By RYAN TOLMICH
FOXBORO, Mass. – Alejandro Bedoya will be the first to tell you: he got exposed Tuesday night.
Played aside Jermaine Jones as a deep-lying midfielder, Bedoya just didn’t have it, lasting just 36 minutes in a position that proved to be highly foreign to the U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder.
Removed early in the USMNT’s eventual 4-1 loss to Brazil, Bedoya was the first to admit that he wasn’t up to snuff on Wednesday night.
“It is what it is,” Bedoya said after the loss. “Whenever I play, I want to do my best for the team. It’s a different position for me, but I don’t know. You try and work on things in training but, in a game, it’s a whole different thing against good teams like Peru and Brazil.
“It’s fair to say maybe I got exposed a little bit in not knowing how to play as a No. 6, because I haven’t really played there as a professional, but yeah, everything is a learning curve.”
For head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the decision to play Bedoya in the center of the field was a logical one, even if it was in a deeper role than usually preferred. Having proven to be a menace on the wing throughout his international career, Bedoya’s placement in the midfield opens the door for speedsters like Gyasi Zardes and DeAndre Yedlin to roam the sidelines and cause havoc.
Klinsmann says that Bedoya’s struggles on Tuesday weren’t due to a lack of effort of lack of preparation. Rather, it was just a bit of an off day from a player that is still very much a major part of the USMNT going forward.
“Playing Ale in the center there with Jermaine (Jones) and Michael (Bradley) in front of it, it’s a very good option. He showed a couple of other games after the World Cup that he could play inside, but he just never caught up with the game. He was really running after the ball and trying to get involved somehow, but he never connected.
“That’s what you see then, and then you wait a little bit and say ‘ you know what? It’s maybe better to make a switch there’.”
Having trained in the position throughout the week, Bedoya was still not quite prepared for what was ahead of him. A newcomer in the position, Bedoya was thrown into the fire against Brazilian playmakers like Hulk and Douglas Costa.
With Mexico around the corner, the experiment of Bedoya at defensive midfielder is likely set to be shelved. However, the lessons learned from it will not, as Bedoya is fully ready to move on for the crucial one-off clash.
“I haven’t really played there before,” Bedoya said. “Like I said, sometimes versatility is a good and bad thing maybe, you know? Over the past two games, I tried to do my best, and there’s somewhere I haven’t really played a professional, but this is one of those games you learn a lot in and take it from here.
“We talked about being aggressive, and stuff like that, but when you don’t get close enough to the guys, they’re able to do everything and even when you do press them, they’re mentally quicker than you and technically very gifted. We got it handed to us a bit today and we look forward to the Mexico game now and we have things work on. We’re going to give it our all.”
Yeah but Tuca actually seems to know what he is doing….
Bryan,
So explain his dropping of Gio and his brother.
Well for everybody that’s worried about the Mexico game just keep in mind Jk being lost and not being able to get a handle on the situation after 5 years of having the team is still not as bad as the situation of Mexico who changes their coaches as often as they change their socks with players having to learn a totally new style and formations every single time. Talk about no stability! And the word i heard now on a very popular talk show is that the current interim coach (Tuca Ferretti) may be replaced by the permanent choice for the Oct. 10th game. Sounds funny but true. So JK has it easy but that being said i wouldn’t expect too much from him in the next World Cup and don’t believe his lies about getting us to the semi’s. no matter how much he smiles with the pretty grin of his.
i’m american and i grew up as a fan of nfl football. nfl is stop and go action. we all thought that was “normal” in sports. on the playground: first down. stop. huddle. that didn’t work. we have our new plan? okay, break! hike! stop. second down. huddle. that worked better. what do we do this time? etc.
stop and go action. see? we all thought this was normal when watching nfl football on tv or playing footbal on the playground.
