photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
For a second straight month, Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. men's national team made history, but this time the result was not one they wish to remember.
Weeks after beating Mexico for the first time in a friendly at Azteca Stadium, the United States resumed its World Cup qualifying campaign by suffering a surprising 2-1 loss to Jamaica at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica on Friday night. The defeat was the Americans' first to Jamaica in 19 games and put them three points behind the Reggae Boyz in Group A.
Clint Dempsey got the U.S. team off to a dream start by scoring 36 seconds in, but the Jamaicans rallied with a pair of free kick goals. Randolph Austin netted the equalizer in the opening 45 minutes and Luton Shelton scored the winner in the second half against a United States side that seemed to lack ideas in the final third.
The Americans now have four points at the halfway point of the third round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. They will not have to wait long to get a shot at redemption against the group-leading Reggae Boyz, as the two teams will square off at Columbus Crew Stadium on Tuesday.
Playing in a 4-4-2 and without key players Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, the United States came out of the gate flying. Herculez Gomez made a run down the right side of the penalty area before unleashing a pair of shots on goal that were blocked but not cleared. That allowed Dempsey to pounce on a rebound and put the ball in the back of the net from eight yards out in his first game at any level in nearly three months.
Jamaica were unable to muster up much of a response offensively, as the trio of Jermaine Jones, Kyle Beckerman and Maurice Edu helped negate the hosts' speed. The three defense-minded midfielders, however, had issues keeping the ball for the United States and that helped the physical Jamaicans enjoy some good spells in possession.
The Americans were forced to make a number of fouls to stymie the likes of Shelton and Ryan Johnson and Jamaica took advantage. Following a foul from Beckerman, Austin struck a low free kick in the 24th minute that deflected off of the midfielder's foot before rolling past Tim Howard.
Austin's goal gave Jamaica some much-needed momentum heading into the intermission and it also carried over into the second half despite Geoff Cameron and the rest of the U.S. back line holding steady from the run of play.
That was until another foul in a bad spot was conceded, this time by Edu, to give Jamaica another free kick from just outside the penalty area. Shelton then beat Howard with a free kick to put Jamaica up 2-1 in the 62nd minute.
The U.S. team tried to throw numbers forward as the match wore on but their inability to create clear chances allowed Jamaica to secure the three points with relative ease, evoking the Jamaican fans to run onto the field after the final whistle to celebrate the historic win with their team.
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What do you think of the United States' 2-1 loss to Jamaica? What was the main problem in the defeat and what needs to change before the next match? How worried are you right now?
Share your thoughts below.
we disagree plenty you and I, but I’m in agreement with what you said here
No. Edu made a very good pass on the goal sequence. Beckerman didn’t have 1 good ball the entire match. They both cost their team a goal with dumb fouls. So Edu had a (slightly) better match.
All three sucked.
I agree. I thought the entire announcing crew for BeIN was almost bad enough to make me wish for JP and Harkes.
Honest truth, this is what happens when you have a coach from outside the country (although he has lived in LA for the past years) He doesn’t know our domestic players well enough to know how much they really suck and which ones are good. Playing beckerman is awful, even Bob knew that and that’s why only used him in the B team gold cup and one WCQ match and that was just cause in what in his home team. I think JK is a great coach, I just dont think he knows the players well enough to know that a certain player doesn’t work well in a certain position but JK is not ignorant and will adjust before he gets the boot.
No option for next week but the 4-3-3.
Danny Williams was finally played in position and did well. He has the pace (or as close as this roster will come) to fill that spot against Jamaica.
The backline was fine. I can’t even argue for Cherundolo to come in because Parkhurst was one of the Nats best players last night.
Idea: Possibly put in Cherundolo & Parkhurst and give Fabian a run out at AM.
Zusi or Corona needs a shot this next game, and JK shouldn’t be afraid to take a tired Deuce off the pitch.
