Freddy Adu evokes widely different opinions about him from Americans and non-Americans alike. (Photo: E.C. Bahia)
Along with Eric Wynalda, Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu are the two most polarizing figures in American soccer.
Both Feilhaber and Adu have been labeled as inconsistent luxury players who aren’t as impactful and consistent for 90 minutes as many people would like.
Nevertheless, the reason that both players are important for American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team is that both players fill a role that Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore can’t fill: the playmaker role.
This role as the central attacking midfielder or the playmaker is essential for the success of the United States Men’s National Team because it provides a link between Michael Bradley’s defensive midfielder role and the role of Dempsey, Donovan, and Jozy Altidore as attackers and goal-scorers.
The playmaker not only facilitates quality passing, but the playmaker turns the passing between Jones or Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, and Dempsey into goal-scoring chances, and the ability to set up goals or score goals are arguably the two most important skills in soccer.
For this reason, players like Feilhaber and Adu remain relevant figures for the United States, and Feilhaber currently appears to be close to winning over Jürgen Klinsmann who has had his reservations about Feilhaber due to a perceived lack of impactful play for the full 90 minutes of playing time.
The current USMNT January Camp appears to be one of the very first times that Jürgen Klinsmann is bringing in young, new American talents and seeing how well they do, and he should be applauded for doing this. This camp should give many of the new American talents a chance to impress the coach of the United States.
Nevertheless, some American soccer fans really bought into the default United States Men’s National Team XI from 2013 because they saw that everyone in the American soccer media just repeated it over and over so much so that suggesting that there might be a higher level at which the the United States could perform with a different starting line-up evoked mostly ridicule and accusations of being crazy or unrealistic.
A USMNT XI on XI match would provide a lot of answers about the abilities and readiness of many American players, and below is a look at the Standard Jürgen Klinsmann USMNT Starting XI along with a possible XI on XI match up:
Joe Corona, Playmaker and Attacking Midfielder. (Photo: Club Tijuana)
The United States should select three defensive midfielders and five attacking midfielders for the 2014 World Cup, and the United States would be wise to call up some attacking midfielders that are playmakers and some that are more along the lines of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, who both play off playmakers as scoring threats that are essentially forwards.
Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones have been the defensive midfielders of choice under Jürgen Klinsmann, and Geoff Cameron should occupy the third defensive midfielder spot on the roster to make room for the new crop of young American center backs because it doesn’t really matter if Cameron is listed as a defender or as a midfielder because some of the new center backs resemble Cameron in so far as they can play as defensive midfielders or as center backs.
Rounding out the group of eight American midfielders are Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Joe Corona who all provide the United States with true playmaker options, as none of the other players listed above are central attacking midfielders or playmakers playing in an advanced position.
Below is the rationale for choosing these eight midfielders:
Chris Klute, the Best American Left Back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
As the United States Men’s National Team is currently involved in its January Camp, now is the time for American soccer fans to support giving Chris Klute, Shane O’Neill, and DeAndre Yedlin roster spots on the United States Men’s National Team because all three played as well as Brad Evans, Omar Gonzalez, and Matt Besler in Major League Soccer, and the latter three have failed to truly impress against strong competition.
Besler, Gonzalez, and Evans are good MLS players, but their amount of experience at the international level doesn’t outweigh the superior technique, speed, defending, and aggressive play of Klute, Yedlin, and O’Neill.
The important thing to keep in mind about the new crop of Major League Soccer defenders is that they aren’t just promising players who showed glimpses of international ability, but rather they are players who started and played almost every minute of every game of the 2013 MLS season where they played better than Evans, Gonzalez, and Besler.
One of the points commonly made is that Yedlin started over Evans for the Seattle Sounders, so there is strong evidence that a reputable MLS coach considered the 20-year-old Yedlin to be the best right back option for the Seattle Sounders.
Therefore, Klinsmann’s practice of starting Evans over Yedlin when the skill-level goes up at the international level makes little sense.
