By FRANCO PANIZO
A glut of difficult games is about to become even tougher for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
The U.S. is close to finalizing a September 2015 friendly at home against star-studded Brazil, according to a report from SI.com. The location for the game has not been identified, but the match would take place on the second of two FIFA dates in September.
For Jurgen Klinsmann’s side, a Brazil friendly would become just the latest in a string of challenging games in 2015. The U.S. has already scheduled friendlies against Chile, Panama, Mexico, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, and will also try to defend its CONCACAF Gold Cup title in the summer.
The Americans are 1-16 all-time against the Brazilians. The two countries most recently squared off in a friendly in May 2012, with Brazil claiming a thorough 4-1 victory at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
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What do you think of the USMNT potentially playing Brazil next year? Where should the match be held? Is 2015’s schedule shaping up to be the most difficult in American history?
Share your thoughts below.
I agree with much that has been written about “to be the best play the best,” but one counter-point. It might be tough to instill JK’s preferred style of play when facing mostly teams that will keep most of the ball and keep us on our heels. We already know our guys can stay “in” tough games through grit and determination – maybe we’ll even win a couple. But, perhaps to cement a more proactive, possession-oriented style of play it would be beneficial to play teams we can actually execute against in 2015, and ramp up to Germany/Brazil in 2016…
CrewSC,
So you want us the US to look for opponents who will let the US practice the way they want to play?
That sounds nice but I don’t think the world quite works that way. I think your way is a waste of time..
If you can’t force your preferred style of play on the opponent, however tough they may be, and make them do what you want to do what good is it?
Fair enough. My experience is in youth soccer, so maybe the same principles don’t apply. There is a balance between trying to have your solid, say, U13 or U14 team play stronger competition to have them grow from the experience, and having them play so far over their heads that they are consistently defending in desperation, clearing ball after ball, unable to execute really any sort of plan offensively.
I am a huge US MNT fan. This is not a criticism, but assuming Brazil and Germany field their A-teams (unlikely) I don’t see what we learn from those games other than “we have a long way to go.” Maybe that’s worth it, and maybe I’m totally wrong and we will show well – I hope so!
I was focusing on Germany & Brazil. With all the scheduled opponents, even if my thinking has *some* validity we’ll have our chances to develop our style of play. I love the courage of JK, knowing what heat he is going to take if/when we get smashed in a couple of those games…
You have to look at the schedule, which I have not.
Going back to Bradley and the team’s performance at the Confederations Cup in 2009 you can see a pattern where if they can keep , more or less, the same players together for a run of games they start out rough, which makes sense given the long layoffs between matches, and then they get better.
In the 2009 Confederations Cup they were awful early and finished strong.
In 2013 they played:
Belgium(5/29/2013) and lost 4-2 in a friendly but then reeled off 4 straight wins close together, Germany,(6/2/2013),4–3,Friendly
Jamaica,(6/7/2013),2–1,WCQ,
Panama(6/11/2013),2–0,WCQ
Honduras,(6/18/2013), 1–0, WCQ.
I expect the US to go into those games looking to win and I don’t know what to expect since I won’t know what condition, mental and physical, the opposition will be in.
I know the big boys won’t take the US seriously, they never do and never will but there isn’t much the US can do about that since even USMNT fans like you expect us to lose.
JK will take heat for any losses, which is pointless. These games are part of a process which will hopefully build a better team for 2018. They are not unlike rehearsal. It is a time for experimenting and making mistakes. The results matter but mostly in way that is meaningful to the coaching staff in terms of providing them data on the players and on various tactics.
Well, no doubt at all that Jurgen intends to throw them all into the deep end next year and see who sinks or swims….
Going to be a brutal year, looks like, but if you wanna get better….
“Well, no doubt at all that Jurgen intends to throw them all into the deep end next year and see who sinks or swims”
In most sports if a player goes into a game expecting to lose they usually do.
If you expect the USMNT to ever move up to the level of being a more serious World Cup contender they are going to need more players who expect to beat the Brazils, the Netherlands, the Germanys of the world.
