Bruce Arena’s second tenure as the U.S. Men’s National Team’s head coach ended in a 0-0 draw against Serbia in a friendly at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday.
Despite the scoreline, several U.S. players made some personal history on Sunday. Jozy Altidore earned his 100th cap, becoming the 17th player in national team history to accomplish the feat. Sebastian Lletget, Jorge Villafana and Chris Pontius also earned their first caps as they entered the match as second-half substitutes. Benny Feilhaber also marked his return from USMNT exile with a late appearance in the match.
Despite the scoreless draw, the U.S. had several opportunities to grab a winner. Darlington Nagbe, who earned his first cap since the Copa America, narrowly missed the far post on two occasions from distance in the first half.
The Timbers midfielder was a constant threat on the left wing as he cut inside and unlocked the Serbian defense on several occasions. Nagbe lasted 87 minutes before he was replaced by Juan Agudelo.
Agudelo had a tremendous chance to nick a late winner right before second-half stoppage time, but he scuffed his shot wide of the far post. Pontius also came close as he missed what was a practically open goal with a shot that trickled just wide.
Serbia had a few chances of its own, but Chad Marshall was quick to snuff out the danger in his return to the U.S. lineup for the first time since 2010. Michael Bradley also intercepted a few dangerous Serbian attacks in the heart of midfield.
The USMNT will play its second and final friendly of the winter camp against Jamaica on Friday in Chattanooga.
I want Acosta to turn into the American Matic or Kante. If you can have 1 really solid #6 it changes everything for a team. Just ask Leicester.
Whether we play with 1 up top or 2, we are not going to see anything different than what we’ve been seeing for a while, and that’s an entire midfield with little vision, bad spacing, mediocre speed, weak passing skills, even weaker ball skills, possession without a purpose, and zero ideas how to penetrate and break down a team… We just drew with a team that has a combined 5 Caps.. Our midfield needs an overhaul. Period.
I blame Klinsmann. 😉
Why is Arena constantly playing players out of position? Some reporter should ask Zusi what his true preferred position is, and then tweet his answer.
i know you are saying this in jest, but Arena and Vermes both discussed this to the media and it was published
(i am an SKC supporter, I think its his best position)
“Bruce Arena’s second tenure as the U.S. Men’s National Team’s head coach ended . . . .”
Bruce Arena has already been fired? 😉
Bruce Arena and football lines on the field. Welcome to 1992.
Not a great performance, but not terrible either. Thought Rimando looked sharp, as well as our centerbacks, garza was lucky not to give away a pen and zusi actually looked pretty comfortable on the right. Bradley was meh, same with jones and kljestan. Nagbe got in good positions but didnt really do anything with them. My 11 for friday
——————–Altidore————————
—Morris———Kljestan———–Morris—-
————Bradley——Bedoya—————
-Villafana—-Marshall–Birnbaum–Zusi—
——————-Rimando——————–
I agree. While it wasn’t pretty, there is some stuff for the team to build on and some rust shaken off. Thought Zusi had a good game,too.
Morris is fast but I don’t think he can play both sides of the field at once.
Meant nagbe on the other side!
Put in nagbe on the left and that’s my preferred lineup as well
I have to say both FJ and CP are better than Nagbe.
Oh most definitely, I just meant for this camp.
Garza looked terrible. Villefana is a far better alternative. Hope he starts against Jamaica. Zusi was adequate. Neither Marshall nor Birnbaum stood out.
Didn’t we win both games last year? Klinsmann better then Arena.
At what point will Bradley’s automatic inclusion start demanding some questions? Can’t remember the last time he was one of the better players on the field, and it used to be like that nearly every game.
I was one of those fans that was excited when Klinsy dropped him for a couple games, but I quickly realized he was invaluable. I’m not sure that is still the case. It’s concerning that nobody seems to question his place.
Agreed. Bradley is so predictable now, always a long ball in over the top. We can blame Klinsmann all we want, but at least the guy was trying to push Bradley out of his comfort zone. Haha an now his comfort zone, playing deep, is just as bad. Get someone else in there please.
Whether you called it a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, it wasn’t effective because you only had one striker. It was only with Morris and then Agudelo that you had two strikers and any real attack. To generate offense the team really needed two strikers, at a minimum, on the field together. It was only the last few minutes that we really took many shots. A pretty boring performance.
Agreed. We needed more players trying to get into the box. I would like to see zardes or Morris start on the right in the next game, Bedoya was very underwhelming
Zardes eh?……..
Say what you want but he was solid during the Copa as a wide midfielder
I like zardes a lot…. but ur missing the point….
For next game?…..lol
Ooooooohhhh whoops lol you’re right, I’m an idiot.
What we really need is to transition from this constant 4231(disguised as a 433 on paper) to a 4132. Problem is with MB always dropping between the CBs it becomes a disjointed 532. We need Bradley, or whomever the cdm is, to play IN FRONT of CBs rather than between them. I think Geoff Cameron would be a better fit there.
Eventually:
Jozy wood/Morris
Nagbe. feilhaber pulisic
Cameron
Fj brooks birnbaum yedlin
Jones is a sub. Sorry folks. Father Time never loses.
The main problem is benchin the captain(mb) is highly unlikely so feilhsber would make way or Cameron more likely would move back to defense.
Tough decisions in the coming months
If Bradley is gonna sit that deep all game long why not just put 3 at the back a call it or a 3-5-2 or 3-1-4-2. The central midfield is a huge problem, so much space all the time.
If the Captain’s armband is really what’s keeping Bradley on the field, it’s time to think about who else can wear it. Ideally it would be someone whom we expect to be a guaranteed starter (if healthy) in Russia.
Unfortunately Pulisic is too young to be captain, and most of our other good players are too old to be counted on for Russia.
Maybe Arena could give it to John Brooks or Fabian Johnson? (Of course he’d have to check with Howard first to see if those guys are on his list of lazy dual nationals.)