Picking up a point in World Cup Qualifying in a road game vs. a tough opponent is nothing to be ashamed of.
Still, the U.S. Men’s National Team can play better than it did on Tuesday.
The U.S. and Trinidad & Tobago played to a goal-less draw at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, a respectable result for the Americans against a respectable opponent. While the outcome of the qualifier was far from bad for the U.S., the overall performance put forth, especially in the first half, left a lot to be desired.
Jurgen Klinsmann made a few changes to the U.S. lineup that Hulk-smashed St Vincent & the Grenadines last week, but it took until halftime for the Americans to figure out how to play competently. A few decent chances were finally produced by the U.S. during the second stanza, but it was not enough to pick up the full three points against a Soca Warriors side that looked beatable.
Here are some of the takeaways from the U.S.’s 0-0 draw with Trinidad & Tobago:
POINT ON ROAD IS NOT BAD DESPITE PERFORMANCE
Let’s get this one out of the way.
While the performance as a whole may not have been good, the result was. The environment in Trinidad & Tobago was far from hostile, but the Soca Warriors have proven over the last few months that they are a stiff challenge. A win would have been the ideal result for the Americans, but grabbing a point to move to four in Group C is not terrible and certainly will not add any pressure on Jurgen Klinsmann regardless of the amount of misguided opinions out there that think it should.
That said, the U.S.’s performance was disappointing. Yes, the Americans held Trinidad & Tobago off the scoreboard, but it took them too long to get into a rhythm offensively. Passes were off the mark in the first half, movement was poor, and there seemed to be a lack of ideas when the U.S. was in possession. Things improved after the break and the U.S. would’ve gone in front had Gyasi Zardes nodded the ball anywhere but off the crossbar in the 47th minute, but attacking with that type of conviction was needed from the first whistle.
Even with the subpar showing in the final third, the U.S. moved one step closer to advancing to the next round with the draw. That’s not too shabby considering the Americans played far from their best.
KLINSMANN NEEDS TO PUT AN END TOÂ BRADLEY-JONES MIDFIELDÂ COMBO
It has been proven time and again over the last five years that Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones do not work that well together as a central midfield tandem. Not consistently anyway.
Klinsmann opted to go with Bradley and Jones together in the middle of a 4-4-2 against the Soca Warriors, and that tactical decision did not pay off. Bradley and Jones possess different skill sets, but the two veterans are players that still like to get on the ball often and are at their best when they feel involved in the attack. For that to be possible with them side by side, they have to take turns attacking and defender, but they have never shown to have a good understanding of when to do that.
Jones, however, did show well dropping a bit deeper to clean up messes while Bradley had his roughest outing in some time. Bradley was uncharacteristically sloppy with his passing and decision-making, and on one eye-opening playing misplayed a pass from Tim Ream under pressure before committing a foul near the U.S.’s penalty area.
While a sharper Bradley would undoubtedly help this pairing improve, the two of them still do not complement one another well. They are both at their best when they have a true No. 6 in behind, and that is simply not possible in a four-man midfield.
LACK OF SKILLED PLAYERS CONTINUES TO BE GLARING
Even as the U.S. improved in possession and in the attack in the second half, there was still an obvious lack of skill on the ball. The Americans relied too much on feeding outside players Fabian Johnson and DeAndre Yedlin with the hopes that they could pull off some individual brilliance or whip in a dangerous cross.
Johnson has proven for club and country that he has the tools to break down an opponent, whether it be 1-on-1 on the dribble, with his athleticism, or by hitting a crafty pass. He was unable to show any of that on Tuesday, which placed the burden on others like Yedlin to try and come up with a moment of magic. Yedlin was unable to do so on the right flank, as his speed was negated by Trinidad & Tobago’s equally-athletic wide players.
Yedlin’s inability to breakdown his defenders via another method and Gyasi Zardes’ forgettable outing at forward underlined the fact that Klinsmann is still overly relying on players whose best abilities are speed, strength, and work rate. No, Klinsmann does not have a surplus of technical players in the pool from which to choose from, but there a few options available that boast either creativity or dynamism.
Apart from Darlington Nagbe, which is being integrated into the group, there are also veterans Lee Nguyen, Sacha Kljestan, and Benny Feilhaber that Klinsmann could turn to for at least a different look off the bench. Klinsmann has been and continues to be reluctant to include them on his roster, but that will have to change if the U.S. is to avoid repeatedly having a predictable and one-dimensional attack.
BESLER IMPRESSES QUIETLY
The player who began 2015 in a bit of controversy ended the year strongly.