Evans certainly displays a solid foundation of technical ability, defensive instincts and fundamentals, and a respectable level of athleticism, but Yedlin is just a much more electrifying player with a greater capacity to make an impact at the international level, even if he is inexperienced.
Turning to Chris Klute, Eric Wynalda told everyone in the American soccer community that Klute was a special talent with the ability to play at a high level, and Klute’s first season in MLS confirmed this.
At a certain point, you have to play the players with the greatest potential to be able to compete against elite competition and just accept the outcome knowing that you played the players with the best qualities and physical gifts. There’s nothing more that Klinsmann can do, and Klute is far too talented and fast to merely support because of the dearth of left back options.
The Colorado Rapids left back deserves more credit than that because skill and athleticism is more important than international experience, especially when someone like Fabian Johnson doesn’t particularly excel at tracking back on defense, marking, or tackling (but he does excel as an attacking midfielder deployed as a winger).
Coach Tab Ramos is the primary backer of Shane O’Neill, and given Ramos’ playing resume combined with his clear ability to judge talent and field good line-ups, O’Neill should be considered a serious starting center back option for the United States, especially given his excellent season in MLS playing with Chris Klute.
One of the main criticisms of using these new MLS defenders is the disruption of the chemistry of the American Back Four, but the reality is that O’Neill and Klute have good chemistry, whereas the American Back Four has constantly been changed and tweaked.
If Klinsmann is wise enough to not cut Klute, Yedlin, and O’Neill, the coach of the United States has a month to build chemistry between the three defenders while considering who the center back partner for O’Neill should be.
World Soccer Source has long supported Klute, Yedlin, O’Neill, and Andrew Farrell, and the primary reason for this writer’s support of these players is that they have displayed over an entire season that they bring a combination of skill on the ball, speed, defensive ability, and youth that is greatly needed on the United States National Team.
There are no guarantees in a World Cup, and continuing to use Evans, Gonzalez, Besler, and Beasley doesn’t ensure that the United States will have a strong enough defense to perform well against Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.
Five months is a long time before the World Cup, and CONCACAF experience isn’t a vaccine against the nerves that will be felt in the USMNT’s first game of the 2014 World Cup, which will be against a very technical and creative Ghana side that brings truly exceptional speed, strength, and agility found in players like Kevin-Prince Boateng, Sulley Muntari, Kwadwo Asamoah, and Asamoah Gyan.
Americans shouldn’t underestimate Ghana, and the next group stage games against Portugal and Germany will also require the use of defenders with the tools to have a chance of competing and beating either national team.
A Back Four made up of Evans, Gonzalez, Besler, and Beasley won’t cut it in the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean that any of those players aren’t solid professionals who have done a good job in World Cup qualifying.
If Yedlin and Klute start as the right back and left back respectively with O’Neill as one of the center backs , the USMNT has a variety of center backs who can partner with O’Neill such as Geoff Cameron, John Anthony Brooks, Michael Orozco, and Andrew Farrell.
If you support starting Cameron as the midfield destroyer half of the defensive midfield partnership with Michael Bradley, then starting Farrell, Brooks, or Orozco at center back makes more sense because all three bring a better combination of defensive ability, skill on the ball, and athleticism than Gonzalez, Besler, or Clarence Goodson display.
This new USMNT Back Four would look something like this:
Shane O’Neill (center). (Photo: Bart Young / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann did a good job of selecting players to try to improve positions where the United States Men’s National Team needed to improve. World Soccer Source applauds him for calling up players such as Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Dax McCarty, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, Luis Gil, and Tally Hall.
While this writer feels that both Andrew Farrell and Amobi Okugo deserved call-ups, the German’s picks showed a willingness to look at new talents in order to improve the overall technical ability and athleticism of the USMNT.