i thought our best “american” style of soccer was also stop and go action. built on WINNING SET PIECES. maybe i am going back ten years ago? i hope you will excuse me? it went something like this:
we would win set pieces primarily in two ways:
A) winger dribbles ball to endline, attempts to whip in a cross. defenders must turn and face their own goal, stick out a leg and attempt to block the cross, often, they knock the ball over the endline. CORNER KICK, USA
B) bulldog usa midfielder (pablo mastroeni) forces turnover and speedy mid (landon donovan) picks it up in space and sprints for the goal against the run of play. 99% of defenders aren’t as fast as LD, so in a panick, defender on other team grabs a handful of our player’s jersey commits the foul. FREE KICK, USA
btw, sometimes the whipped in cross would CONNECT and GOAL: USA!!! (it wasn’t just for show)
the usa was always good at set pieces. we could score a lot of goals that way.
the set piece reminded me a little of nfl football. a rehearsed play. they practiced it all week, now they will execute it. landon donovan would usually take the free kick or the corner kick. the big guys in the back like carlos bocanegra and oguchi onyewu would come up to the 18 yard box. LD would act a little bit like the quarterback in an nfl football game. LD would place the kick perfectly and quite often one of our guys would score.
so, the end result was kind of a stop and go action. you were always trying to win set pieces. i think in a typical game ten years ago, the usa would get maybe 6-8 set pieces per game, regularly. yes?
what if bruce arena didn’t have a left footed winger? then he would put a right footed winger on the left side. this was not a big deal ten years ago. (what is the f*@#$ing problem???)
i think bruce arena did a lot of his experimenting during january camp. and maybe in the friendlies in spring. come summer, i feel like he always pretty much knew his line up. yes?
ten years ago, one month before a big game like this, i think bruce arena would have basically known his entire starting line up, with maybe only one or two “questions”. usually, the one question was “who will play left back” b/c i guess that position was always weak. and maybe one or two other little tweaks. but this idea of experimenting on the entire roster in september – one month before big, big game with mexico – i just think ten years ago, this would never have happened. yes?
yes
It just doesn’t make sense. Everyone keeps wanting to find a more athletic and better version of Beckerman. The fact is that the #6 role really doesn’t require a ton of athleticism. The best attributes for that role are an extraordinary understanding of the game, excellent positioning and tenacity. If you look at the best Destoyer D-Mids around the world, very few of them are great athletes with tremendous speed or jumping ability. They are mostly bulldog types.
The fact is that for the most part the USMNT wins when Beckerman plays in that role. He opens up the field for everyone else to play more attacking and better soccer. If you want to win now, then just play Beckerman and stop trying to find some reason to replace him. He doesn’t need replacing now.
If you are looking for the future of the #6 position, then it makes no sense to suddenly try and convert a 28 year old player who has never played defensively into that position. Bedoya isn’t that much younger than Beckerman; maybe one World Cup cycle. So Williams is a nice option if you want a younger guy. He is only 26 and while not nearly as good as Beckerman, he has talent. Another option I would like to see if Alvarado in that area. He is a little bit short and gambles a little too much at the back for a good CB. He just turned 23 and could excel there in international play.
But, the bottom line is that if you want to win now, play Beckerman. Stop trying to find a problem where there isn’t one. For all the issues the USMNT has, a world class #6 is not the problem.
Good Lord, thank you.
Chodilicus,
What about Busquets?
A lot of drama queens on the boards after last night. Yup, the USA stunk. It happens. Is the USMNT falling apart? Are we at the tipping point as Twellman kept saying last night? So much angst, it’s over the top. In a weird way, what JK and this team have done is raise the expectations level considerably even though it seems that a strong majority here think the USMNT is worse now than it was 4 years ago. People seemed to enter last night’s game as if the USA had a realistic chance of winning that game and looking good in doing it, and now that Brazil exposed the USMNT lack of talent people are shocked, SHOCKED, that Brazil is way better than US in soccer.
For me, as bad as it was, I still would rather have seen the USMNT continue to push forward, press high when possible and try to come back into the game than to park the bus for 90 minutes and be happy that Brazil only beat us 2 – 0 as per usual. On paper it’s a more respectable result, but it was and continues to be a dead end for the US.
