Photo by ISIPhotos.com
After the past two World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica, there are plenty of new ideas about just what is the best possible starting lineup for the U.S. Men's National Team when everybody is healthy. With two important qualifiers looming next month, it is time to think about what Jurgen Klinsmann's Best XI will be.
Whether you are talking the back four, the midfield or the forwards, each area of the field for the USA has some question marks regarding who to turn to. There are some players who are locks when healthy, like Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Fabian Johnson, Michael Bradley and Steve Cherundolo, but there are multiple options everywhere else on the field.
Who will make up Klinsmann's Best XI when the national team returns to action? Here is SBI's selected USMNT Best XI and Second XI:
USMNT BEST XI
————-Herculez Gomez——-Clint Dempsey—————-
–Jose Torres———-Michael Bradley——–Landon Donovan–
————————-Jermaine Jones—————————–
Fabian Johnson———————————-Steve Cherundolo
————–Carlos Bocanegra—-Geoff Cameron—————–
————————–Tim Howard——————————–
USMNT SECOND XI
—————Jozy Altidore———-Terrence Boyd—————-
–Brek Shea——————————————-Graham Zusi–
——————Maurice Edu—Danny Williams——————–
Edgar Castillo———————————–Michael Parkhurst
————–Clarence Goodson—Michael Orozco Fiscal———
—————————–Brad Guzan—————————–
Some thoughts:
These are based on players Klinsmann has tended to prefer, and players has actually called up, not necessarily the best 22 in the entire depth chart. For my money, Sacha Kljestan would merit a look in the Second XI as the attacking midfielder, with Eric Lichaj an option as well.
Danny Williams was outstanding against Jamaica on Tuesday, but I'm not sure Klinsmann is ready to hand him the job ahead of Jermaine Jones when Michael Bradley returns to the team. Jones is a workhorse who can handle the No. 6 role well. He hasn't been at his sharpest in recent matches, but he was solid on Tuesday and has shown in the past that he can work well alongside Bradley. All that said, Williams has served notice that he is ready to be a serious long-term option for the national team.
Same goes for Graham Zusi, who played well enough to be a solid Second XI pick, but not enough to be considered ahead of a healthy Landon Donovan in the starting lineup. Zusi was excellent against Jamaica, and clearly gives Klinsmann another dynamic option off the bench.
Zusi could be a starting option if Klinsmann wants a more direct attack. He could deploy Donovan on the left and Zusi on the right. That could wind up being the most dangerous attack the USMNT can deploy.
Carlos Bocanegra gets the nod ahead of Clarence Goodson because, for my money, his experience and threat on set pieces make him the better option. Geoff Cameron is a lock to start at this point. He has been outstanding in recent weeks and months and is only getting better.
No, Jose Torres isn't a natural left winger, but in this system he isn't really expected to play like one. He showed against Jamaica that he can keep possession and cover ground well on the left side of the field. He played well enough to remain a starting option heading into October's qualifiers.
You might notice a variation in formation in the Second XI. Fact is it's tough to see Maurice Edu playing in a more advanced role, but he is someone who would make the depth chart with the second XI. You could see that same Second XI line up in a 4-3-3, with Zusi playing at the tip of a triangle in front of Edu and Williams, with Shea at left forward.
UPDATE- Since some have asked, here the Starting lineup I would like to see take on Antigua & Barbuda on Oct. 12th:
———–Gomez———–Dempsey————
—Donovan——–Bradley————Zusi——
——————–Williams———————–
Johnson—Bocanegra—Cameron—-Cherundolo
——————–Howard————————–
———
What do you think of these selections? Who would you put on the first team that didn't make it? Who is missing from the 22 that you think should have made it?
Share your thoughts below.
Four Cents, how the F*ck is Torres our 2nd best midfielder????? I would put Spector in at CDM before Torres(jones is #2). Spector for one can play mid or defense, he lacks speed but has good deliveries from rb, he can play cb and he has actually done well on the USNMT. Torres has done nothing in his 20 call ups.
Same goes with Fiscal in your 2nd Best XI. He has absolutely done terrible in every match he’s played, the mexico goal was luck and doesn’t mean he played well AT his position in the game.
On the other hand I do like your ADU selection as I love his creativity and the fact he has contributed to the usmnt in his few appearances.
Stuart Holden should be in these best players the US has and so does Gatt.
The US needs a left-sided midfielder. Where will we find that guy? Here I am with my DC United season-tickets and I am struggling to think who could play at the international level at that position. Who’s strapping, fast, good on the dribble, creates chances for teammates and can score, too?
Where, oh, where is that left midfielder the USA needs. Only the Real Fans Know the answer.
In the long run it might be interesting to prolong the Edu CB experiment (in friendlies at least), since we’re looking thin back there for 2014. I suppose Goodson, when healthy, is serviceable enough in the meantime.
zusi is not a right midfielder!
