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Voice of the Fan: AMERICAN SEND-OFF
The USA national team has wrapped up its stateside preparation and set up base in Germany. Can the results of their Send-Off Series be used to predict of their chances in the World Cup? G6 Journal's Heath Young takes a look...
This series of friendly matches, meant to be the final preparation for Germany, pitted the US against Morocco, Venezuela and Latvia with the Americans dropping the first match to Morocco but finishing on a pair of shutout wins in the latter two. With these matches concluded and the US team now in Germany, can we make some sense of the mixed bag of results and the Americans’ chances in the dreaded Group E? I’ll give it a shot.
Let’s start with the good news. There were several bright spots to note throughout these three friendlies that Bruce Arena can take away from his squad’s performance. One obvious positive here is the in the score line, only one goal against in all three matches. Despite a few bouts of nerves here and there, the US held up well defensively, and if it weren’t for a 90th minute mistake against Morocco, it would have been a clean sheet throughout. The size and strength Onyewu and Pope demonstrated in the middle should give Arena confidence that the Americans can match up with some of the more physically imposing strikers such as the Czech Republic’s Jan Koller. The ability of Eddie Lewis and Steve Cherundolo to play at both ends of the field is also promising. That combined with some quality minutes by Carlos Bocanegra, Jimmy Conrad and Chris Albright, shows good depth at the back for the Red, White and Blue. Other positive signs come from some of the younger players that we are likely to see coming off the bench. Bobby Convey attacked the offensive end with slashing runs and the confidence to take on any player in his path while Eddie Johnson has continued to show progress in returning to the form that had him setting goal scoring records for the US before a slight injury setback.
Now for the bad news… The big question mark here has been the ability of the US to score goals, and it persisted in the Send-Off series. Overall, they have looked reasonably cohesive, though perhaps not particularly dangerous, in their ball movement and dominated possession minutes in this series of matches. Unfortunately, there has been an obvious lack of creativity in their offensive forays. The American attack has looked decidedly one-dimensional with the only truly effective means of play being to get the ball wide and repeatedly swing crosses into the box. The US ability to employ this type of play consistently along the flanks, and having the players like McBride, Ching and Dempsey that have proven able to capitalize on it is promising, but at this level, you can’t rely on a single offensive tactic to get the job done, particularly once you meet an opponent such as Italy that is known for strong marking in the box. Defensively, the one thing US will have to be more careful with is handling the ball in the outside back positions. A couple of bad giveaways in this area (most notably one by Steve Cherundolo yielding the lone goal vs. Morocco) have resulted in dangerous counterattack chances where this solid defensive unit is most likely to concede a goal.
If the US can continue to play solid defense while diversifying their attack to arrive at some more balanced play going forward, they will be a much more dangerous side. They started to make strides toward this with Eddie Johnson giving the Latvian defense fits with pace that was rewarded with some nicely weighted balls in behind the defense (though many were negated by offsides calls). If Reyna and O’Brien are fit enough to give considerable minutes and relieve Donovan of the full creative burden, and if Dempsey, Convey continue to contribute offensively when they are called upon, it will go a long way toward this end.
Bottom line, the US has done what one might expect of them in these matches, but they will have to exceed our expectations to make it out of Group E. Morocco is a quality side, but the other opponents in the Send-Off series are decidedly weaker than the Group E competition for the US and the Americans will need their left-brain contingent of Donovan, Reyna and O’Brien to make it interesting come June 12th.
Comments
Yeah, my concern is definitely with the ability to score goals. I'm sick of flinging the ball across the box hoping that someone will get a head on it. We really need Donovan and Beasely to regain their dangerous form, or Convey, Dempsey or Eddie Johnson to break out in a big way. Otherwise, I'm afraid that we'll score only 1 or 2 goals and fail to advance.
Posted by: pseudojim | June 6, 2006 11:07 AM
No doubt about it, that is the key for this team. It has traditionally been the limiting factor for the US, and I would have liked to see them run up a 3 or 4 goal game against some of their weaker competition in the Send-Off series. If the goals do come, however, they could be impressive. Without an out and out goal scorer, McBride will have to continue his current pace, and someone else like Landon, Beasley or Johnson will have to heat up.
Posted by: Heath Young | June 6, 2006 12:43 PM
I remember thinking in 2002 that'd the US would have trouble scoring goals then as well. But we had 3 at the half against Portugal, creating AND finishing chances. But we may have caught teams by surprise 4 years ago. This time around, it will be harder to do that. USA must stay aggressive, so I look for Arena to get Convey, Dempsey, O'Brien out there more than you might think to create.
Posted by: kicks22 | June 6, 2006 02:07 PM
We will get out of the group. Arena was messing with the lineup during those games. We will surprise Czech or ITaly and tie the other teams, get 5 to 7 points and advance. We'll probably have to play Brazil in the second round...but who wouldn't be happy with that? It'd be another successful and exciting world cup!
Posted by: usa! | June 6, 2006 03:35 PM
you're right. someone has to score, b/c the u.s. will give up some goals, 1 or 2 each game atleast.
Posted by: yoyo | June 6, 2006 06:16 PM
Heath, which player is most crucial to be on top form for the US?
I say Donovan, b/c i don't think he has not been very good recently.
Posted by: ? | June 6, 2006 06:59 PM
I don't think US will do to good. They have to go against the Czechs who are ranked 2nd in the world!!!
Posted by: oranje | June 7, 2006 08:05 AM
A good question posted by...well "?"
I have to agree with you that Landon Donovan's play is of the utmost importance for this squad. It's all about creativity and vision going forward when it comes to the difference maker with the US and Donovan is one of the players that will have to provide it. He has the skill and experience to do it as we have all seen, but I think the shuffling line up has rendered him slightly less effective in the recent matches.
Beasley is another player we need to see more out of. He's been fantastic defensively, but has not shown the penetrating runs and pace on the flanks that was so instrumental last time around. He'll have to provide more spark offensively.
As for most important, believe it or not, it could well be a player that might not even find himself in the starting line up. Eddie Johnson is the one player that I think could sway things in favor of the US in a difficult match. Whether it is coming off the bench to provide a lift in the second half, or catching the Czechs off guard with an early goal (assuming he gets the start), he may not be the most critical player overall, but he could be the difference between 0,1 and 3 points. As I said earlier, offensive production is the pivotal factor here, and if Johnson can somehow regain his goal scoring form at the right time and use his blistering pace to fluster slower defenders, it just might be enough.
Posted by: Heath Young | June 8, 2006 12:43 PM
I completely agree that we (the U.S) need to cut back on the taking it outside and crossing it in hoping that someone with be there. However, look at the 2 goals scored against Venezuela. Both of them were from crosses. The U.S. does have a good bit of player creativity, and I really hope it comes out at Germany.
By the way, my name's Heath too.
Posted by: heath g | June 8, 2006 04:19 PM
Thanks for the comments. Not that many Heaths around.
Don't get me wrong, you are right that playing it in from the flanks is certainly one of the strengths of the US team. Several players are capable of consistently sending quality balls into the box (Donovan, Convey, Lewis, Cherundolo, Bocanegra) and the players are there to finish off these opportunities as well with McBride, Dempsey, Johnson, Ching, etc. It just gets a little easy to defend them at times when they slip into one dimensional play. I fully expect to see a couple goals come off balls sent in from the flanks, and just hope they supplement that with some good movement through the middle and balls to feet.
Posted by: Heath Young | June 9, 2006 01:56 PM
Brazil WILL win the World Cup.
Posted by: Ewart Bradley | June 13, 2006 12:20 PM