Matt Besler turned in a strong showing at the back for the U.S., and also nearly plucked a goal off a set piece early in the second half. He was quiet in the sense that he did not make any highlight reel-worthy plays, but that was down to the solid job both he and centerback partner Geoff Cameron did on Trinidad & Tobago striker Kenwyne Jones. Besler’s positioning was also stout throughout the match, and it surely only helped his standing in Klinsmann’s depth chart.
It is crazy to think how Besler was on the outside looking in as recently as a few months ago when he was not included on the roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, but his return to the U.S. has been marked with some solid showings. He helped the Americans’ defense hold off a barrage of Mexico attacks for as long as possible in the CONCACAF Cup last month, and this month delivered mistake-free performances in World Cup Qualifying.
Klinsmann has rotated his centerbacks a good bit this year, and may still want to do more of that in 2016. Still, Besler’s position should be safe, as he has shown these last couple of months that he is the top centerback that the U.S. has right now.
I just don’t understand why our attack is so slow. We always seem to start from the back and then move the ball up the field very slowly and patiently, with lots of passes going backward or side-to-side. Contrast this with T&T, who played more vertically and could go from their defensive third to ours in a flash. I get that they were trying to counter and that’s how a counter works, but the US never seems to go for speed. We have some speedy players. Why not knock the ball into space and let them run on, at least every once in awhile? We’re too slow and too predictable.
Our play is too measured in the attack because we did not play players other than Johnson (and on occasion Yedlin) that are decisive in what they are doing with the ball and do it with pace. We really need an AM that can get the ball turn and accelerate instead of a second forward who does not have the touch to hold the ball and takes too long with their decision making.
Look at the play where Zardes hit the bar, Yedlin cut in dynamically and got the defense on its back foot, played a ball to Altidore who hit an early deep cross that opened up the goal. Very dynamic but we need more of that. That pace of play, IMO, is why JK is willing to live with Yedlin’s mistakes as a trade off to get some dynamic play from somebody.
If you watched the U-23’s vs. Brazil, especially the second game, that was one thing that clearly distinguished the two teams. Brazil was decisive and quick and got down the field in a heartbeat. They seemed to always find the open man and make the right pass. The US would sometimes get a good attack going and then a forward or midfielder who hold the ball too long, allowing the defense to get back, or pass to someone surrounded by defenders when he had an open teammate on the flanks. Of course the Brazilians were faster and better, too, but their soccer I.Q. was also much higher.
You cannot expect a team filled with poorly developed players to magically play better. This is the best that we can do. We should continue to play this way. The first goal against Ghana was all about pressure and possession and passing and movement. Thats all it was. We put Ghana on the backfoot. but we dont have the players right now to do that for 90 minutes but we should aim to play that way and conitnue to work to be that kind of team for 90 minutes no matter the consequences.
And unfortunately these are the consequences. Times where our lack of standout players make us look mediocre (as we have always been the past 25 years) but at times we get it together.
In a way by not taking the easy way out we are working to aim high and go a more challenging route. It isnt easy for these guys to play that way. High pressure and fast paced is the opposite of MLS. It is hard to make a player change how he plays. When we do it well it produces great results. When we struggle it looks bad. It reveals our deficiencies.
I do not see how Feilhaber or Ngyuen come into this side and do anything to change how we perform. I see how they weaken us. But they will not be given the time on the ball they are given in MLS. It is a waste of time. We need players who play at a quicker pace and who are high quality players.
You wanna know why Feilhaber played divsion II denmark and ngyuen played in VIetnam? they are not that good.
You wanna know why they did well in MLS? Because a player from League 1 like Bradley Wright Phillips can dominate MLS. A player who was just sub par in the championship and pretty good in League 1 can absolutely dominate MLS. Using players results from MLS is a waste of time unless they are moving on to Europe and elevating their game like Cameron did at Stoke.
The era of Eddie Pope isnt here. Eddie was an incredible defender in an entirely different time for MLS. Besler is ok. He is solid which for now is great but we know that a young John Brooks will be the starter there. Young CBs make mistakes and go through rough patches in form but he and Cameron Carter Vickers and Matt Miazga (who hopefully heads to Europe soon) should be what we are looking at.
It isnt about Europe magically making you a better player. Some fail. Lletget failed. He didnt make it. He was a failure in Europe and couldnt get playing time.
Here in MLS he is a standout. Of course…..
If you become a standout in MLS we should be seeing you linked to teams or leagues in Europe to play at higher levels and improve your game. This is the way we need to push the USMNT to a higher level and to be more successful.
Having all of our players play in MLS is the antithesis of becoming a better USMNT but unfortunately that is exactly what happened from 2013 to 2015.