I don’t understand why we continue to put players out of position???????????
I understand trying to get the “best” players out on the pitch but come on.
Torres looked better then 2nd time around against Jamaica, but please out of the 20 call ups I haven’t seen anything that indicates to me he deserves to START for the USMNT as a LM or CM (his natural position) at that.
Our best lineup if the World Cup were today
4-5-1
Forward: Altidore Gomez
Mid: Dempsey (v)Jones (^)Bradley Donovan
Def: Fjohnson cameron boca cherun
G: Howard
bench: Spector, Lichaj, Goodson, Gatt, Shea, Edu, Guzan
My opinion who I’d like to see 4-3-3
Forward: Altidore
Wings: josh gatt, donovan
Attacking mid: dempsey
Center mid: jones bradley
Defense: FJohnson Bocanegra Cameron Lichaj
G: howard
definitely on the fringe and he’ll keep getting call-ups
not way off. i think tie goes to the young guy.
I’d be more concerned about the tactics than anything with this lineup. That group of players could be quite flexible and line-up against any opponent in many different tactical formations. Anything besides a 4-3-3 basically. Although, like you’ve noted already, I think we’re all creating lineups trying to get around the fact we don’t have a #10 right now.
and it will be interesting to see who starts with MB at CM in october, assuming him, jones and williams are all available
the way i see it, if we needed a roster of 23 for a tournament right now, JK would take your listed 22, subtract orozco, add beckerman and rimando. not a bad squad either, but i also agree that kljestan and lichaj deserve a further look by JK.
Main difference with SBI’s is no Torres – never really impressed me, for a attacking player he never scores and never has any assists really, we’ve better options.
Also, Altidore has to play if he’s fit. He’s our best striker in the pool by far and very young
I question the second choice behind Landy for Zusi. When he decides to play, yes Landy should be the starter. Too many games he just looks uninterested though and you have to read the box score later to even realize he was in the game. Maybe having Zusi push him will help with this. If not, maybe being behind Zusi on the depth chart will help him out a little bit.
Best lineup in my mind would be.
———–Gomez———–Altidore————
—Donovan——————-Deuce——
————–Jones—-Bradley———————
Johnson—Bocanegra—Cameron—-Cherundolo
——————–Howard————————–
Agreed – or put Shea on the left. Torres is simply zero threat out there. The object out wide is to push the ball forward, combine with Fabian and send in crosses. Instead, he makes safe, short passes backwards and sideways and tends to hold onto the ball too long. He does not combine well with Fabian. Zusi and Dolo showed how it’s supposed to be done. Torres never gets any chalk on his heels, he pushes inside way too much and doesn’t take advantage of the width of the field.
I understand that he isn’t starting (and maybe someone already mentioned this), but I like Beasley over Shea in the super sub role. Shea can have his moments of brilliance, like in Azteca. He can also look unsure of what to do, like Tuesday. Beas is a veteran who understands qualifying and can be the perfect spark for the last 20-30 minutes if you need a goal, or the perfect possession guy to kill off a game. Am I way off?
This is the way I’d want to play our team:
Gomez/Altidore (toss-up based on form)
Dempsey-(Dempsey)-Donovan
Bradley-Jones
Johnson-Boca-Cameron-Stevie
Ok, so Dempsey needs to be cloned or we need a new player for the #10. Dempsey can fill that spot but would be better used as a flank MF (#11). The issue is that we don’t have a true #10 right now. So what we’re seeing is Torres, Zusi, Shea making the lineups because Dempsey is being played out of position in the #10.
Orosco-Fiscal over Gatt
Really like it, Ives. My only question- do you think Beckerman is involved on the fringe of the second XI?
that’s sort of what I said but dont forget about Gatt as a back up for Dolo or AM, also Gyau will be better than Brek Shea in the future.
Please, please…i’m going to start having nightmares if I see Torres in a Best XI on the left. He had an average game at best on Wednesday, he’s not a winger, never will be…he is most definitely the Bornstein of the Klinsi era.
Zusi played well and based on the Columbus game be a 2nd choice consideration behind Donovan, but not a starter when everyone is healthy. Agree that Jones will get the nod over Williams for the foreseeable future, but Williams was defintely impressive in his natural role.
I’m also glad to see affirmation about leaving out SK and Lichaj. I really hope they’re called in soon. Very troubled by some of the line ups, let alone overall roster selection.