We’re not “SHOCKED that Brazil is way better than the US in soccer.” We know that. We’re disheartened by the lack of effort, fight, and heart, led by a coach who plainly has no plan–or at least has failed to communicated one in a sensible way to the US soccer community–and has not had a plan for over a year and for over that same time period has made numerous erratic, inconsistent, illogical, and questionable decisions.
JK is a dead end for the US. No one is shocked by a loss to Brazil. People are rightly shocked by the abysmal performance and bizarre lineup selection – again.
AMEN amishman… and may I add that people are SHOCKED that the team changes a lot… when they know A) concacaf and MLS have funky schedules that the rest of the world doesn’t respect.
Ale didn’t deserve to be trotted out there like that. Klinnsman had Danny Williams and Bradley to play that role.
I’ve typically been fine with Jurgen but i’m just tired of this crap. It happens every single game now. Its time for a change after what will probably be a disaster against Mexico.
To the author of this article. Is this a quote?:
“For head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the decision to play Bedoya in the center of the field was a logical one, even if it was in a deeper role than usually preferred. ”
Cause I read the rest of the paragraph (and watched the game) and didn’t see any logic to it.
Ives, we are seeing this team fall apart before our eyes. Can we get a little more hard hitting journalism here for a team you have covered for more than a decade and a half? I get it, one game, it’s Brazil, beginning of the season, ya, ya, ya. Yet it is so patently obvious he has lost the dressing room, has no strategic near or long term plan, and still we get platitudes and fluff. Let’s call a spade a spade.
There was NOTHING logical about playing Bedoya as a 6
Well, there’s Beckerman who was awful in the Gold Cup and Jones who has been injured all season and is not at full fitness. That leaves Williams. What happens if Williams gets hurt or is unavailable? Cameron has played a little there, but he may needed on the back line. If he is, then you would be SOL. Was the loss to Brazil because of Bedoya? Was the US ever going to beat Brazil with the players they had available? Not in the real world. So, you see if Bedoya can hold his own there because you only have Peru and Brazil before the Mexico game.
So we’re readying Bedoya for the off chance that the third string d-mid goes down? Don’t think so. This also assumes Williams is the finished article and doesn’t need testing against the likes of Brazil. He’s not and he does. He would have been better of starting.
And if that’s your plan, why not play Bedoya as a d-mid against Peru? At least give him a run of games.
There’s just no logic or sense whatsoever to it. Klinsmann is like watching chaos theory in action.
There is a line of thought in there that I can appreciate: I like Bedoya, he is a good player, I want to get him on the field. I agree emotionally with all of those statements.
But this is the last warm-up game for an important tournament qualifier against a team that was up 2-0 against the #1 FIFA ranked team until they subbed out all of their top players. We need more than, “Oh ja, I liked this player a lot, so I played him. He’s a good player. I played him in a position that he has never played in his life to test his mental fortitude. He should be mentally strong. The American fan will know this some day.”
Put the _ player in the _ position where they are _ strongest! And where the team will actually benefit from their experience!!!!!!!!!
I don’t really want to quibble and I’ll agree there is a marginal amount of logic to it; my point is that the soccer media in this country needs to start pushing back more than it is. There is clear restlessness amongst the fan base that cares and I’m just not seeing the level of heat on Klinsmann that’s entirely justified under the circumstances.
“Bedoya’s placement in the midfield opens the door for speedsters like Gyasi Zardes and DeAndre Yedlin to roam the sidelines and cause havoc.”
Why? Simply because Zardes and Yedline would take his spot on the wings and he would be in the middle? Is that the only basis for the logic? If that’s true, why not put Tim Ream there? His “placement in the midfield opens the door for speedsters like Gyasi Zardes and DeAndre Yedlin”, wouldn’t it? Joe Corona?
I would think, for instance, you’d want the number 6 to have a fair amount of defensive responsibility. Just a guess. Ale is good at tracking back. He is not a stopper. He’s just not. If this were logical, I would at least think you would have to address the WEAKNESSES to the logic.
