photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – When head coach Bob Bradley told Timmy Chandler that he'd be entering the U.S. national team's match against Argentina for his international debut, the 20-year-old right back's reaction was not one of a newcomer getting ready to face the best player in the world in Lionel Messi in his first cap.
Instead of feeling anxious, overjoyed or overwhelmed by the moment that was about to present itself, the German-born son of an American serviceman and German woman solely focused on the task at hand.
""I was not nervous, I don't know why," said Chandler, who speaks limited English. "I think I played what I can so I could help the team."
That he did.
After suffering one of the worst first half outings in recent memory by chasing Messi and the talented and savvy Argentine squad, the United States received a boost when Chandler and fellow youngster Juan Agudelo entered the 1-0 game at the start of the second half.
Instead of seeing Messi, Angel Di Maria, Esteban Cambiasso and the rest of the Argentines knock the ball around from end to end and side to side with the ease, the United States was able to get into a rhythm offensively with the help of Chandler.
The Nurnberg defender made several good runs forward and whipped in at least three good crosses that could've led to goalscoring opportunities. He did not play a part in the equalizing goal scored by Agudelo in the 59th minute, but it was evident that Chandler helped keep Argentina on its toes since entering the match.
"He was a good outlet for us," said Jay DeMerit. "In the first half, we didn't use our outlets as well, and in the second half we definitely did so. And for him to come on in this type of situation shows the type of character he is and that's a positive as well."
Defensively, Chandler did get beat a few times by Ezequiel Lavezzi but he always seemed to recover, in large part due to his speed.
"I thought he played very well," said DeMerit. "He got up and down, he recovered well, played some very good balls into the box, and that's what you always ask from your right back. I thought he did all of those things very well tonight.
Chandler's forays into Argentina's final third were arguably his most impressive contributions on the night, as the precise and powerful crosses he delivered helped the Americans attack a back line that was troubled little in the first half.
"For a player who now comes on for the first time, it was a good first (45 minutes)," said Bradley. "He helped the team a lot. As we worked with Timmy this week, his movements coming forward are good, his crossing I think has been good. I thought he got three good crosses in tonight."
Chandler delivered that type of performance despite playing with a team he's known for about a week, but he credited that to his teammates' warm welcome.
"The team was very good," said Chandler. "They all talked to me and so, it's good. They are like family. Tim Howard talked a lot to me.
"Jermaine (Jones) speaks some German and helped me train when I don't understand something."
Chandler may be grateful for the reception he received from his new team, but they seemed equally as thankful to have him on their side.
"So far he's come in with a really good way about him," said Bradley. "Maybe nervous the first day but after that, eager, and I know this was a good way to get going."
I agree. Spector may no longer be the future, but I thought he actually had a good outing against a very tough asignment.
Chandler has wheels and is dangerous.. but he did get beat a couple of time and was bailed out.
Let’s not forget Spector’s assists in the Confed Cup..
Yeah, that occurred to me shortly after I left my comment. If that’s the case, then apologies to Chris, but I stand by my comment, since there are plenty of people out there who can’t wait to rush Dolo and the other vets out the door, even though they remain our best options.
Nice try, but there were a lot of rushed and pointless passes out of the back in the second half as well as the first half.
It wasn;t the guys playing kickball in the back – in first and sceond half – that got the US the draw, it was bringing in a speedy back in Chandler, and bringing in Agudelo. And oh yeah a great performance from Howard
IF Jozy can’t handle the lone striker role – and he can’t – AND noone else in camp can; then it’s pretty simple: don’t play 1 striker. Duh. Even BB figured it out at the half, so now he’s a genious a again and we are idiots for having said that playing 3 d-mids wouldn’t work, because they’d get in each other’s way.
+1 for using Spector in the midfield like he plays for West Ham, he’s not the answer at the back.
And +2 for playing Gooch at LB.
Finally, i have been advocating giving MB a try at CB, I think he be good and not in the way for Edu and Jones to play at cm, until one sits when Holden returns.
I take it you didn’t see the game. he can’t ran, he can’t pass. what is left….he is an excellent blocker when the other team takes a shot on us. our plan which worked I may add is that we covered the Arg. attackers with more than one defender, the problem was once got the ball away we gave it right back at them so they can have another go at it.
Yeah, you wonder what Gooch has on BB (maybe a embarrasing video or something)for him to always get call for starting CB
maybe cris is talking about Tuesday’s game. DOLO still #1 at RB
we are already giving up on Loyd? all he did wrong was not getting a call for these friendlies.
I think we need a military base in Brazil.
Certainly agree with Grayson….Spector is much better suited for a central defender role, or a creative center midfielder. He is one of a very few American defenders who can possess and pass out of the back (unlike Gooch). When watching him play central midfield for West Ham, he seems much quicker than at outside defender, has the confidence to take players on, and definitely has the tactical where with all to possess the ball and dictate play. He has been mightily misused by BB. I would have loved to see him as the attacking mid with Bradley /Jones as the defensive mid in the second half.
P.S.–Give Gooch a try at LB..where he plays for Twente!
