Photo by John Todd/ISIPhotos.com
The U.S. Men's national team faces what could be its toughest test of the year tonight at Fed Ed Field when might Brazil comes calling, and Jurgen Klinsmann will have some tough decisions to make on what lineup, and what formation he should use to best combat the South American powerhouse.
The Christmas Tree formation (4-3-2-1) used against Scotland was effective and dangerous getting forward, but that had as much to do with Scotland's lack of quality as it did with the USA's ability. Brazil will present a much more difficult challenge, particularly to the USA defense, which was rarely tested by the Scots.
The dazzling attacking qualities of Neymar will be difficult to stop, as will the powerful forays of Hulk, and U.S. fullbacks Fabian Johnson and Steve Cherundolo will need to have outstanding games to keep those two in check.
Considering Brazil's quality on the flanks, it's tough to picture a formation as narrow as the 4-3-2-1 being deployed by Klinsmann tonight. A 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 seem more likely in order to defend the wings better, and also to force Brazil's wingers to take care of their own defensive responsibilities on the flanks.
Here is my Fox Soccer preview on tonight's match, which includes Tim Howard talking about how the USA can have success against Brazil, and also looks at keys to tonight's match.
So who should the USA start tonight vs. Brazil? With Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore looking very unlikely to start, here is a USA lineup we could see taking the field tonight:
PROJECTED USMNT vs. BRAZIL lineups
As you can see, the USA formation here is a 4-2-3-1, though with Donovan and Gomez as the wide options, this lineup can very much play like a 4-3-3 and would probably be more 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1.
Gomez and Oguchi Onyewu replace Maurice Edu and Geoff Cameron in the lineup. We could certainly see Edu staying in the lineup, but it is difficult for the USMNT to field a lineup with the necessary width that ALSO includes Edu, Jones, Bradley and Torres. In theory you could deploy Bradley on the right flank, as he did so well last year when tried there, but it seems more likely that Klinsmann will want Bradley working the middle of the field with Jones.
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What do you think of this lineup? Who is included that you're hoping to see on the field? Who didn't make our projected USMNT Starting XI that you feel should play against Brazil?
Share your thoughts below.
I agree. Jones, Bradley, Donovan and Torres will need to defend more.
Same 11, but where Landon and Jose will need to defend more.
you are probably right on the money.
I meant CBs instead of DBs
I’d keep Donovan out wider on the right and ask him track back to help with Neymar, while keeping Torres tucked in and asking Jones to give more cover on the left. When Jones goes left, Torres can track back into the midfield to fill the hole.
Here is a question, are we better off with physical strength in our DBs or is speed what we will need vs Brazil. If is speed then Cameron is your man.
like everyone else, i completely disagree.
Bradley is made for that RCM position. he distributes well, defends and can contribute from the wing and box-to-box middle area.
Edu is perfect for the destroyer that is basically the 3rd CB with the ability to play into the midfield, but does not get into the attack too much, instead he allows jones and bradley (and the FB’s at times) to push forward.
Boyd can dish it out too, why do you think El Salvador defender gave him an elbow to the mouth?. I agree, have one of our CF soften up the Brazil defense and then bring the other for the kill.
I don’t know why you would change a thing from the last game, other than maybe Gooch for Cameron. If something works well, why screw with it.
Scotland was operating out of a 4-3-3. We will see the same thing tonight. I happen to think the 4-3-2-1 is very effective against the 4-3-3 in that it is very disruptive of the midfielders who will be tasked with distributing teh ball. Who cares about stopping Neymar when he has the ball, we shoul be trying to prevent him from getting the ball in the first place.
Dolo and Gooch = Neymar having a field day like last time.
Who else do we have out there. Best of luck guys!!!
actually, most if not all of his shots where in target, his problem was that each and everyone of the them where either blocked or deflected by the defense.
I thought so too. when he did play the outside mid in MLS he was a bust. 4-3-3 is not what we are going out with tonite…well, I hope NOT.
honestly, a 4-3-2-1 seems to turn into a offense 4-3-3. it certainly did against Scotland. i think you are right about Edu, but Torres will play. Gomez will sit and Bradley will take his spot.
that’s theoretically possible, but, if landon and torres are coming back from a more central forward position to check back on the flanks, that sounds like a hell of a lot of running.