I was a bit distracted during the game, but it seems to me Cameron and Goodson did fine at CB… don’t know how Boca would have helped when the 2 major defensive errors came from D-Mids.
I think Boca and Torres watching all night plus 40 total minutes from Boyd and Shea (plus Lichaj left out etc), weighed against the unit we did play, suggests sheer arrogance. I think he really thought he could send a merely OK set of Gold Cup-ish Americans out there and still win. Not enough attacking or defending speed, not enough tablesetting, a few too many second tier players.
There was arguably a similar arrogance/ hubris about the U23s when they beat an experimental U23 Mexico and then failed to qualify for the Olympics. Mexico then wins the Olympics.
I think the omen of the 2-1 Jamaica win at home against Guatemala didn’t get across (repeated against us). When I put on the Matchtracker and saw the lineup, it looked underpowered like a Camp Cupcake unit. Parkhurst???? Goodson???? (Over Boca???) Beckerman??? 3 d-mids????? Jozy and Gomez together up top???? (Not Dempsey or Boyd???)
One key element I see missing from our lineup is speed. Another is attacking skill. Looked like too much of a lunchpail unit and every so often when you run out a stalemate machine you still lose, and the unit lacks the firepower to come back offensively.
I expect us to advance, we’re still tied for the second spot and have all the tough games in the books. But I don’t think fighting for first from this bunch, or maybe even sneaking in second, was the Klinsi sales pitch. Our Savior is not supposed to have a Learning Curve. He’s supposed to be teaching us a thing or two.
My line-up for Tuesday:
Boyd Gomez
Dempsey Corona
Williams Jones
Johnson Cameron Goodson Parkhurst
For those that don’t want to watch the whole video, the goal around 1:33 is the literal definition of workrate and skill.
Honestly, I thought Shea was rubbish last night as well. Yes, he made a difference against Mexico.
That said, I agree Beckerman didn’t belong on the pitch last night.
Man that Jozy guy has no skill, not a good soccer player, at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx3PbjVf8d0
Disclaimer: I do not support the music in the video, why can’t we just get highlights?
Rubbish. A striker has to receive service. Altidore had none. Even when they tried Route 1, the balls were so inaccurate Jozy wasn’t even in the screen.
The midfield was atrocious, the defense was slip-shod, and as a result, Altidore was dropping back into his own half to TRY to get the ball. Even that didn’t work.
Effort was not the issue with Altidore. Service was. Plain and simple.
What? Jozy lazy argument surfacing its ugly head again a striker needs service and our midfield was overrun. Period. It wasn’t our defense, it wasn’t our strikers (I will agree that Dempsey’s workrate was down) It was the midfield and a huge part of that is Klinsman’s midfielders choice (and your also right that they failed him, they failed to provide anything in defense). However implying that JK has no blame in his tactical choices makes no sense to me.
Ok. Question for everyone. If Klinsman stays with a 4-3-3 and everyone was healthy and available,give me your strongest US lineup. I think I would go with Dempsey, Altidore and Gomez up front. After that it gets tricky. Please give some thooughts on why you think your lineup would be a good one.
I would also like to say I agree with you about Chandler. However, I would appreciate if you acknowledge the workrate and commitment of players like Jones, Johnson and Boyd because that commitment to the USMNT is as REAL as ever.
You made some good points however you completely ignored Super’s point about Jones workrate, and Johnson’s (i’ll add) which renders your REAL american point ineffective. How about our REAL american’s (Edu and even Dempsey last night) play with more passion.
And I think Beckerman might just be past his sell-by date.
The final game of this round against Guatemala is shaping up to be huge, as long as Guatemala gets a result in Jamaica.
Fair, but Edu had a worse game the Beckerman IMO. He needs to be a defender for the Nats.
I’m a huge BB supporter and not gleeful at all, we were promised grandeur and Klinsi hasn’t delivered. We need to have a legitimate debate about our approach, style and tactics. JK needs to grow a pair and play an attacking lineup on the road even when our player pool is a little short due to injuries. He really can do a lot to get this country to play the beautiful game the way it’s supposed to be played if he has a little more faith in the tactics he used previously (Slovenia as pointed out earlier).
