From a tactical standpoint, the use of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan where a central attacking midfielder plays in a 4-2-3-1 formation has made little sense because both players are better suited to play wide in that formation.
If the United States Men’s National Team were to use a 4-1-3-2 system with two strikers, it would make sense for either Dempsey or Donovan to play the second striker role with the other player either playing out left or right in the line of three attacking midfielders.
Formations and positions are fluid in soccer with a little more fluidity present in the attack as opposed to in the defense, but the idea that either Dempsey or Donovan are the main orchestrator and creator in the attack is an illogical concept.
Americans should celebrate the difficulty in fitting all of the capable players that merit serious consideration for a World Cup roster spot onto the 23-man United States Men’s National Team World Cup roster.
Nevertheless, the United States will need its most talented players to get out of Group G, even if many of the players that helped the U.S. qualify for the World Cup are in the “Drop” category below.
Not all change is progress, but change is needed when a national team uses players that either lack the comfort and skill on the ball needed to compete in a World Cup or players that lack the requisite level of athleticism, which manifests itself in quickness, speed, or agility.
Jürgen Klinsmann has never really proven that Brad Evans and DaMarcus Beasley are better right and left backs than Eric Lichaj and Fabian Johnson, and starting capable outside backs will be essential for the United States Men’s National Team’s chances in the 2014 World Cup.
Putting Brad Evans on the roster to play as a central midfielder instead of Kyle Beckerman would logically make sense given Evans’ superior speed and ability to defend and go forward compared to Beckerman, but why not use the outside back roster spots for players like Eric Lichaj or Jonathan Spector when he’s healthy?
Whether you think Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler are the best USMNT center back options, at least they play those positions well in MLS and in CONCACAF – the only question mark is how well they’ll be able to handle better World Cup attackers.
Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey as the right and left attacking midfielders with Michael Bradley as a defensive or box-to-box midfielder should be the starting point for any United States Men’s National Team Front Six.
Instead of having the central attacking midfielder be free-roaming attacking midfielders like Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, the United States Men’s National Team should just start Donovan and Dempsey out wide and let them loose while a natural playmaker orchestrates the passing and the attack from the center of the park because the playmaker links the defensive midfielders to the attack and improves the passing and scoring ability of the USMNT.
Donovan and Dempsey are going to go where the game takes them and switch sides, and they should be allowed to do that for the good of the team. Embracing that philosophy eliminates the odd practice of requiring one of them to be pulling the strings in the attack instead of being attackers who play off a playmaker with more of a gift for playing final balls and creating a tempo of one-to-two touch soccer.
This is an opinion piece that proposes a 23-man USA roster for the 2014 World Cup, as opposed to being a prediction about which players Jürgen Klinsmann will select.
Everyone has their own opinion about players, teams, and coaches, and many people support Klinsmann’s USA roster selections; that’s what makes soccer a great sport to discuss and debate.
There seems to be less American soccer media discussion about the merits of Jürgen Klinsmann’s roster selections than one sees out of the media in other countries when analyzing, critiquing, and reporting on the choices made by other national team’s coaches.
The 2014 World Cup roster for the United States Men’s National Team should be set up to have a starting player at each of the positions in the 4-2-3-1 formation, and it simply isn’t.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s rosters do not contain starting natural outside backs with substitutes for both positions, and the rosters also do not contain a starting and back up central attacking midfielder.
This like the absence of Joe Corona on the roster as a fixture to play as a substitute for Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan are just a few examples of the lack of balance and the lack of the requisite personnel to field an effective 4-2-3-1 formation, which is Klinsmann’s preferred formation.
While the strike partnership of Jozy Altidore and Aron Jóhannsson is definitely something that the United States Men’s National Team should start very soon, a strike partnership of Juan Agudelo with Jozy Altidore presents its own unique benefits.
By and large, it’s safe to say that Agudelo is a more creative, a more technical, and a craftier player than Altidore, but Altidore himself has become a technical player that does display creativity and guile when given a striker partner, as opposed to when he’s stranded on a desert island up top.
The principal benefit and rationale behind starting Agudelo and Altidore together as center forwards is their ability to bring a two-pronged attack comprised of fast, tall, quick, and strong strikers who also bring a lot of skill and scoring ability. Agudelo and Altidore aren’t famous strikers in world football, but they are two strikers who would stretch any defense and make any defense really work.
Clint Dempsey (left) and Jozy Altidore (right). (Photo: AP)
In World Soccer Source’s previous article, this writer proposed a United States Men’s National Team Starting XI that this writer believes can improve the overall quality of the United States and make the USMNT more competitive in the World Cup, but this article attempts to predict a more-likely Starting XI, even if some of the picks aren’t players who have been Jürgen Klinsmann regulars.