“Playing Ale in the center there with Jermaine (Jones) and Michael (Bradley) in front of it, it’s a very good option. He showed a couple of other games after the World Cup that he could play inside”
What games, I would ask? Against what competition? For how long?
LET’S ACTUALLY START QUESTIONING WHAT THE GUY IS SAYING. IF THERE’S MERIT TO THESE STATEMENTS, THEN LET’S SHOW IT. IF THERE’S NOT, THEN LET’S SHOW THAT TOO.
I’M ANGRY IF YOU CAN’T TELL.
Klinsmann tries too hard to get the best 11 players on the field rather then just fielding a team.
Matt,
“Ale is good at tracking back. He is not a stopper. He’s just not”
How do you know unless you let him try to be one against someone who is any good?
Okay you want hard hitting journalism? Don’t you need some hard hitting journalists who actually understand the game?
Most of what I’ve read isn’t much better than what you get from SBI posters and some of it is actually less informed..
They certainly don’t have access to the locker room or the players.
It’s pretty clear to me what JK is doing . The USMNT still has enough of the elements of the old regime to win playing that way. But JK was hired to change that style and at some point you have to try the new style in either a competitive game or in a game facing teams like Brazil.
If Bedoya for example, proved himself to be a more mobile #6 against Cuba then so what? BFD.
So he’s still experimenting . Why now ? I dunno but it’s as good a time as any and obviously JK decided it wasn’t working and pulled the plug, not that it would have done much good.
Brazil scored 1 goal on Ale and 3 on Williams if you want to look at it that way. Maybe he should have left Ale in.
It was a friendly.
Last practice before a vital game you say? Important for keeping momentum you say?
Do you remember the Panama Gold Cup game, my vote for the most pathetic US game in recent memory far more pathetic than this Brazil game?
That game was five weeks, or one month and one week before the Peru game.
Mexico is one month away. You don’t keep momentum or whatever the opposite is for a month, particularly when the team that will play Mexico is probably going to be significantly different from the team that lost to Brazil.
Mexico had a better scoreline against Argentina but I watched that game and it felt like Argentina were not all that interested until they went down 2-0 and decided to get going. 2 goals in four minutes.
To keep things in perspective, Argentina brought on Aguero as a sub and Brazil brought on Neymar as a sub. Both guys alone are probably worth more than the entire rosters of Mexico and the US
So I wouldn’t say they should be very smug because we got crushed by Brazil while Argentina let them tie them.
In a month we’ll see if they are any better. The US couldn’t be any worse.
The US had the bad luck to meet a Brazil team that is full of a lot of young, hungry players dying to prove they belong and veterans who are still very angry about the Germany humiliation. Those guys had a huge chip on their shoulder.
I don’t think the US players quit but if they did I hope the ones who did never play for the US again.
I think JK has given up on the US player being any good and is now just sort-of trolling. New coach needed.
Get rid of Jozy Altidore once and for all. He sucks totally. Lazy/out of shape hulk. Aron Johansson is a much better striker.
Hey, at least we didn’t get beat 7-0 by Germany! 😉
Neither did Brazil.
Sure we lost to Brazil but Klinsmann had friendly victories over a Netherlands team that can’t qualify for the Euros and a German B team. Surely that overrides getting embarrassed in the Gold Cup and getting humbled by a Brazilian team that flamed out in Copa America.
That’s alright, Alejandro. Don’t let it bother you too much, because we’ll need your head on straight when you start in goal against Mexico.
The rumor is that JK is bringing back LD for the Mexico game. LD was seen playing in NYC Central Park pick-up game to get in shape.
Ah, hopefully that’s true – I hear Donovan is a better keeper than Bedoya.
haha, spot on
Good quotes from Bedoya. He didn’t pass the buck and try to blame somebody else. Refreshing. Mature.
Yes! Refreshing when compared to some coaches I’ve heard.
I know, right? When will Klinsmann take the blame for ANYTHING??
I have generally been a klinsmann defender but I am at the end of my patients. I am at the point where I believe that if we lose the playoff against Mexico he should be fired.