Great analysis Matt but don’t expect too many plaudits from the crowd that always is ready to tout that “special” player or two that JK has ignored. It doesn’t matter that everyone’s special player is different and didn’t make a bit of difference when they had their chance. It’s hard to see us improving when the dominant coaching is still US-centric. We need to not only send more players to Europe and South America but our young coaches also. We have one name coach plying his trade there, Bob Bradley–major credit to him! It really appears that the entire US coaching fraternity thinks they have nothing to learn from other countries! What a pity!
I love how Franco wants players to show qualities they simply do not have. Bradley just wasnt very good. Also we have no creative players and this idea that Lee Ngyuen or Feilhaber (divsion II in Denmark…sweet jesus) is some kind of international savior is a joke.
You want creative players? Get coaches to coach 6-12 yr olds. Get our development from 18-22 to ratchet up to actually play games and not sit on the bench. Real professional development.
Dele Alli is 19 years old. He has played 99 professional matches. He turns 20 next April.
Will Trapp is 22 about to be 23 in January and has played 61 career matches. Are you kidding me?
Matt Miazga is 20 and he has played 40 career matches. Not enough.
By the time Eden Hazard was 20 years old he had played almost 150 matches professionally.
Again Jurgen has talked about this many times and people call him a moron and he doesnt understand the US game.
Coaches dont make players play better or with greater skill. Our development in this country has completely failed to make better players. All we have succeeded in doing is making more of the same kind of players. Lots of repeats with very little game time.
You want to know why they develop late? Not enough game time.
We need guys who have played 150-200 games by the time they are 22-23.
People are freaking out about Brazil beating us 2-1 and 5-1 recently….big surprise. Guess what Brazil has infinitely better talent than we do. They have even MORE players with even GREATER talent.
I am none too excited about kiesewetter. He is 22…he has only played 2 matches. Some media here are excited about this “young” prospect.
Young prospects who are exciting are 16-19.
People talk about Deli Alli. Martial. Hector Bellerin is amazing at his age. John Stones is an incredible young talent. Laporte at Madrid under 20. So many YOUNG players who start and play week in week out.
You can barely find young US players at age 18-20 in MLS who start week in week out. They are underprepared and underdeveloped.
Kellyn Acosta is 1 but he has only played in 46 matches. He will be 21 next summer. Admittedly he was hurt.
But other than that I see people mention Luis GIl….HES 22!!!! He only played 24 games this whole season….26 the previous… thats 50 games.
Players in europe play 50-60 games in one season.
I am sick of hearing about how coaches will solve the US problem. These players do not play enough games and they do not play in an environment that will challenge them.
It has hurt the USMNT. No doubt.
And we are left looking about the same as we always do.
Congratulations on your straw-man argument. Nobody considers Benny or Lee saviors. Nobody is seriously trying to compare Miazga’s potential with a young Hazard’s.
We can be excited about a prospect like Kiesewetter exactly because we know we aren’t those other countries, and don’t have that talent. Nobody thinks Kiese’s going to play for Barca.
You’re wasting a lot of energy missing people’s points and arguing into the air.
Delusion is common here. I guess you missed the post where bottlecaps said the US had players good enough to win the World Cup. Now that’s way over the top, but a lot of posters here would probably agree that we should never lose in CONCACAF, which is also unrealistic. And a lot do way over estimate the value of Benny and Lee N.
Matt – great comments. Nobody wants to hear the truth, that the emperor has no clothes! You and Gary Page make these comment streams actually bearable! Just attended my 8 year old grandson’s first exposure to an “elite” training program. One hour of dribbling drills. Waiting to see what comes next.
You’re clearly suffering from more delusion than what you accuse those of us who expect results–more so results within CONCACAF.
We don’t need world-class, elite players filling positions that are sorely lacking within the USMNT, we just need those players who can contribute to the progress of the whole team. And yes, though you disparage Benny & Lee, they couldn’t be any worse than the midfield makeup at present. Chances are, they’d be an improvement.
The US squad needs someone who can regularly make that final pass, unlock a defense in the final third, where Jones adds exactly nothing, and Bradley, while he can come up with the occasional assist, hasn’t shown any sort of consistency.
Compare the resumes of Bradley and Jones with that of Lee N and Benny. Either European coaches are idiots who can’t judge talent and ability, or Jones and Bradley are a lot better. And Bradley and Jones played about a half dozen years at a much higher level than either Lee N. or Benny. I wonder if commenters like you ever watch European soccer. I don’t see how you could and fail to see the obvious difference between MLS players and those in top European leagues.
Pretty solid analysis all around from Franco, I think.