Dolo and Gooch = Neymar having a field day like last time.
Who else do we have out there. Best of luck guys!!!
The mids don’t have to sit on the flanks, they just have to help. When the ball goes to Neymar on the left, one can shade over but the other two can stay in the center.
On top of that, there’s no reason Donovan and Torres can’t come back to help on the flanks from their positions in the Scotland game.
I’d really like to see Geoff Cameron start, or at least get 45 minutes to test him against top quality players since it’s just a friendly.
Should read enabling others to do so, not the way it is.
That line up ^^^ would start the 2nd half coming out of halftime and then around the 60th minute play like this:
========Jozy==Donovan========
==Torres===Dempsey===Corona==
===========Bradley===========
=Johnson=Cameron==Gooch=Dolo=
============Howard===========
Does that make sense? Bradley moves to the middle say for Jones at halftime, then Corona plays out wide on the right and then around the 60th minute Jozy comes in for Boyd, and Dempsey for the other Central Mid to play in front of Bradley who would then be the lonely CDM almost like his general role for Chievo sometimes…and Dempsey would slot in front of him just behind Jozy and Donovan or up top with Jozy and Donovan behind them as the CAM or those two could juse rotate depending on the play which they kind of do to go forward as it is….
——————————–GOMEZ—————–
————-DONOVAN———————————
———————-TORRES————————-
————JONES————–BRADLEY—————
———————–EDU—————————
CHERUNDOLO——-BOCANEGRA——–GOOCH——–JOHNSON
———————HOWARD————————-
I see Klinsmann going with as much experience as possible against a team like Brazil. It might be asking a bit much for Boyd to go out from the start and match up against the likes of Thiago Silva. With the exception of Johnson and Jones, the rest of this proposed line up has World Cup experience. They’ll be up for the challenge tonight.
Fair point. However, watching the game the first time, I didn’t see many poor passes from Edu, and watching it a second time, I noticed he more often than not dished the ball off to a player who could play a more quality ball forward (Bradley, Torres, Jones). So he may not be playing the incisive passes himself but he’s enabling others not to do so, and isn’t losing the ball very often at all.
I really like this…could sub in say Corona for Edu or Jones in 2nd half or at halftime and move Bradley central to pair up with whomever remains in the game of Jones&Edu and have Corona play Right mid, then maybe sub in Jozy for Boyd and Dempsey for the other of Jones or Edu so Bradley plays a full 90…and we have Donovan & Dempsey playing together down the middle in alternating roles of 2nd Forward and CAM…
What do you think?
It would look like this in the 2nd half
============Boyd============
===========Donovan==========
==Torres============Corona==
=====Edu/Jones==Bradley=====
=Johnson==Boca==Gooch==Dolo=
===========Howard===========
Beautiful! Thanks.
Thats a useless statistic. It doesn’t include bad passes where the reciever is put in a bad situation and loses the ball. It also doesn’t back passes that less skilled players tend to make.
He had said in an earlier piece by Ives that he would most likely come off the bench, I don’t blame him or the coaching staff for taking it easy with plenty of caution vs a big opponent like Brazil in a FRIENDLY….plus he has a HUGE transfer window Summer period coming up, no need to screw that up with an unnecessary need to play 90 in a friendly, get him 25-30 minutes towards the end…
Could Parkhurst see time?
I wish Lichaj had started getting games maybe 2 months before he did, maybe then at a good 14-18 games JK would have chosen to bring him in…
Damn it I miss Chandler in this games….oh well
He had a couple blocked that missed the target by very little but earning corner kicks, and he was barely off on the timing or the cross was just a tad bit too high or a few tenths of a second too fast for him to get to it, otherwise he could have scored, the goals will come, we just have to be patient with him…
Plus as long as he keeps the defense busy and lays off the ball to guys like Donovan, Torres, Bradley, Jones and Corona he will be doing his job…oh and Gomez if they are both in the game
I was misled! By Clint!