I really like the A&B line up, I think SBI has it about 90% right, except Zusi to the bench assuming a healthy Donovan and Altidore up top:
———–Gomez———–Altidore————
—Dempsey——–Bradley————Donovan——
——————–Williams———————–
Johnson—Bocanegra—Cameron—-Cherundolo
——————–Howard————————–
What is JK’s aversion to calling in an attacking midfielder? Or if he does call one in, it seems he doesn’t play them to see what they have in a game
USMNT BEST XI
——————-Dempsey–Gomez—————
————-Shea——————-Donovan——-
——————-Torres——-Bradley————-
—Johnson———————————Dolo—-
—————Bocanegra—Camreon————
————————-Howard————————
USMNT SECOND XI
——————-Boyd—-Altidore——————
———–Adu—————————Zusi———-
—————–Williams—-Jones——————
——Castillo————————-Parkhurst—-
——————Goodson—Fiscal—————–
————————–Guzan————————-
I think if you push the two franchise players wide like during the Bradley era you resolve the wing service limitations.
I think we could really use a #10 type and no one’s stepped up yet.
I prefer a big/little forward combo and felt Dempsey/ Gomez while not sloppy like Altidore was not productive enough…gotta be better than 1 goal squeakers.
I wonder if you put Chandler where he belongs on his natural R if some of the grumbliness goes away. Dolo’s good and should be in the 18 but he’s getting older and I see the current problem as not really presenting our best XI, instead merely a good one.
I think one of the issues confronting Klinsi is getting the second ten players in a 20 man callup chosen better. There are 10 or so players I’d agree with Klinsi on, but you start getting into the people in the SBI second XI and I wouldn’t even have them in camp much less “second team.”
For example, Guzan, Torres on current form, Shea on current form, Castillo, Orozco when viewed objectively long term as opposed to as “big goal scorer.” We have better people in the pool. Klinsi has to put better XIs out and also do a better job of assembling a camp list. Too many mediocrities in this last one. More speed, more technique. Less lunchpail.
Praying Holden gets back to his old form. He’s been out a long time. I’m not doubting him, just wondering if it hasn’t been too long.
Is Torres over Bradley an oversight or done on purpose?
Right now, no one, but I could see Gatt eventually taking his place. Notice I do say eventually… Kid has a lot to prove, including that he can stay healthy, but long term, I see him taking Donovan’s spot. For the moment, Landon starts.
He’s not wrong. You’re wrong. Jamaica definitely bunkered for the majority of the game. We had 80% possession in the first half. Come on.
If there’s a lone defensive midfielder, that’s the no. 6. Can also be called the Makelele role. It’s more specific than holding or defensive midfielder, because you can have more than one of those, but a no.6/Makelele is doing the job himself.
I am not a fan of two-striker line-ups (= four midfielders), would rather see a lone striker with five midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1. It should not be forgotten that Clint Dempsey scored his 23 Fulham goals last year as a midfielder, tops 17 in league play and tops for a midfielder. Even during the great first-half Tuesday against Jamaica, Clint and Herc as strikers did not get many touches, it was mainly the midfielders creating the fireworks. A second striker is a waster of manpower, better to have an extra attacking midfielder like Clint or Zusi or Landon who can storm the box and score.
Way too soon to be banishing Jermaine Jones, one of the best defensive midfielders in the Bundesliga who also played extremely well Tuesday evening, to the bench. And, quite frankly, it ain’t gonna happen. Klinsmann is smart enough to know how lucky he is to have a thoroughbred of Jones’ caliber. Whether Jones will be starting in WC 2014, or Williams will be starting then, is still an open question. But right now we need a big win against Antigua and Jones is the man.
Zusi convinced me. Loved his play (and Klinsmann next needs to call in Chris Pontius). I would like finally to see Torres in his club position. I always felt Donovan is best from the right side with support from Dolo. And I would like to see Johnson and Dempsey stirring things up on the left. With this line-up, we will beat Antigua 5-0 and pump up that goal differential just in case Guatemala gets lucky four days later.
—————-Hercules——
Demspsy——-Zusi——-Donovan
———————–Torres—-
———Jones——
Johnson—Boca–Cameron–Dolo
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Boyd/Gomez [Altidore/Dempsey late]
Donovan/Jones/Bradley/Dempsey
Johnson/Cameron/Boca/Chandler
Howard
Are you serious? I can list his good performance on one finger, but that one match was Tuesday night.
He covered a lot of ground, and while he didn’t unleash any amazing attacks, he did keep a lot of possession for the US.
………..Gomez………..
..Altidore…….Donovan…
………..Dempsey………
….Williams….Bradley….
Johnson…………..Dolo
…….Boca…Cameron……
……….Howard………..
I also love how gently Jones is touching Gomez with his left hand in the picture. Showing his soft side.
I’m trying to decide if it’s a good or bad thing that our second XI isn’t that big of a drop off from our first XI
It’s okay…we’d beat Antigua w/ just 10 anyways.
Great point, and the fact is he adds the ‘nastiness’ that JK called the team out for not having after getting crushed by Brazil.
Right on, Ives. In my opinion the only guy missing from this discussion is Beasely, but other than that your thinking is right on.