I was criticizing a prevalent attitude more than Franco’s analysis. And that attitude extends far beyond sports, a kind of national arrogance which means a lot of Americans think we are the fount of all wisdom and can’t learn from others. I see that a lot in other forums.
I think it’s entirely possible that you should consider hedging your time spent in forums, Page.
:” but it took until halftime for the Americans to figure out how to play competently.” This is one thing I hate about what seems to be the American character. It doesn’t matter what other people do, only what we do. As if T&T’s play had nothing to do with how the first half went. You see this happen all over the world. Especially in a meaningful game like a WC qualifier, the home team usually starts off in a rush and throws a lot of people forward in attack to try and grab an early lead. The visiting team’s strategy invariably is to try and weather the storm and then gradually wrest control of the game away from the home team as their energy and excitement fades. This is true unless there is an enormous talent gap between the visiting team and the home team. Just a couple of reminders. T&T beat Guatemala in Guatemala. Last time we played Guatemala there in a qualifier we had a 1-1 draw. T&T won their group in the Gold Cup, finishing ahead of Mexico, 7 points to 5..
Of course there is a lack of skill players. Kick and run soccer at the youth level then with the growth of MLS players choose to stay here and stagnate. This is getting worse as MLS continues to expand and water down the league
“….MLS is getting worse and becoming more watered down…” ???
How long have you been following MLS?
I invite you to go back and watch footage of the league matches 20 yrs ago, or even 10 years ago. It has improved significantly.
I missed the first 30 min of the game trying to find a stream, so it sounds like I missed our slow start. The second half we really took it to them, dominated possession, looked like the superior team we should be. The goal didn’t come, but that 2nd half performance was encouraging.
I’ve said before that the spine of the team needs rebuilt, and you could see the beginning of that maybe starting. Cameron and Besler are a solid CB tandem. Jozy looks rejuvenated as a more withdrawn forward, with a fast striker to make runs for him. The elephant in the room is at centermidfield, and that was where we are really lacking. Love Jones, he is a warrior and has big game chops and a resume beyond anyone, but he is on the downside of 30 and seems to be breaking down physically. No shame in that given where he is in his career, and I can see him having a role for a couple more years, just not sure it’s as a starter. Which brings us to Bradley, who I also admire as a player, and agree when he’s on, he’s one of the best field players we have. Problem is, he has not been on for some time. Don’t know if it’s fatigue, minor injury, whatever. Maybe a LD sabbatical would bring his mojo back. Regardless, most on here seem to agree he’s always been miscast, particularly under JK. He is just not a “creative” midfielder. Those times when he’s sprung free players with passes have almost always come from a deeper position, where he seems to play most comfortably. He constantly drops back to get the ball from the CB, to the point where JK has to scream at him to push forward more. He seems to be made to play as a true 6, and yet I don’t think anyone has ever actually played him there for the US. I would love to see us try him there in a January friendly with someone like a (dare I say it) Nagbe in front of him. Or Klestjan (sp?). Or give Nguyen a real chance there. Mix. The next generation of dmids need to be brought along now too. Dax McCarty has some caps and just had a heck of a season. Why not bench Bradley if he plays poorly, as he did against T&T? It might be a good thing for both Bradley, and for the team.
You make many points, and I think I agree with almost all of them.
I am a Dax McCarty fan from way back. I liked his play when he played on US youth teams. He has had two excellent seasons out of the last 3 (last year he lost a lot of time due to injuries). He was called into the last January camp. Prior US team coaches didn’t seem interested in him and Klinsmann put him in for a very short stretch last year after the January camp. We don’t see him practice against other US internationals to see how he matches up. Apparently US national team coaches don’t rate him highly enough. Maybe he will get a chance if he continues to play well in MLS, ala Beckerman. As for Bradley and Jones, who do we have as good? We just don’t have that many quality players to replace either or to play as a midfield distributor, ala Claudio Reyna.
Franco- it’s easy to say: “put an end to the BRADLEY-JONES midfield”, but that doesn’t really make sense practically. Jone’s is probably one of our 2 or 3 of our most talented field players in the pool and his has serious big game experience… stepping up when it counts. The U.S. can’t afford to leave him out in big games at the moment. So then what? Bench Bradley- he is also one of the U.S’s best 3 or 4 field players over the last 5 years and generally has been consistent. So you bench him for 34 year old vet, who is questionable for Russia because of his age? The reality is that for meaningful games, the U.S. must find a way to put those two on the field, unless a very talented, proven player magically appears in the midfield.