Thus, here is World Soccer Source’s Preferred USMNT XI for the match against South Korea after the January Camp:
Chris Klute (right) is likely the best American left back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Jürgen Klinsmann and the coaching staff of the United States Men’s National Team called up to the January Camp a number of players that can shore up positions where the United States is weak.
Most notabaly, Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Benny Feilhaber, Mix Diskerud, and Dax McCarty were called up.
Klute and Yedlin address the United States’ major problems at the outside back positions, and Feilhaber, Diskerud, and Gil address the United States National Team’s inability to keep possession and break down opposing defenses.
The USMNT Should Consider Starting Two Strikers in a 4-1-3-2
Choosing between two defensive midfielders or two strikers is a toss up, unless a 4-4-2 formation is used, but the United States Men’s National Team would be wise to test out how starting two strikers would affect the United States’ attack.
Using two strikers is an attack-minded line-up, but attacking the opposition with more urgency is also a form of defense where one’s weakness becomes one’s strength – if one attacks one’s opponent more then that opponent has to defend more and has less time to attack.
Jozy Altidore and Aron Jóhannsson starting together as strikers with a line of three attacking midfielders including a playmaker behind them is a strategy that Jürgen Klinsmann might consider using to improve the potency and goal-scoring capabilities of the United States.
Klinsmann has started both players together, but Klinsmann has deployed Jóhannsson as an attacking midfielder out wide, at least on paper.
Starting both players together as center forwards would require starting only one defensive midfielder in a 4-1-3-2 or one less attacking midfielder in a Brazilian 4-2-2-2.
Altidore and Jóhannsson have demonstrated that they can combine well together and that they are complementary, and starting two strikers of their caliber would force opposition defenses to focus their attention on both players – assuming both strikers received adequate service from a playmaker and at least one additional attacking midfielder.
The USMNT’s line-ups under Klinsmann have been mostly based on a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is a strong tactical approach, but the coach of the United States for the most part hasn’t really used three attacking midfielders behind the striker because often one of the outside attacking midfielders has been a striker forced to play out wide and out of position.
Using Altidore and Jóhannsson together is a weapon, and the logical midfield adjustment to allow for it is to deploy only one defensive midfielder, which would be Michael Bradley. This change would be best be accounted for by using Geoff Cameron as a center back where he could use his skill on the ball, his athleticism, his size, and his defensive skills in the center of the American defense.
With Altidore and Jóhannsson starting as center forwards, the rest of the line-up should feature Tim Howard in goal, Geoff Cameron at center back, Michael Bradley as a defensive midfielder, and Landon Donovan or Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud or Benny Feilhaber, and Clint Dempsey as the line of three attacking midfielders.
The other open positions in the Back Four are a matter of debate just as the line of three attacking midfielders is, but provided that Altidore and Jóhannsson receive adequate service and Bradley was patrolling the back of the midfield, the tactical set-up of using two strikers can be effective, even if there is only one defensive midfielder.
While this writer would like to see DeAndre Yedlin or Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, and Chris Klute filling the remaining spots in the Back Four, certainly using Eric Lichaj, Steve Cherundolo, or Jonathan Spector at right back over Yedlin or Farrell would also make sense – as would starting John Anthony Brooks instead of Shane O’Neill.
Finally, Klinsmann would be remised to not test out different combinations of Juan Agudelo, Aron Jóhannsson, Jozy Altidore, and Terrence Boyd before the World Cup.
Altidore and Jóhannsson would pose a real threat to opposing defenses, but there is a need to see how well different two-man combinations of those four strikers can perform. Having all four strikers at the ready and used to playing with one another will be a useful tool at the World Cup.
What would starting two center forwards look like? This writer would support seeing the following Starting XI as one of multiple options:
For many American soccer fans, any criticism of Jürgen Klinsmann’s selections to the United States Men’s National Team is considered unpatriotic, which is odd because only people with high expectations of their country’s national team advocate for possible ways to improve it.