Klinsmann is starting to display the worst attributes of a coach that has been there too long. He has demonstrable favorites that have shown nothing to justify the faith. He is out thinking himself and constantly playing players out of position. And he puts his ego in front of results for the team and is petty and hypocritical in dealing with the players.
He complains about players not playing against a higher level of competition, but constantly calls in and praises guys who play in the 2nd division in Germany (which is definitely worse than MLS) and the Championship (which is arguably worse than MLS or at least is a league that contains absolutely zero top end talent Which MLS does have). He punishes players for stating the obvious (Besler saying he thinks MLS players compete in fitness level, Williams saying he wants to play his natural position, Donovan saying as a 31 year old his body can’t recover like it used to), if it goes against his montra.
And you also get the feeling that he’s starting to lose the team.
if klinsmann wanted to see bedoya in the midfield with jones and bradley, why not just move bradley back with jones and put bedoya in the attacking mid spot?
honest question, as i haven’t watched bedoya a whole lot recently; i just think that’s a more natural spot for him, and we know bradley can play the d-mid role.
I think this would’ve been a reasonable approach, but clearly Klinsi sees MB as the attacking mid and everything else revolves around him. If there’s one “experiment” I’m ready to see end, it’s that one.
I wasn’t as concerned about the CBs last night, especially after finding out Brooks was injured. But I couldn’t figure out why Williams wasn’t started instead of Bedoya from the beginning. Clearly a case of feeling like he just has to get Bedoya on the field, but I would’ve started him in place of Yedlin. That was the real head-scratcher for me.
And that was JK undoing in the GC, everything went through Bradley. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out that if you stop Bradley, you stall USA flow.
I think the author hits on it though if you want Zardes and Yedlin on the wings, Bedoya has to move inside if he wants to see time. He played the attacking mid against Peru and defensive mid against Brazil and neither really seemed to work.
okay, you may have answered my question below. i didn’t get to see the peru game, but i guess bedoya just may only be good enough (read: less of a liability) on the wings against top competition.
Bedoya is an excellent player to shut down the right side, he himself has said he prefers working near the touchline.
Lets see, being a stupid American that doesnt not know soccer like Klinsmann, I can only take a guess at this one but how about you sit Bedoya down and bring in another REAL AM like Benny or Lee N. One that can actually deliver the ball to attackers unlike Capt. Backpass with the bald head. WHo says Bedoya has to play every game. He can compete with Zardes or Yedlin for minutes. He’s not all that good
The problem is Klinsmann 100%
It amazes me that people here can tout US MLS players as being better or the best choices when those players have zero or close to zero international experience or, in the case of Feilhaber, never cared about fitness or defense. Maybe some day some of them will be good international players. i think Zardes is clearly the best young US player in the MLS, but he still has quite a ways to go to be a top international. Dempsey is undoubtedly one of the best US players ever and he starred at Fulham, hardly an EPL powerhouse. Landon Donovan didn’t make it in Germany and then did well with Everton, a mid table EPL team. Most MLS players aren’t that good when compared to internationals from top teams. Not even close.
Well this just sums it all up.
Im all for pushing players to be more well rounded and versitile but at a certain point; say vs Brazil game before Mexico that you stop playing around and get serious!
Jamie Z. That is a fantastic quote and puts it into perspective perfectly.
Yeah, Bedoya was exposed as a defensive midfielder in the same way Brad Guzan would be exposed as a right back or John Brooks would be exposed as a winger. It’s like that Einstein quote to the effect of, “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.”
I’ve been far more forgiving in my attitude towards Klinsmann’s management than most, but this one is all on him.
Agree. Obviously JK is looking for a good Beckerman replacement who also has some pace, but it would seem there are other options who actually play at/near that spot all year that are worth a look? Already enough challenge to get guys to get to know each other and play as a team, leaving alone drastic experiments.
I don’t think it’s as much that he’s looking for a Beckerman replacement because I think Williams was a more logical choice from the beginning. I think he just loves what Bedoya brings to the team and is trying to find a spot for him and still have the speed he wants on the wings. Unfortunately it just didn’t work.