As a general rule, when people criticize a certain situation but cannot come up with a viable alternative, their criticism is basically meaningless and probably unrealistic. That is the case here. It’s the same when people like Lalas or Twellman say Bradley shouldn’t be playing high as a distributor, but then never say who should be. We don’t have anyone as good, even when Bradley plays poorly. I hope Nagbe will develop into what we need, but it is way too early to tell. If not him, we may have to wait and hope for Zelalem and/or Hyndman. As for Jones, Williams looked like a possible substitution, but then he basically stunk up the place in the last game he played. One reason Klinsmann sometimes plays players out of position is because sometimes we don’t have players good enough at a certain position so he prefers to take the better player and put him where we need someone.
I would only say that we don’t need all the best players available to have the best team possible.
I think Jones and Bradley are still our best central midfielders and that we should try to find a way for them to be on the field together. I still think their lack of consistent cohesion is better than the alternates we have right now.
Jones was a monstrous #6 for us last match, and if he is finally willing/dedicated to playing that offensively reserved role, there is no reason that he and Bradley can’t work well together.
For example:
4-3-3:
Fabian/Zardes/Bedoya/Lletget–Jozy/Wood/AJ–Zardes/Bedoya/Findlay/Nagbe
———–Nagbe/Fabian/Mix/Benny/Lee/U-23———–
————————————–Bradley/Bedoya——————
————————-Jones/Trapp/Kitchen/U-23—————————-
————————– BACKLINE ———————–
4-4-2:
———————–Jozy—–Wood———————-
Fabian—————————————-Zardes/Bedoya/Nagbe/Whoever
——————Bradley/Nagbe/Mix?———————–
———————————-Jones————————-
————————– BACKLINE —————————-
To be fair to twellman I have heard him say, on more than one occasion, to give Benny or Lee a shot.The goal isn’t to get the best 11 players out on the field, it’s to get the best team out on the field. A team plays greater than the sum of its parts when the pieces complement each other.
Put Nguyen in front of Jones. Put Bradley on the bench.
What is not said in the SBI column is that, under Klinsmann, most of the players are playing below their normal level of ability and that, as a group, they are barely competent at the best of times these days. Forget analysis of player technique and who is better than whom. If the coaching staff is asking for something that minimizes both individual and team performance, the focus should be completely on the coach and his staff. That, IMHO, is the only way to understand the ongoing debacle that is the current performance of the USMNT.
Yeah. Nobody ever talks about Klinsmann around here, am I right?
Yes, but can you elaborate on the meaning of “cravin’ frottage”? Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that?
With the exception of Jozy, all of those players also have or are crossing the threshold for soccer players where their skills tend to begin to decline Bradley 28, Cameron 30, Jones 34, Dempsey 32. Also, many of those players have made moves back to MLS and out of Europe. You cannot tell me that the training at Spurs, Roma, or even Schalke isn’t better than the teams in MLS. A national team coach sees a player a month maybe two months if there is a summer tourney, the club coaches see them 9 months out of the year. If MB is declining in his level of play it can hardly be Klinsman that is most to blame.
Yedlin gained an EPL contract under Klinsman, Besler had offers to go to Europe stayed in KC, Gonzo had offers stayed in LA, FJ. AJ, and Bedoya all have gone to better teams under him. Mix although coming to America is in a better league than the Tippeligan. If he deserves all the blame should he not get all the credit
People here greatly over estimate the extend of US talent. Here are two examples. Robbie Keane was MLS MVP last season and had another superb season this year. In Ireland’s game to get into the Euro tournament, their most important game of the year, Robbie Keane played exactly 0 minutes. Ireland is not considered that great a national team, yet they have 14 players who play in the Premier League, we have 4. Diego Valeri is easily one of the best couple of midfielders in MLS and would perhaps be the best US player if he were an American. He has a total of 3 caps for Argentina. People need to get over this idea that if someone does well in MLS they will do well internationally. Some may suffice for CONCACAF, but not much else. This is why Klinsmann keeps insisting that US players should go to Europe. Playing in a top 5 European League vs. MLS is like the major leagues in baseball compared to Triple A.
There needs to be pretty major turn over in the player pool coming out of the January Camp. I’m just not sure I trust Klinsmann’s player evaluation at this point.
Klinsmann has actually done a great job blooding talent into the pool. It’s his ability to settle on which ones he actually prefers (and in which setup) that raises eyebrows.
By ‘blooding talent’ I assume you are referring to bringing a guy in for the last 15 min of a game and playing them in a position they’ve never played in before.
Zardes & Yedlin seem to be favorites as they have the most caps of anyone in 2015.
Listen it doesn’t justify everything the guy does, but do you really need a roll call of the guys who have come into the general pool because of him?