Many of Jürgen Klinsmann’s selections to the United States Men’s National Team are international-caliber players with the skill and athleticism to perform well at the World Cup, but there is significant room to improve the quality of the USA roster.
Despite a growing list of international-caliber American footballers such as Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, there is a definite gap between the collective skill level displayed in MLS and on the United States Men’s National Team compared to other countries, and any person that tries to contend that MLS and the USMNT is on par with other top European leagues, many Latin American leagues, and top national teams is either being overly biased or is perhaps not fully aware of the gap between American soccer and European, Latin American, and African soccer.
For this writer, some 14 of the 23 roster selections that Klinsmann makes are strong picks, but 9 roster spots might be better spent on players that Klinsmann doesn’t regularly select or that he routinely doesn’t select at all.
For many people, there is a mentality that Klinsmann’s roster selections are infallible because of his success as a player, but no top soccer country in the world subscribes to this mentality that a coach’s player selections and coaching decisions shouldn’t be questioned if the coach was a famous ex-player.
Nevertheless, the prognosis of the United States’ chances in the 2014 World Cup looks fairly good, but improvements need to be made so that the United States can put in a strong showing and perhaps a deep run in the 2014 World Cup.
Here are Jürgen Klinsmann’s international-caliber USMNT selections:
GOALKEEPERS: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN, Nick RIMANDO.
MIDFIELDERS: Kyle BECKERMAN, Graham ZUSI, Alejandro BEDOYA, Sacha KLJESTAN.
STRIKERS: Eddie JOHNSON (A skilled, fast, and extremely athletic striker who is nevertheless not as good as Juan Agudelo).
To fix these personnel problems, World Soccer Source believes that Jürgen Klinsmann would be wise to add the following players to the group of international-caliber players listed above:
DEFENDERS: Eric LICHAJ, Chris KLUTE, DeAndre YEDLIN, Shane O’NEILL, Andrew FARRELL.
MIDFIELDERS: Joe CORONA, Benny FEILHABER, Benji JOYA.
STRIKERS: Juan AGUDELO.
The reason that the players above were listed as players that could bolster the United States Men’s National Team is because they are technical and athletic players that fulfill specific needs.
The United States needs quality outside backs, and Eric Lichaj, Chris Klute, DeAndre Yedlin, and Andrew Farrell are all outside backs that not only have shown that their play will translate to the international game but they are also better than any other options Klinsmann has at his disposal with the exception of Steve Cherundolo and Jonathan Spector.
Midfielders like Joe Corona and Benny Feilhaber are much more technical, creative, and athletic players than Graham Zusi who is a very good MLS player and someone who has done fairly well at the international level, but Corona and Feilhaber are much more dynamic and effective players when the speed of play and the quality of competition goes up.
Joya is included because Joya is a two-way central midfielder who has the same skill-set and playing style as Stuart Holden who is a USMNT player that is highly regarded for his ability to bring technical skill, creativity, running, and defense to the center of the American midfield. With Holden so often injured, the 20-year-old and internationally-inexperienced Joya is a similar type of player who brings a creative two-way skill-set that almost no other American central midfielder possesses.
If one combines Klinsmann’s strong selections with the new players listed above, one sees the makings of a United States Men’s National Team roster made up of players with the technical skill and athleticism to field an effective and balanced Starting XI with a solid group of substitutes or alternative Starting XI options.
Below is that roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Tim HOWARD, Brad GUZAN, Third-Choice Goalkeeper.
DEFENDERS: Geoff CAMERON, John Anthony BROOKS, Shane O’NEILL, Andrew FARRELL, Eric LICHAJ, Chris KLUTE, DeAndre YEDLIN.
MIDFIELDERS: Michael BRADLEY, Jermaine JONES, Clint DEMPSEY, Landon DONOVAN, Fabian JOHNSON, Mix DISKERUD, Joe CORONA, Benny FEILHABER, Benji JOYA.
