Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IVES GALARCEP
The U.S. Men’s National Team suffered its first loss of the 2014 World Cup, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Americans out of the Round of 16.
Episode 151 of The SBI Show takes a look back at the U.S. team’s 1-0 loss to Germany, a result that ultimately helped the Americans secure a place in the knockout rounds for the second straight World Cup.
Co-host Garrett Cleverly and I also look ahead to Tuesday’s Round of 16 showdown with Belgium, a match-up the Americans will be the underdogs in, but a match they can definitely win.
We also discuss the rest of the World Cup, including CONCACAF’s bittersweet Sunday in Brazil.
Give Episode 151 of The SBI Show a listen after the jump:
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What did you think of the show?
Share your thoughts below.
Ives – is it possible you get someone on your show or website that knows something about fitness training and diet vis. a vis. soccer – Several questions I have:
1) I would like to hear thoughts on US players diet and fitness – I hear that US players have a reputation for not paying much attention to diet. Is this true?
2) Is there a connection between injuries such as hamstring and diet – or does it just have to do with type of fitness training.
3) Would players like Altidore be better off with less muscle mass and being more lean like Dempsey – would less muscle mass avoid hamstring injuries for example.
Gonzales did have a solid final two games but still had some issues whether or not he is the long term starter I don’t know. Brad Davis was terrible in the Germany game. The U.S. had to keep flipping sides with him to force the Germans to change to wings of attack; that being said they figured it out every time. The start was a mistake from jump street and frankly he was the one player and maybe Chandler that had no business being on this team. Brad Davis showed nothing deserving of being on this team during the world cup, in fact he was a hindrance with his lack of speed and defense. Bradley had a bad world cup but it is fare to ask how much was his position and how much was him. But when you are supposed to be the best player on your team you have to show more.
I’m wondering how on earth Garrett thought Brad Davis had a good game. He was a complete liability. Klinsmann had to move him to the right because he wasn’t helping Beasley at all with Germany’s attacks down our left, but that negated Davis’ one asset, his left foot service. Complete mess.
Ives, I think positional familiarity is one issue for Bradley, but that can’t be the whole story. He’s struggling with simple touches without pressure – where he is on the field shouldn’t affect that.
Also, you say that the US’s problem on offense hasn’t been lack of a second striker but Bradley being off. But… he looked good in the advanced position against Mexico and Nigeria when he had two forwards ahead of him to pass to. I think him being the second highest player on the field is a little too high (as much as I like him high). I would go back to the 4-4-2 diamond tomorrow.
We should figure out an SBI Show Drinking Game. We can start with… drink every time Garrett says X and Ives responds “I don’t know if I’d say [X]…”
The one thing that NOBODY is talking about . . . is how little we are getting from our outside midfielders in the attacking third. Zusi is confident on the ball and makes nice passes; and Bedoya is a workhorse. But neither of them are going at defenders with the ball on their feet, and neither of them are making deep runs off of the ball. This has the net effect of shrinking the field, limiting Bradley’s playmaking options, and forcing the attack to go (predictably) straight up the gut. This lack of flanking attack is especially problematic in the 4-2-3-1 line-up we’re using . . . which should result in the outside midis streaking up and down the flank and wreaking havoc.
It’s the risk you run when your best offensive wingers are also your best fullbacks…
…and when you only see certain players as “forwards.”
Exactly — as much as I love the emergence of Johnson, and to a lesser extent Beasley, as defenders that can create legitimate scoring opportunities out of the back, when the majority of flanking attack is coming from defenders, something is definitely broken in the offensive game plan. Right now, virtually the entire burden of offense is being placed on Bradley and Dempsey, which is insane. Even Messi, Robben, and Neymar would struggle to generate offense if they were expected to do consistently do so in 2 on 5, or maybe 3 on 6 situations. We have to get more attacking support from our midfield.
Plenty of people have been talking about it. The difference is their context has been different than the way you put it.
This team was built to play specifically against the 3 teams in our group and advance.
To do that the midfield had to pack in the middle. The strategy worked against Ghana- DMB talked about how they specifically gave up the outside, and it worked, we won.
We outplayed Portugal, and we contained and frustrated Germany.
Losing Jozy affected this, but we accomplished our first goal.
In fact, if you count the 3 warm up games, we progressively improved for 5 straight games till Germany.
Based on Wondos interview last night, with a different game plan for each opponent, I’d expect a different look today.
Nice, Ives calling me a Twitter clown. (I hold no grudges…lol.)
Still not buying that Ruiz hit that shot with his heel intentionally…he had that whole side of the goal open, why would he bother hitting it with his heel (and risking a total flub) when he could just as easily put it in the corner with his in-step? Sometimes we are guilty of inflating a player’s brilliance because we want to believe they really were that spectacular.
Kinda like crediting goalies with great saves when someones shoots it off their face or chest at point blank range…
How do you play Beckerman, Bradley and Jones together while having Bradley play a deeper role? Klinsmann did this against Ghana by having Jones play wide.
————–Howard
Johnson-Cameron-Besler-Beasley
Bedoya-Bradley-Beckerman-Jones
————–Diskerud
————–Dempsey
re: Klinsmann’s magic touch
That has a lot to do with his selections and the depth he unearthed that any player he inserts is a good player. He has been a great coach and the old guard hates that.