Fine, if you are right about JK’s thinking – fine. But… why play around with that idea now, against Brazil, which happens to be final friendly before facing off with Mexico for an invite to the Confeds Cup?
Because if Bedoya can do it against Brazil he can do it against anyone.
And Bedoya has a history of being succesfully versatile.
It was an exhibition.after all.
He wasn’t going to do this experiment in the Gold Cup, that was too important. He can’t experiment with the Mexico game. Beckerman was exposed in the Gold Cup and doesn’t look up to the task for Mexico. Jones has been injured and not yet at full fitness. Williams has done well, but Klinsmann is really looking at replacing two defensive mids in Beckerman and Jones. So, you go with Williams and who? So, when it became apparent in the GC that Beckerman wouldn’t do vs. Mexico, the only time to experiment was Peru and Brazil.
We’re not short DMs. Our best DM has been another long-term and mostly failed experiment to play him at CAM.
Bedoya is currently our best right wing. Yedlin is faster – got it. He also has poor skills right now.
I think I’ve been pretty objective with JK, but this seemingly endless experimentation with players out of their best positions should stop sometime – well, granted, it probably can’t stop, but ought to slow down.
Bedoya is currently our best right wing. Yedlin is faster – got it. He also has poor skills right now.
Bedoya is not the best right wing but he is the best right wing JK is willing to look at. There are better options in ML. Just go looking
While I agree Yedlin isn’t fully polished I actually thought he was very good in the Brazil game. He always looked dangerous when he had it, got into the box a couple times and had a few legitimately dangerous crosses. TT was very critical of the cross to Bradley that led to the Rafinha goal but it was not by any means a terrible pass. Bradley was a step behind it. I think Yedlin’s pace makes him a good option at the right wing. I think the main issue is you can’t have Bradley and Jones play next to each other as DMs because neither is willing to stay back and hold the midfield. Bedoya is clearly not the answer to that but I think it would have been better to have either him or Jones come off the bench in favor of Danny Williams.
Gary Page… WELL DONE! +1 and a tip of the hat
He not only has to replace Beckerman, he has to worry about replace Jermaine Jones. In case you hadn’t noticed, Jones has been injured for much of this season. Maybe he has one or two years of international play left, at best. As players get older, they also get injured more and are available less. Beckerman was really exposed in the Gold Cup. So, Klinsmann needs to consider replacing both Beckerman and Jones. He would seem to value Bedoya’s overall ability above that of any MLS player. Bedoya also plays in a tougher league than Williams who has looked good. You may not agree with his decisions, but they are all very logical.
“Beckerman replacement” we have a better replacement in Williams, yet, JK thought Bedoya was better, JK seens players up close and still thought Bedoya was better than Williams? I guy that plays the position for club and is faster and stronger than Bedoya? Sorry, this one is all on JK.
you know, all of my life, i thought penguins were slow. you know how they walk, waddle waddle. for most of my life, i thought this. until one day i saw a movie about penguins and you saw them swimming under water. HOLY SH1T are they fast under the water!!! zipping around like rocket ships under the water. i was so amazed! and at the same time so embarrassed that, for all those years, i thought that penguins were SLOW!
Until they meet up with a leopard seal.
haha
Jamie Z.
You are exaggerating.
Bedoya is one of those player’s JK trusts, in part because he has shifted positions before and done well. He was a central attacking midfielder at Orebro before Bob Bradley converted him to winger. Central midfield is where he made his name and I’m pretty sure he still plays a lot there for his club.
He is also renowned for his ability to play defense.
So if he can do an adequate job against a top team like Brazil then you may have something.
If I remember correctly the US gave up 1 goal with Bedoya in there and 3 with Williams in there.
So tell me again why giving Bedoya a chance to increase his value and give the team another option is a bad idea in an exhibition game?
When everything is an experiment nothing is.
Experimenting has just become a buzzword for “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I’m starting to agree.
It’s taken you this long?
Well said.
He took it like a man should.
What a low point in Klinsmann’s tenure.