STRIKERS: Jozy ALTIDORE, Aron JÓHANNSSON, Juan AGUDELO, Terrence BOYD.
Chris Klute, the Best American Left Back. (Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Colorado Rapids)
Should the USA Use a Diamond Formation in the 2014 World Cup?
Group G will be a major obstacle for the United States Men’s National Team at the 2014 World Cup, so the United States should roll the dice and use a new formation to face its opponents straight up like soldiers.
Respect has to be earned, and the United States should use the 2014 World Cup to really go all in on its opponents and play without fear.
The United States can do this by doing the following:
1.) Use a totally new Back Four comprised of DeAndre Yedlin, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, and Chris Klute. This is a very internationally-inexperienced Back Four, but it is a talented and athletic Back Four made up of skilled defenders.
2.) Give Jermaine Jones’ defensive midfielder spot to Geoff Cameron, and start both Michael Bradley and Benji Joya as box-to-box midfielders.
Joya is a young player without a single appearance for the main United States Men’s National Team, but he is a fearless and complete midfielder who can give the United States a second two-way central midfielder to partner with Michael Bradley.
When Joya performed well against Paul Pogba, he proved that he was a USMNT prospect to be taken seriously, and that performance should not be downplayed or dismissed as just a one-off demonstration of skill. That was a legitimate proof of skill and athleticism against one of the jewels of world football.
3.) Give Clint Dempsey attack partners like Joe Corona and Juan Agudelo who play with the same desire to beat opponents with technical skill, creativity, flair, and bravado. Both Corona and Agudelo are legit young footballers who have done more than enough to be seriously considered as starters for a United States side that is regarded the world over as a national team without collectively technical ability, guile, or imagination.
The Rationale For the Starting XI Proposed Below:
From an American perspective, why should the United States continue to give world football fans reasons to openly dismiss the United States as a national side that runs a lot but that can’t beat you with pure skill?
The United States should use skill, combination play, and creativity to make Ghana, Portugal, and Germany run like crazy to defend a squad that no longer accepts boring and unimaginative play as an acceptable way to play international soccer. The United States should silence its soccer critics once and for all by giving Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley more-skilled teammates.
The USA 4-1-2-1-2 Starting XI Formation:
GOALKEEPER: Tim HOWARD or Brad GUZAN
Either American net minder is a complete and fundamentally sound goalkeeper that also excels at making very difficult saves and game-saving stops.
RIGHT BACK: DeAndre YEDLIN
Fast, two-footed, and a modern outside back. DeAndre Yedlin has become a solid defender over the course of his rookie season in Major League Soccer, and his world-class speed combined with his ability to dribble and pass out of the back with both feet outweighs his youth and his international inexperience.
CENTER BACK: Andrew FARRELL
Andrew Farrell might be a better right back than Yedlin, but Farrell brings the speed, skill on the ball, and defensive ability to the center of the defense to not be victimized by World Cup attackers, especially the ones who play for Germany, Portugal, and Ghana.
CENTER BACK: Shane O’NEILL
Shane O’Neill is a defensive midfielder who has been converted to a center back, and he has Tab Ramos’ stamp of approval. All the best center backs in the world are players with the skill, speed, and playing style of skilled defensive midfielders.
LEFT BACK: Chris KLUTE
Chris Klute is arguably the only left back in the entire American player pool that has the tools to hold his own against Group G attackers, and if Yedlin and Farrel have electrifying pace, then Klute teleports. Klute’s a tall and smooth athlete, and he’s a clean defender that also sets up goals in the attack. Klute needs to start in the World Cup.
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER: Geoff CAMERON
Geoff Cameron’s technical ability is as smooth as his athleticism, and unlike Jermaine Jones (an excellent defensive midfielder in his own right), Cameron is better at covering for Michael Bradley when Bradley makes attacking forays. Cameron helps the team more by his smooth passing and his defensive coverage and prowess deep in the American midfield.