If they don’t have that attitude I expect JK to drop them.
Which is one reason why it is a good idea to play as many of the big boy pants teams as possible.
That last game was not as lopsided as the scorElina made it appear. We actually played pretty well and we’re unlucky to not score at least 2 more goals.
+1
If you take away all the things they did right and add all the things we could have done right but were not skilled enough to do this game would’ve been a lot closer.
+1. We were not the better team, but the scoreline was harsh. We actually attacked very well– there was a spell for about 15 minutes in the second half when we were all over them It was also perhaps Herc’s finest games in a US shirt.
awesome. we’ll be playing plenty of CONCACAF teams next year so why not use the friendlies against tougher competition? i was at that game at FedEx and while it was a bit brutal, we pressed them hard in the 2nd half and played well. plus, walking the wrong way to the metro stop meant my buddy and i stumbled onto the team buses. so we got to see the Brazilian and US players up close. Brazilians didn’t really greet the crowd, but I got to shake the hands of Dempsey, Bradley, Boca, and Klinmann so it made the night worth it. granted, the long ride back from Landover, MD to Vienna, VA via the Metro wasn’t great. luckily it was the last train of the night so it didn’t make any stops unless a passenger said it was their stop. everyone fit inside the front metro cab so they would just let the driver know.
and Jones and Boyd.
Please tell us more about your travel that night.
Burn.
yeah man, i can do that…
it was also weird because Metro had to setup special trains to be waiting at transfer stations for those of us who had to jump onto the orange line. same for those who needed to go blue/yellow. as someone who, at the time, rode the Metro every day to work, it was pretty nuts to experience that. when we got off the red line at Metro Center, we were escorted down to our “chartered” orange line train.
also, i remember there were a ton of Brazilians. this one girl was so hammered that she ended up puking. luckily everyone was able to get her to the back of the train before it happened so we didn’t have to look at it. but it was pretty nasty. the Metro engineer/driver/operator guy was so mad, which we couldn’t blame him for. other than that, it was a surprisingly sober ride all the way back.
there was a group of people singing and playing drums which was probably only cool because we were hammered. but it made for a good experience. i also remember one couple having an argument towards the end that was making everyone a bit awkward. don’t you hate couples that argue loudly in public?!
i think by the time i got back to Vienna it was about 1:30am or so. Metro, on the weekdays, closes at midnight. i think i got home by 2am and dude, let me tell you, the next morning was ROUGH. i had to be up at 6:30am to head out from Herndon to my office in D.C. via Metro bus and Metro.
given that i had walked to the Metro to go the FedEx straight from work that day, I should have just packed a change of clothes and got a hotel. but hindsight is always 20/20. amiright?!
hope that satisfies your request for more detail on my traveling that night, Del.
eesh, all the way to vienna? i remember that night, and i thought it was hell just getting back to new carrollton. 🙂
lol i bet it was even being a few stops down. i think someone forgot to tell Metro there was a sold-out game that night.
Impressive recall of travel details from more than two years ago.
thanks dude. surprised myself as well. i guess that night left an impression.
This was surprisingly compelling.
You need to get out more.
all thanks to Del who yearned for more detail. glad i could deliver.
Cool story bro.
Tell another…
nah i’m busy. you can re-read it though.
Terribly busy…clearly. 🙂
well, this morning i wasn’t 🙂
excellent.. lets make that 2-16.
i remember that 1! Rose Bowl.
my guess is it will be in the biggest city that doesn’t host a Gold Cup elimination game..
Should we bring back Preki for good luck too?
Actually, it was the LA Coliseum. But yes, a good day.
With the Ronaldo announcement in FTL, I would have to believe South Florida is a favorite to host this game.
South Florida will certainly be a strong candidate, but I can’t imagine either countries’ federation cares much about Ronaldo becoming a minority owner of a small second division club in Fort Lauderdale.
From the picture, it looks like they’ll be playing the Brazil swim team. What’s with the funky cap?
their olympic swim team could probably give us a good game, as could just about any 11 random brazilians
what a bunch of divers…