The U.S. men's national team kicks off 2012 in Arizona, taking on Venezuela at University of Phoenix Stadium in its first match of the year (9 p.m., Galavision/ESPN3.com).
The friendly comes as part of the culmination of January training camp, and it provides Jurgen Klinsmann a chance to see some of the players he has yet to observe in international game situations on a competitive stage.
For fringe first-team players like Geoff Cameron, Benny Feilhaber and Michael Parkhurst, the match is a chance to make an impression on the U.S. coach, while players like Bill Hamid, Jeff Parke, A.J. DeLaGarza, Graham Zusi and C.J. Sapong hope to earn their first caps. Two players that Klinsmann is familiar with, Juan Agudelo and Kyle Beckerman, are both out with injuries for the United States.
SBI will be providing live commentary on today's match so please feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):
Jones and Clark ain’t enough?
Err, correction. My thoughts on turf still stand, but I thought I had heard that she simply went down after a shot.
After revisiting the situation, I see that she was kicked. Sux.
Soccer should never be played on turf. Period.
BC Place is dangerous because the turf leads to injuries like this far more often than on grass.
MB, Gooch & Jones = 3 hard men for the USA.
Love it.
“Struggled”?!?! He took his chances well and if it werent for Morales’s great reflexes, Wondo could have had one or maybe even two goals. He was more dangerous than Shea and Bunbury and he only played 30 minutes. Take off your Wondo-hating glasses cause they are blurring your vision. He had a great game.
After watching first half again, Benny didn’t play as badly as I thought. He completed about 75% of his passes had three turnovers, and created one good scoring chance. He played high up the field and got little service from the right side. Still give Zusi and Pearce very low marks.
Boycott Arizona
NICE HEADER BY CLARK. YAYYYYYY WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why, because JJ is the rock in a midfield of jugends, and was utlimately the man of the match.
I would generally agree with Klinsi’s tenure as a whole, but I thought we had a lot of chances tonight. Perhaps a disproportional number came from set pieces but that’s what happens when you’re outclassing your opponent and they are clutching, grabbing and knocking the ball over the endline. Klinsi actually did a good job subbing 3 forwards in since Venezuela was packing the box and allowing uncontested crosses from the wing. Lloyd had some really nice crosses towards the end and Wondo, Bunbury and Sapong all had good chances with their heads.
If all you’re getting is corner kicks you can make an agile GK look good. What we need is to get into the 18 with more combination play for closer chances.
The irony of the Klinsi era to me is that this style is prettier to watch but creates fewer chances. We seem to knock it around all over the field in the back 2/3 but then get pushed wide and outside in the final third. And I also think if this style is the end game then we should be finding more Dempsey-type finishers because I don’t think an Altidore or Bunbury, power type works well in this system if they can’t finish.