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Benji JOYA
Being a 20-year-old member of a famous Mexican side like Santos Laguna is no small feat. They say that form is fallacy, and Benji Joya’s lack of club playing time as a 20-year-old box-to-box midfielder in La Liga MX has absolutely no bearing on whether or not Joya can be an asset or influential starter for the United States as a box-to-box partner for Michael Bradley. Joya complements Bradley’s running, tackling, and skilled passing because Joya is more technically-skilled, more creative, and more of an attacking threat than Bradley.
BOX-TO-BOX: Michael BRADLEY
The United States has never had a holding midfielder of Michael Bradley’s skill-level, and his skill is amplified by his tireless running and defensive prowess. With Geoff Cameron playing as a midfield destroyer, Bradley can play as the box-to-box variety of defensive midfielder.
CENTRAL ATTACKING MIDFIELDER: Joe CORONA
This is a tactical decision to use a player whose game is based on one-to-two touch creative play and less on attacking players at speed to dribble past them, pass, or shoot. Joe Corona has shown that he is a player that not only brings technical-skill, creativity, possession-style play, and goal-scoring ability, but he’s also a player that puts a lot of defensive pressure on the opposition.
STRIKER: Juan AGUDELO
Given Jozy Altidore’s incredible improvement in his goal-scoring ability, his technical ability, his movement off the ball, and his desire to go straight to goal, it seems off base to exclude the American striker from the starting line-up, but Juan Agudelo brings more skill, more smooth athleticism, and more magic than Altidore. Agudelo is a more dangerous, more creative, and a more technical player than Altidore, and a player of Agudelo’s guile, speed, and athleticism is the sort of striker you want if you get stuck in a difficult group for the group stage of a World Cup.
SECOND STRIKER: Clint DEMPSEY
Clint Dempsey is an obvious starter for the 2014 World Cup, and he has the playing resume, the skill, the bravado, and the undeniable will to win that has made him an American soccer trailblazer that eclipsed every American attacking player that came before him.
The World Soccer Source USA Best XI (January 2014)
This United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) Best XI is this writer’s opinion of the best American players and/or the best combination of American players, but this Best Current USMNT XI is not a selection of the most in-form, the most experienced, or the most popular American players at each position.
World Soccer Source’s USMNT Best XI for January of 2014 is a 4-2-3-1 formation to balance possession, defending, and attacking in the American midfield, in addition to conforming with USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann’s formation of choice.
GOALKEEPER: Tim HOWARD
Tim Howard is a monster of a goalkeeper whose only flaw is staying rooted to his line too much, but he seems to have eliminated that flaw from his game several months ago. Howard is somewhat vulnerable to shots from distance, but Howard is an essentially complete goalkeeper. Howard delivers lots of game-saving stops, and Howard has prevented the United States from losing or losing by a lot of goals on dozens of occasions
RIGHT BACK: DeAndre YEDLIN
DeAndre Yedlin is probably the best American right back with the obvious exception of the 34-year-old Steve Cherundolo who has recently returned from injury. Yedlin is part of a new crop of two-way outside backs who represent an improvement in American outside backs. Yedlin has electric pace, great technical skill, and solid defensive fundamentals and instincts. Andrew Farrell is probably as good as Yedlin at right back, but Farrell’s brand of two-way play has different strengths and weaknesses than Yedlin’s.
CENTER BACK: Andrew FARRELL
It’s time to put a player like Andrew Farrell at center back. Farrell has the size and physicality of Jay DeMerit with much more speed and better technical ability. Farrell is key to improving the defending, speed, and skill of the center of the American defense.
CENTER BACK: Shane O’NEILL
Shane O’Neill is fully-endorsed by Tab Ramos, and O’Neill is the best kind of center back, which is the type that has been converted from being a defensive midfielder. O’Neill is tall, quick, calm and skilled on the ball with both feet, and his tackling and distribution are excellent. Farrell and O’Neill as a center back partnership would be new, but it would likely be better than the Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler partnership, as effective as that has been against CONCACAF opponents.