I’ve never been a fan of him for myriad reasons, but the Brazil game is the nail in the coffin. (To be clear, I don’t expect or hope for a win in this game, with a roster like Brazil fielded.)
This said, it feels almost obvious – to me at least – to point out that the U.S.’s body language was seriously lacking in drive and a certain moxie, if you will. It almost seems the players don’t want to play for Klinsmann.
Mis-positioning Bedoya is the tip of the iceberg.
Try looking at it from a coach’s perspective. You want to get your best players on the pitch. Bedoya is serviceable as a winger, but not a real threat. Yedlin has better speed and provides more of a threat to get behind defenses. Yedlin is still weak defensively. It really makes more sense to have Yedlin at wing than Bedoya. It also makes more sense to put Yedlin at wing than at RB.But you still want to have Bedoya on the pitch because of his energy and effort. He plays in France, a good league. You can’t rely on Beckerman anymore,(also Jermaine Jones days at defensive mid may be numbered and he’s been hurt a lot lately) so you try Bedoya out in that role. If it is successful, then you have upgraded your speed on one wing, you have F Johnson at RB who is quick and knows how to play defense, and you have a good player to take over the Beckerman role. Now, if Bedoya doesn’t work out, who do you play at right wing? If you put in Bedoya, do you put Yedlin at RB ahead of Cameron or F Johnson or even Chandler? He is good at overlapping, but has a lot to learn on defense, so he becomes the odd man out. Or do you put Yedlin at right wing and sit Bedoya? You can put F Johnson at LB and maybe Yedlin at RB with Bedoya on the wing, but then where do you put Cameron? At CB? If you put F Johnson at LB, what about Tim Ream who has looked good other than against Brazil when nobody did? And what about Brek Shea at LB? Am I the only one who actually analyzes the real world situation the coach faces? It would seem many others don’t. As I have pointed out before, the US has a lot of pretty good players of near equal ability. Many of them have strengths and weaknesses that aren’t complementary. It isn’t easy figuring out the best combinations of those players.
I get what you are trying to say, but your underlying assumption that this is the entire player pool we have to work with is off. There are Americans playing D-mid all across MLS, some at a high level. Perry Kitchen and Dax McCarty come to mind immediately, even if they have different roles and responsibilities.
Bedoya was put in a position where he had little to no hope of succeeding. He would have been “exposed” against just about anyone. It’s one thing to push him back there for the last 20 minutes of a match to simulate surviving a red card to a D-mid, but it’s another to expect him to play at a high level for 90 minutes.
And playing alongside Michael Bradley will make anyone look bad. I know he has a free role, but his bombing forward style is more suited for the empty bucket than at the top of a diamond or triangle.
It’s time for Klinsmann to go. This bunch looks like we did during the 2011 Gold Cup, with a whole bunch of mismatched parts, no identity, and an over-reliance on the individual skill of just past-their-prime veterans and a moment of luck/brilliance.
We need to get back to what I’ve always believed is the true American style: Defense first, offense fast. The third goal against Portugal in 2002 or the counterattacks against Spain and Brazil in 2009 are exemplars of the true American style.
He has called in McCarty, whom I like, and Kitchen in the past. He has called in a whole lot of players. He has seen them practice and compete with other US players in a camp. Have you? How can you say that those players are better than Bedoya? I’m not saying they aren’t, but I am saying that I and you don’t have enough information to make an informed judgment. A lot of MLS players have been tried in the past, a lot of MLS players have been found wanting when it comes to international play. Going from MLS to international play is like going from Double A baseball to the major leagues. They are competing against stars from top teams in the world. Didn’t you see this game? Brazil blew by US players and had more skill as well. Would somebody like McCarty or Kitchen even be good enough to play in Brazil’s domestic league? I seriously doubt it. I don’t think you appreciate the gap in talent we are talking about here.
“He has called in McCarty, whom I like, and Kitchen in the past.”