Fire Bradley!!!
The women’s team would have beat Jamaica and quite possibly our own men. Soccer is by far the sport with the least gap between the two genders.
perhaps…was thinking similar things. If it does go down like that, Klinsmann will have been in charge of the biggest debacle in USMNT history
he’s teetering on the edge right now. we’ll see. hope he can right the ship, and pronto
isnt it the coaches job to motivate the players. Oh wait he tried that with phone book tearing. Guess he should try to some other stupid motivation tactic.
Bradley is a box to box mid with ever improving offensive categories, to suggest he wouldn’t have helped last night is flat out ridiculous.
it’s because we don’t have the defenders who dominate the air anymore representing because they don’t play out of the back good enough or some other BS excuse. It’s not difficult to understand as Klinsmann has changed the focus of how the US plays BUT perhaps we don’t have the players to do it
I’d agree that there’s some backup QB syndrome, but there’s also some bias in the other direction (you! and I have zero shame in calling you and you alone out about that)about a player that has obviously matured after his moving to Europe. We can have a legitimate debate about who comes first on the AM pecking list (IMO its not Sacha), however after last night the one thing that shouldn’t even be a question is the 3 DM approach, negative tactics, negative style JK employs during road games. I really didn’t think it was possible for someone to employ more defense first tactics(on the road to be fair) then BB, but JK has proved me wrong, sad thing, at least BB’s midfield defended better.
oh yes, lots of ideas that have been articulated repeatedly, but the blindly faithful aren’t interested in listening to that
you have got to be kidding…or you simply don’t get it. You choose
+1
come on Tyler, get off the spin doctor mode you’re stuck in
true, but what 2tone said has merit to me
when Williams receives the ball in anattacking position he has no idea what to do with it, has repeatedly shown that. good defender, inept going forward, devoid of ideas
not his fault when he’s played out of position tho; anybody with a fundamental understanding of the game can see these things too, not rocket science
+1
-1
Yeah, this game shows that despite all the advances in our player pool, the USMNT remains desperately thin when it comes to our first-team midfield. The dropoff from Donovan/Dempsey/Bradley to anybody else is steep.
What an awesome home-and-home series
Out of the 3 defensive mids, you decided not to harp on the one that had the worst night.
Beckerman had a lot better night than Jones. That being said, the idea that we’d play three defensive mids again deserves a slap. The only real difference between what happened yesterday and this plan is that you have Torres playing Dempsey’s role from yesterday. Torres isn’t an improvement.
How about other motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or Bob Bradley?
If thats the case why did he wait until the 70th minute to sub?
+1
Can someone please tell me how Shea is now a bench player when he is so exciting going up and down the wings? Wasn’t he partially responsible for the goal in the last game.
To think that a hack like Beckermen is on the field with Shea, Torres and other on the bench leads me to believe that Klingsman is not what we expected as far as using talent.
good times. And it IS progress in an effed up way.
I can understand why fans are worried, but I do agree that the U.S. will win their group. After Tuesday’s game, the U.S. will be back on top and never look back. A&B gives Guatemala a bad time. Let’s see if they can get a result at home without a player getting red carded this time.
Uruguay is about 50th percentile population rank in the world, and is the smallest country to have been in a knockout stage at the world cup in recent memory. It would be pretty anomalous for a country with a small population to consistently field 14 players with high enough quality to compete with larger countries.
beckerman needs to go, shea needs to start, lose the d3 and guzan needs to be in the net. enough with the slow and elderly.
or Corona.
I never understand the country population point that gets made after some losses. There is no relation between population size to soccer prowess. You never here anyone say, “I can’t believe we lost to Spain, we have states with more people”. A better point would be that we are tying or losing to teams that are basically MLS sides.