The philosophy behind this Starting XI prediction is that Klinsmann will make some adjustments to better address the reality of the skill-level of the United States’ opponents.
Here is World Soccer Source’s prediction of a USA XI that Klinsmann could possibly field for the 2014 World Cup:
Michael Bradley (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Who should start and who will start are obviously two different things, but this is a World Soccer Source proposal for a 2014 World Cup Starting XI for the United States Men’s National Team.
This Starting XI attempts to propose an American line-up that is based on a Front Six compressed of proven players with a proven goalkeeper – but with a totally new Back Four.
There are no guarantees in soccer, and the 2014 World Cup won’t be a tournament where the United States can attempt to control the outcome by just fielding a Starting XI that resembles the line-ups seen in World Cup qualifying.
Jürgen Klinsmann won’t field this Starting XI, but it is an attempt to support a set-up that can strengthen the United States’ defense with an inexperienced Back Four while using a logical and balanced Front Six made up of: Geoff Cameron, Michael Bradley; Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber, Clint Dempsey; Juan Agudelo.
Here is World Soccer Source’s 2014 World Cup USMNT XI Proposal:
Landon Donovan (10) and Clint Dempsey (8). (Photo: MexSport)
This is a roster prediction as opposed to a list of World Soccer Source’s preferred USMNT 2014 World Cup roster.
World Soccer Source has decided to cast the cowrie shells and divine Jürgen Klinsmann’s United States Men’s National Team 23-man 2014 World Cup roster.
What Klinsmann says he will do and what he does are two different things, and the coach of the United States has frequently made line-up changes and seemingly totally changed his mind about players on the basis of one game; other players have remained fixtures on the roster for no apparent reason.
Finally, there is nothing about Klinsmann’s tenure as coach to suggest that there is any way to be absolutely certain about his opinion of a player, with the exception of Jermaine Jones who is an excellent midfielder who starts every game whether he played well or poorly the previous game.
Five months before the selection of the 2014 United States Men’s National Team’s World Cup roster is a long time, and Klinsmann could change his mind about a number of players.
DISCLAIMER:
World Soccer Source’s predictions are based on the opinion that Klinsmann has recognized the need to up the collective skill-level and athleticism of his squad, which was evidenced by the inclusion of players like Shane O’Neill, DeAndre Yedlin, Chris Klute, Benny Feilhaber, and Luis Gil in the January camp.
This belief is based on Klinsmann’s comments about the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifiers not being a very accurate indicator of the teams’ ability to play in the World Cup.
Klinsmann said the following to U.S. Soccer:
“The level in the World Cup is two or three levels higher, and the reality is that the last two years of World Cup qualifying and the Gold Cup don’t give you the real picture. The global picture is facing the strongest nations in the World Cup, and you need to be prepared. It’s not easy to put a number on it, but it requires at least 30 to 40 percent more than what we have needed so far.”
Klinsmann also said the following in regards to Benny Feilhaber, which makes this writer think that he may be changing his mind about the American playmaker:
“There is no doubt Benny is very talented,” the US coach said. “What we are working on is having him be more consistent and having an impact on games for 90 minutes.”
Without further ado, here is World Soccer Source’s prediction of Jürgen Klinsmann’s USA World Cup roster, and it may be totally wrong, partially wrong, or a close approximation:
Jermaine Jones is too talented, too athletic, and too valuable to drop from the United States Men’s National Team roster, but Jürgen Klinsmann needs to use the time before the 2014 World Cup to build up some strong chemistry between Geoff Cameron and Michael Bradley as a two-man defensive midfield partnership.
Jones’ talent is undeniably, and he displays a level of size and athleticism that is impressive even by world football standards. Despite these realities, Cameron and Bradley seem to perform remarkable better as a two-man defensive midfield, even if they only started together in one game in this capacity.
Despite some criticism of the two defensive midfielders from the media, for this writer, Cameron performed quite well with Jones when the two started together in a World Cup qualifying lose to Costa Rica in September of 2013.
Many observers feel that Jones needs to always be the more stay at home defensive midfielder so that Bradley can be more involved in the attack, but Jones doesn’t necessarily need to just hang back deeper when he plays, as he should also be allowed to pick and choose his opportunities to advance forward in the attack.
The problem with the Bradley and Jones partnership is that Jones often doesn’t drop back to cover for Bradley when Bradley makes marauding runs, but Jones should still be able to make his own runs with the confidence that Bradley will cover for him defensively.