Gov. is keen to always keep an eye on the Germans i suppose? Fool us twice, shame on you… ha
This has some plausibility to it, but I’m not sure why he needs to be a military spy.
No doubt. Spector did what he was supposed to do and did it well. He was put in a terrible position and I think if it wasn’t for a few really good defensive plays from him, it could have been at least 3 goals from ARG in the first half. And I think it was Demerit who kept Messi on while the rest of the D (including Spec) were holding a good line… then he had to chase messi, and that’s just never good, which led to the goal.
He is horrible. Think horse with a broken leg…. put him out of his (our) misery.
Leading up to the World Cup everyone was saying Bradley was great at prepping a team for the game but had no “game feel”.
Thus he didn’t know how to substitute ( see Brazil, Confed Cup final). Now all of sudden he knows how to sub but “BB simply can not get a team ready for a game”.
So he has the seond half down now. I guess that’s progress.
I have a theory. Nowadays he has players like Agudelo to put in. Funny how good players can make an idiot a smart manager all of a sudden.
As for coming out flat and rigid, had they done that last night they would have been down 4-0 by the half. They weren’t playing the Charleston Battery you know.
“gross display of nepotism…There was no reason he should have played more than 50 to 65 minutes.”
Never let up on that huh?
MB was playing well. It was a friendly, yes but some friendlies are more serious than others. So MB went for the win/tie against arguably one of the best teams in the world at this time. So shoot him.
Messi seemed to be taking this very seriously. He did play the whole 90. In fact Argentina made one substitution in the 73rd minute ( Biglia for Cambiasso). Now doesn’t that tell you maybe they were pretty serious about this?
He made MB look bad at times but…hey it’s the Leo show and don’t tell me Holden would have shut him down. And Messi, after his otherworldy nutmegging of Boca, basically got just that one assist. He wasn’t very happy about it.
Finally who were you going to sub in?
Benny and Mix were not dressed .
Here are your choices:
Subs not used: 6-Tim Ream, 12-Jonathan Bornstein, 14- Edson Buddle, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 23-Marcus Hahnemann
OK, so here’s my theory (and beware this is completely superficial, based on shallow visual evidence, and you should pay it only little serious mind):
Timothy Chandler, born in Frankfurt, Germany, is actually a rogue military spy and superhuman agent (a la Jason Bourne), planted in Germany in order to infiltrate European football academies, and eventually bring USSF (and then the US government) to power, thus controlling the world. Many have commented on his “unique” physical appearance (“FrankenChandler”), and we can assume this was a result of a glitch in the system during the Creation Phase.
Just a hunch. You’ve been warned.
i could be wrong, but on the replays it looked like Demerit got a bit caught and kept Messi onside, when the rest of the D was keeping a line, which would have made messi offside. Spec and Co. had to chase after him to the end line, which, as many the world over have seen, often ends poorly for the defense.
Sunil Gulati
My sentiments exactly. I’ve seen a lot of fans throwing criticism at BB for starting Jozy as the lone striker up top – but the truth of the matter is that nobody else was called into camp that would realistically take that role. If we were going to play a 4-5-1, which it seemed apparent we would, I’m not sure why anybody would be surprised that Altidore was the lone striker.
They probably will.
But when you play right mid you don’t get the same overlap space a right back sometimes gets to build up a run. A right back is also likely to have a weaker defender on him than the right mid.
I think it will depend on who the US is playing.
“the D could have used tim ream too. demerit and onyewu did well but their passing out of the back was awful. lots of long balls to no one”
Is Ream as dominant defensively as those other two? I doubt it. In case you forgot Messi got nothing off us and it wasn’t only because of Howard.
Your incompetent passing defenders were still on the field in the second half when the defense actually had someone to pass to. Agudelo and Chandler gave the defense outlets to pass to and the same defenders who couldn’t pass the ball before suddenly could pass the ball.
Let me put this in American terms. It’s hard to complete a pass when there is no one open and when the defense is constantly burying you.
Let me use another American sport cliche. You play the game for 90 minutes, not 45. All these you “fans” seem to forget that.
“What is obvious to all but BB is that Altidore does not work well alone at top. ”
Who would you have started alone up top?
Is it possible that the US had no reasonable options to pass the ball to in the first half so clearing was the order of the day?
Everytime I saw a US player get a ball out of the defense he was stripped of it pretty quickly. Chandler and Agudelo eased that plus it was unlikely that Argentina was going to be able to keep up that pace forever.
Spector actually defended much better than Chandler.
I think Spector defended quite well, he just had nothing going forward. I think he is better suited for a central role, either in defense or midfield. His skills on the ball are not bad, and he has pretty good size, so I think he could be a good option as a more evolved CB. I was horrified by Gooch’s inability to pass the ball. He needs some work.
You replace players when better options come up. Not just younger, they have to be better. Cherundolo and Bocanegra are still our best options at RB and LB, respectively, and it really isn’t even close.
Dolo’s club team (which he captains) is currently sitting in third in the Bundesliga, in a Champions League spot. It is absurd that people want to replace him with a kid playing in the Championship or another kid who hasn’t even played an entire Bundesliga season.