LEFT BACK: Chris KLUTE
Chris Klute is likely the fastest American soccer player, and his two-footed skill is abundantly apparent whether he’s attacking or defending. Klute is a modern outside back who is a tall and smooth athlete with a high level of technical skill. Klute is an excellent tackler and marker. Like Yedlin, Farrell, and O’Neill, Klute has a full season of starting almost every game and playing every minute for his MLS side.
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER: Geoff CAMERON
Geoff Cameron’s qualities as a footballer extend way beyond solid marking and tackling as Cameron is a very technical player who excels at passing and covering lots of ground with his tall and athletic physique. Cameron is the perfect type of player to roam the back of the midfield to break up the passing of the opposition in addition to being heavily involved in the passing of the United States. Cameron allows Bradley to go forward without leaving the Back Four without protection.
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Michael BRADLEY
Michael Bradley has developed into more of a box-to-box midfielder as his career as progressed and as he has improved. Playing for a Serie A team like Roma that is famous for attractive, attacking soccer is no small achievement for an American. Bradley is an excellent passer and defender with an almost unmatched engine, but Bradley isn’t a playmaker or a high-caliber shooter of the ball by international standards, even if he has scored a fair amount of goals with excellent technical ability. Nevertheless, Bradley isn’t a playmaker by any means, but his ability to keep possession and distribute the ball while also providing defensive coverage is just as important as other players’ ability to set up goals.
RIGHT ATTACKING MIDFIELDER: Joe CORONA
Out with the old or older and in with the new. Joe Corona is essentially a goal-scoring playmaker who can play on both sides of the field and in the center. Corona is more of a quick-passing player than Landon Donovan, and his youth, creativity, and aggressive play should help to foster more of a one-to-two touch style of attractive, effective, and attack-minded soccer than Donovan brings, as talented, fast, and accomplished as Donovan is.
CENTRAL ATTACKING MIDFIELDER: Benny FEILHABER
Benny Feilhaber won over a lot of observers and American soccer fans with his play in the 2013 MLS Cup playoffs for Sporting Kansas City, which won the 2013 MLS Cup. Feilhaber covered more distance than he had done in the past, which is one of the complaints that some people had with his style of play. Nevertheless, the Brazilian-American who was born in Rio de Janeiro reminded many people why his skill-set is an important asset for the United States. There needs to be a real competition between Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, and Freddy Adu to see who is the best American playmaker. Nevertheless, Feilhaber should be reincorporated into the USMNT and the Starting XI to bring the type of playmaking and orchestration that has been missing from the United States under Jürgen Klinsmann unless Diskerud was playing. Klinsmann seems to have some issues with Feilhaber’s play.
LEFT ATTACKING MIDFIELDER: Clint DEMPSEY
The best American soccer player of all-time and the most technically-skilled American player is on his way back to play with Fulham FC on a two-month loan deal. Dempsey is a free-roaming attacking midfielder or a second striker, and starting him out left (just on paper) should allow him to go where he sees that he’s needed and play the way that he sees fit to play. Dempsey should flourish with Feilhaber and Corona as attacking midfield partners.
STRIKER: Juan AGUDELO
Juan Agudelo is a tall, fast, and smooth striker who brings a more elegant and more creative style of play than Jozy Altidore, an excellent and complete striker in his own right, and Agudelo should help to spice up the American attack with effective and attractive play that makes defenders work while freeing up Agudelo’s teammates to receive balls. Agudelo has a knack for scoring goals and creating an environment where more goals are scored on the international level. Agudelo more or less brings Altidore’s size, strength, and speed while also displaying more skill and trickery.
SNUBS:Aron JÓHANNSSON, Jozy ALTIDORE, Mix DISKERUD, Landon DONOVAN, Steve CHERUNDOLO, Jermaine JONES, Eric LICHAJ, Benji JOYA