Still glad we’ll see him.
I think with Jozy and Dempsey available US wins by 2 for sure…maybe more if they are on top of their game finishing wise….
I think Edu was more than fine on Saturday and will be in the future, Bradley always pushes forward to trail the run and be in position to score of a rebound or receiving a pass from the forward or mid holding the ball up top….as he did so many times in Holland or think of how Jozy brought the ball down for him vs Slovenia in South Africa or how Jozy held the ball, laid it off to Donovan who then held it some more and set up Bradley for that gift Oswaldo Sanchez gave Bradley in Feb of 09 for WC qualifying…even on Saturday Bradley was trailing and so was Jones and he got in position to score off the long distance shot..
With Jones, Bradley, Torres and LD in front of him he wouldn’t really need all that much distributive ability anyway all of those guys would ask for the ball to move it forward anyhow…
So I agree with Alex & Bryan, sorry twewlife, I just don’t see it…
@PaulPabst Clint Dempsey told me that he will play tonight vs. Brazil. “I’ll be on the bench, coming on as a sub.”
If Dempsey and Jozy start, swap Torres for Deuce and Boyd for Jozy
If Dempsey and Altidore don’t start, then I don’t see why JK would not send out the same team that started vs. Scotland, with the exception of Cameron, and perhaps Boyd (who’s still a bit green)
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Howard
Dolo, Gooch, Boca, Johnson
Jones, Edu, Bradley
Donnovan, Boyd (or Gomez), Torres
Couldnt agree more!!
The starting XI I proposed 10 minutes ago just gained more merit with that news!
Well if you are around a tv tonight you can just turn on ESPN 2
Seems to me like he’s starting. I doubt coach would say “hey man you’re DEF. coming off the bench tonight.”
yep, makes sense. didn’t think of that.
You just beat me. 🙂 Ha
Dempsey quote from twitter, “I”ll be putting on for my country tonight.”
Interpret how you will gentlemen.
DEMPS TWITTER:
Clint Dempsey â€@clint_dempsey
For those asking. I’ll be putting on for my country tonight. ✌
If you play a midfielder that thrives on dominating the ball out on the left in a 4-4-2 and remove them from your number 10 ..(landon) you limit their effectiveness. Its one of the reasons why benny and torres type players get killed the next day after an ineffective role . Your lineup is ok but would be much more effective with fabian playing out wide and having castillo play at LB…castillo could also play in his natural role at winger.
Can we go with this for the first 60 and see what we can really do against Brazil:
http://this11.com/topics/add/abCJWTKag5
sub Jozy and Deuce in second half for Boyd and TBD based on game…
I’m planning on watching it on ESPN3.com
Gooch had 1 injury that kept him out for a few weeks this year and one that knocked him out for 2 weeks I believe last year meaning in the 2011-12 season. I think he is finally in form and totally healed from his Oct 09 injury, Boca on the other hand even at full health is showing his age quickly, I too would like to see Cameron get more and more exposure, maybe a halftime substitution for Carlos….
He probably will get time vs Canada, and he might do it with Goodsen to rest up Boca & Gooch for the coming qualifiers which would put Cameron in more of a leadership position and he’d share Center Defensive responsibilities with Goodsen…
On the other hand, Boyd showed he can create shots vs. Scotland. If he could get them on target…..
Exactly what I mean.
Fair enough. That advanced position just didn’t show in the lineup.
I like your 18, but I hope we see Gomez instead of Beckerman on the bench, even would like to see Castillo as he brings a big more versatility since he can play wide on both Left Fullback in the defense or on the Left wing midfield spot….and it allows for Fabian Johnson to go to left mid as well….I just think with Jones, Bradley, Edu and Torres we do not need Beckerman on the 18…if anything 1 of those could come off to give way to Dempsey in the 2nd half…
I still don’t see what JK sees in him with so many more options ahead of him. But we could very well see this.
Well, the World Footbal ELO rankings put US at ~30 and Israel about ~50. FIFA puts US at ~30 and Israel about ~40. Expectation is a US win. The most common score in WC matches is probably 1-0, so that’s my guess.
1-0, US wins.