough to not need players like Adu.
Soccer is a team sport, and just having Bradley and Dempsey in the midfield is not enough technical ability and firepower against opposition with 11 technically-advanced starters; the United States needs playmakers like Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud to create goal-scoring opportunities for the United States, particularly when the United States is losing.
Hugo Sanchez praised the performance of Freddy Adu against Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup final.