BTW I am frustrated with why so many folks haven’t figured out the Altidore riddle yet; on his club he’s playing with a front three and usually running at goal at speed. He’s not really playing as a traditional hold-up man, which is what is being asked of him on the US squad. This is a much less sexy role that is by design a lot more messy. This is a large part of why he’s not ripping up the back of the net.
I’d agree but I don’t think Dempsey is willing to put in the defensive work he once was.
For me…and I have extensive experience playing FIFA…the only change I would consider is Donovan to the left and Zusi on the right since he and Dolo clearly combined well.
Oops, forgot to put Williams in at Defensive Mid in the 2014 lineup. This is actually a pretty strong team
———–Boyd—————
————–Dempsey———
Shea——Bradley——–Donovan
Johnson—Edu—Cameron—Chandler
———-Williams————–
————-Howard————–
1. I love you all. Bleed red white blue. And all that.
2. Disagree on Torres. He’s super tidy on the ball and brings a range of passing we sorely need. Michael Bradley has improved tremendously as a distributor, but we still need another midfield presence who can circulate the ball in traffic. With Fabian providing width on the left, Torres can pinch in and do this.
3. Torres isn’t a ball-winning type. But he’s got a great sense of space and closes down passing lanes well. Think he can really shine if he settles into the team. Some of the disagreement probably boils down to aesthetics. And a built-in preference (prejudice?) among many for players who are athletic and “get stuck in” and among others [like me] for a team that keeps possession. That’s cool. There are many ways to bring quality to the side…
4. Assuming we progress through qualifying, I am hopeful that Danny Williams makes the sitting central midfield role his. Let Bradley have full freedom to go forwards. In Williams you get a player who is tidier and more disciplined than Jermaine Jones (whom I actually love).
People have to stop mentioning Holden as a possible USMNT. When he’s playing competitive matches again and looking good doing it, we can talk about him. He is not the savior.
I’d go with this lineup for the next qualifiers:
———Herc————–
————-Dempsey——-
Torres—-Bradley——Donovan
————Williams———-
Johnson—-Boca—-Cameron—-Cherundolo
————-Howard——–
This team needs someone who can cross from the wings. On the left, the only other candidate is Brek Shea, and he’s just not ready yet…
IF we make it to 2014, I think it might look like this instead:
———–Boyd—————
————–Dempsey———
Shea——Bradley——–Donovan
Johnson—Edu—Cameron—Chandler
————-Howard————–
Sorry about the inclusion of Chandler, but I think he ends up wearing the stars and stripes, and we’ll have to accept it, because he and Johnson running up and down the wings is just too enticing for a team that otherwise has trouble scoring. Shea is still the future–just needs to watch Gareth Bale videos every night before bed….
usually the d-mid
Why does there HAVE to be an attacking midfielder? In this line-up, you would have LD and Zusi tucking into the center while the outside backs push forward to provide width. On top of that, Bradley is a good box to box player with someone sitting deeper behind him. There doesn’t always have to be true 10 on the field in my opinion.
——–Altidore
————Dempsey
Johnson – Bradley – Donovan
————Jones
Lichaj – Boca – Cameron – Dolo
———–Howard
By 2014:
-Chandler for Dolo when the former decides he is “ready;”
-Groom Williams as a replacement for Jones;
-Groom a young CB among J.A. Brooks, Gonzalez, Ream as a possible replacement for Boca;
-Give Boyd experience so he’s a 90-minute option in a big game;
-Give Shea experience and keep his confidence up.
Quarterfinals in 2014. BOOM.
There are plenty in the MLS…Benny Feilhiber(World cup experience) & Freedy Adu( as a super sub)…or how about we try Farfan or Pontius..there are players, its just that Klinsi is enamored with Torres.
SBI’s preferred lineup for A&B game is same as mine.
If it’s an absolute must for Klinsi to get Jones in there too, I’d switch to this. Bradley higher up, with one of Jones or Williams making runs forward and the other providing cover. Someone made very good point though about yellow card accumulation…may want to keep Jones out of game with presumably bad pitch (fouls from misjudged long balls ala Jamaica).
Gomez
Dempsey Donovan
Bradley
Jones Williams
Johnson Boca Cameron Dolo
Howard
I like this a lot.
Neither Torres nor Wondo would be on my bench though. (But still on the larger team) Really need an all out attack type midfield player for bench like Feilhaber was last World Cup. I’m not sold on either Kljestan or Adu, but they’re closer than Torres. Prefer Boyd over Wondo.
I don’t understand why Klinsi hasn’t called up Lichaj yet. Without Lichaj, have to drop Johnson to LB and find someone else (Torres?) to play LM. Or switch Donovan to LM and find someone (Zusi?) to play RM.
Club situations have to matter in some way. One of them is a full-time starter for a Champions League team, and the other a squad player for a relegation contender, in the same league.
+1