Now you are just making s*** up. Klinsmann has NEVER called in McCarty. The last time McCarty was called in was under Bob Bradley, to January camp where he was actually made captain of the team. Kitchen was just called in for the first time to the last January camp, and never called back in after that. What is the point of wondering if either guy could play in Brazil’s domestic league? They can both play defensive midfielder a hell of a lot better than Bedoya, which is all that matters here.
You’re missing the nuance to what I’m saying, and yes to BombVoyage below – there are plenty of MLS players readily available and chompin’ at the bit.
Klinsmann is utterly lost as a manager at this. He’s so analytical that’s he’s profoundly myopic. He’s looking so closely at the grain of wood, he forgets what the darn material is. A classic clipboard coach at this point. The Bedoya decision is a perfect example.
I like what the other guys in the thread are saying – penguins walking, Guzan at right back, Mugsy Bogues at center… 🙂
“He’s so analytical that’s he’s profoundly myopic.”
You have it wrong, he’s actually not at all analytical. He’s not conducting experiments, he’s just trying random s***. He’s about as analytical as a used car salesman who is good at bulls***ing and talks a lot.
Square hole, round peg, push push. Oh, there’s a round hole over there, lets try that one…nope hmmmm
There are plenty of DM’s in the league that would put Bedoya to shame back there but they aren’t on Klinsmann’s approved list. We don’t need Beckerman either. Try Caldwell at New England. Young, fast, plays with Jones every week and he can cover when Jones drifts. Just one example.
The issue here is JK has stopped looking unless it’s another German/American recruit. He has to stop his anti MLS bias, start trying new, younger players or quit… just do the right thing and quit. Don’t make US Soccer fire you and it’s coming. Right now, we are heading for a Mexican hat dance and we’re the hat.
This ranting and raving is insane. Should Klinsman own the mistake with Bedoya? Yes. However, Bedoya instead of Williams cost us the game? No. Should he own Orozco instead of Omar? Yes. Orozco cost us the Cameron goal (because he did not cover that space when he went up), but Omar cost us a goal vs Peru – neither guy should start this level competition, but that did not cost us the game.
What cost us the game was Brazil’s speed and talent gulf vs ours and our player’s lack of fight! We would never have won , but maybe we would have had a 2 goal game (3-1). The 4 -1 game could easily have been 6-1. This team is slower than the ’06 or ’10 team. Not to mention JJ should not have been playing. He looked slow and horrible.
In terms of MLS talent, JK has called in more players than his predecessors. He has called in most of the guys you mentioned. What it they didn’t impress him to convice him to play at the international level. I live in NYC area. I have see Dax. He has heart, but he is not international quality. Sorry. Nope! He is MLS quality. period.
So literally none of you guys are acknowledging the basic point that you can talk about Dax McCarty all you want, but MLS was playing games in the middle of the FIFA window…
You people criticizing different lineups are talking like knuckleheads in a vacuum. Yes, I think if Jurgen had all his players, none were injured, and everyone respected all FIFA dates then there would be much less lineup tinkering…
you might say he didn’t pick the right team at the gold cup… but again that is funky North AMerican scheduling…
Let me be clear, EURO players on EURO teams… especially when they are fighting for starting jobs, or at new clubs NEED TO GO TO TRAINING CAMP. Adding injuries to that, we didn’t bring a full strength side to the gold cup (morris, jones, unfit altidore… Cameron, Ream, wood, Williams, hyndman Rubin working with their clubs… etc. the list goes on…
And don’t talk to me about Dax McCarty… he is not better than anyone on that list. You can’t just pick names out of a hat and say… Jurgen sucks because [random, replacement level player X] exists and he wasn’t on the team…
And these games… the moving guys in and out is because MLS didn’t respect the FIFA date, and the EU clubs didn’t want to push players who might have knocks… You guys are acting like JK just has to snap his fingers and his best eleven will all be healthy and ready… so there is no experimentation needed anymore.
That is not an intelligent viewpoint
From a coach’s perspective or Klinsmann’s? Because most coaches have at least a token grasp of basic tactics.
Sad thing is, if we manage to beat Mexico then he keeps his job to continue this endless experiment.