Because Cherundolo is our best RB. It baffles me how little respect he gets from US fans. He’s about to captain his German team to a Champions League spot, and people are calling for a kid playing in the Championship to replace him!?
As far as Dempsey goes, he is a striker the same way that Edu is a CB. Just because he can play there in extraordinary circumstances doesn’t mean he should be playing there.
I’m fairly certain he played right back for the first couple games because of an injury but then they moved him into the right mid position and he got a goal and an assist in his first game there. I think he’s been playing right mid ever since because their regular right back is back from injury. Then again I’m not 100% about that.
To continue, Benny Feilhaber was born in Brazil and Jay DeMerit was eligible to play for Denmark, I believe. Then there are fringe players like Freddy Adu, Lee Nguyen, etc. And there are American-born players who represent other countries, like Giuseppe Rossi and Brede Hangelaand.
Welcome to the United States, we’re a nation of immigrants.
The same reason Spector isn’t going to get a look as a defensive mid – because he isn’t as good as our other options there.
Well played, Babieca.
Gooch has about 65 balls to no one down the line. Boca will at least pass the ball in someone’s vicinity. Demerit was always left trying to clean up Gooch’s mistakes.
+ 1000
Gooch will be 32 at the next WC. He is only 28 now. Why would we “retire” him?
Exactly, Zach. Oz said something stupid, but a whole lot of good things were written in this thread.
Or if the Chandler at right mid, Dempsey up top experiment actually works, why not just put Lichaj at RB?
+(Number of dual citizens CHOOSING to play for USA)
Don’t forget JFT and Herc (Mexico), Stuart Holden (Scotland), Lichaj (Poland), Mix (Norway), Bunbury (Canada), not to mention a slew of U-18 players.
Dude stop. I’m so sick of this. Chandler and Jones’ respective fathers are AMERICAN serviceman. AKA they left America and were stationed in Germany to keep YOU and ME and everyone in this country safe.
If you don’t consider their sons American, then I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you.
solid post.
Check this vid out of Sanneh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcee6DMVJMQ
Another question along the lines of our aging back line. At what point do we stop thinking about regional play and friendlies and start thinking about building for the next WC? I have a feeling it depends very much on the Gold Cup this summer. A win guarantees a Confed cup berth, correct? therefore we play our best team now and try to secure that very good warm-up event for the top players in the next cycle. But on the off chance we don’t win the Gold Cup, how soon should we start retiring Boca Dolo Gooch and maybe a few others?
and also I ask this as a question of strategy, I mean no disrespect to three of the best defenders in USMNT history.
He is a younger, more promising version of Tony Sanneh. Powerful, with pace, and can whip in some crosses like those of Sanneh in the 2002 World Cup.
By the way, that’s my way of saying, yes he does play fullback for Nurnberg. Or at least has been for the past few games.
Agree Miguel. I think Chandler is the RB of the future, but for this summer the position is still Dolo’s. I would really like to see a 4-4-2 Gold Cup lineup that starts Dolo at RB, plays Chandler and Donovan at the wings, and plays Dempsey and Jozy up top. I think you have a completely open competition between Bradley, Edu, and Jones for the 2 center spots.
You then have Agudelo, Bunburry, and Buddle available as striker subs, and you still have Benny and the third holding mid as available subs. Lots of flexibility and options.
Past the Gold Cup, you make Chandler the first choice RB. That allows you to move Dempsey back to the wing with Donovan. You can then either play a 4-5-1 with Holden, Edu/Bradley/Jones, or stay with a 4-4-2, featuring two of Jozy, Agudelo, Bunburry, and Davies (maybe), with a midfield competition for two spots with Bradley, Edu, Holden, and Jones.
Thought he played right back for Nurnberg….
I was happy with Demerit´s performance considering he has hardly played since last summer. He brings a nice tenacity and just might factor for most of this cycle which I wouldn´t have predicted before this game.
Boca gives up way too much space at LB.
Is this because he is leary of getting beaten by the quicker wingers?
I thought Gooch was ok. He is just so slow and as he ages this is going to get progressively worse, especially if he picks up anymore significant injuries. With all the progress he made in his tenure in Belgium the clock may be against him. Those bigger bodies tend to break down at younger ages.
Chandler was a real revelation for me. It was great to see a fullback other than Cherundolo get forward and offer such nice crosses with the speed to recover at the other end.
Spector hit some beautiful crosses in the confed cup 09, but is slow on the edge. People keep wanting to push him to CM but I think he could earn some time at CB as his positioning is pretty good and he would provide improved distribution from the back.
I agree with you Miguel. The biggest knock on Chandler seems to have been the fact that we was (understandably) beaten a few times last night. Pushing him up into the midfield would give the US a strong attacking presence up the right flank with Chandler and Cherundolo. Donovan would bring the same speedy attacking presence on the left side.
Dempsey needs to be playing up top so he can develop some chemistry the other forward options. I’d like to see him paired with Agudelo. As a forward, Dempsey should be given some freedom roam around the offensive end to create plays or draw away defenders.