Haitian-American Jozy Altidore plays against Haiti Friday in Boston.
Jon Levy
The US began the 2015 Gold Cup with a grind-it-out win over an inspired Honduras, playing positive football in their first tournament setting fixture under manager Jorge Luis Pinto. The US were outpossessed for stretches of the match and looked less dangerous late. They were sloppy with the ball and at times looked disinterested with it. And their young defenders were stretched thin. But they won. And Gold Cups are about grinding, above all. The team that handles the physical play, compact defenses, shoddy referees and heat tends to lift the “copa” in the end, and the Americans are situated perfectly in Group A, taking three points against their best competition in the group. When you can do that without playing your best, you take it every time.
Up next is Haiti, an always underappreciated regional foe who were ranked as high as 38th in the world in 2013. Now ranked 79th, Les Grenadiers enter Boston after a 1-1 draw, but will probably feel they could have had more against a Panama side that looked disjointed and out of sorts- which is basically what Panama has looked like since the dely Valdes brothers were dispatched, but I digress. Haiti doubtlessly know the rules, and they have to know that given the tournament format, where the top two third place group finishers advance, they’ll likely need a result Friday night. Getting that is a different proposition altogether, though the Haitians have talent and speed in abundance.
Let’s kick the usuals around before we dive into the particulars, shall we?
Jeff Louis and Haiti will look to keep their series edge over the US tomorrow evening.
Series: Seventeenth meeting and…this is weird. Really, it is. Haiti lead, 6-5-5.
Making things even stranger, the Americans won the first three meetings between the two countries, then lost six consecutive matches during Haiti’s golden generation of soccer, between 1968-1974. That timespan saw Haiti qualify for their only World Cup, in 1974. The Yanks then tied three straight with Les Grenadiers, and it wasn’t until 1983 that they won again. After that, seventeen years of political tumult and conflict kept the two countries from meeting on the field. When they met again in 2000, the US won 3-0.
In the 15 years since, US Soccer has won a World Cup group, reached a World Cup quarterfinal, advanced to the knockout stages in three World Cups and won four Gold Cups. But they have not defeated Haiti. There was a tie, in the 2009 Gold Cup- also played in Boston- but never a US victory.
The Americans hope to change that and put the series on level terms Friday night.
Weather: Upper 60’s, clear. Light humidity. No rain. Fabian Johnson Misery Index: 2.
In other words– it’s going to be a great night for soccer.
What to Watch for From The Yanks:
There is, despite the optimism of the intro, a downside to “grinding ugly.”
The US came away from the first match of this Gold Cup with three points. Three points on the back of a win they were lucky to secure. But the underwhelming performance against Honduras is drawing comparisons to the US Women’s somewhat lackluster World Cup opening win over Australia just last month. Fresh memories of last Sunday night are prompting some US Soccer fans to sit back and relax, because it’s really about peaking at the right time, right? And while none of that is wrong, Tuesday night’s relative stinker has me thinking about the mediocre performance the USMNT posted in the first match of the 2011 Gold Cup in a win over Canada. That team failed to correct quickly, and got steamrolled by Panama next game in a match that was much more lopsided than the 2-1 final score. So yes, the US could just be ramping up to the style of play we’ll eventually “ooh” and “ahh” over in the Final, but they still better make urgent improvements going into match number two.
So what do we hope to see Friday night in Foxborough?
I’m looking for two big improvements from the US that should get the team back on track and force us to remember the Honduras match simply as a wonderful night in which MB90 became MB100, Dempsey dropped a deuce with his head, and the boys all picked up three points.
A deployment that integrates Diskerud Friday night. Assumption is Bedoya still resting knee; Altidore sits- though this is unlikely with family likely in Boston for Haiti.
We start at the back.
I’m going to write something similar to what I wrote going into last month’s Germany friendly, because the American defensive display followed a similar pattern in the Honduras match as it did in the Netherlands match that preceded the conquering of the world champs in Cologne. The US defenders weathered a few early chances before settling down and having a more comfortable time of it for much of the first half. Then the second half hit, and that relative comfort manifested itself as complacency; complacency that would cede multiple quality scoring chances to the opposition.
Now I’m of the opinion that step one in the fix-it process is to curtail the on-the-job training that Ventura “Ace” Alvarado seems to have signed up for. I’m a fan of Alvarado’s, but he’s clearly got what West Ham fans like myself will recognize as Young James Tomkins Syndrome. You know, you’re watching him and thinking, “this guy is our future,” right up until he has one or two big brain farts per match, and essentially concedes a goal or two himself. But while I’d like to see Omar Gonzalez replace Alvarado, allowing him to make his mistakes with Club América and in less important USMNT matches, Jurgen Klinsmann’s post match quotes seem to indicate that he might just stick with the Brooks/Alvarado combo at the heart of defense. The good news for Jurgen based on my James Tomkins comparison: West Ham’s #5 developed into a consistently trustworthy Premier League center half. The bad news: Tomkins and a leaky East London defense got relegated in 2011 during that development process.
But I’m not letting the rest of the American defenders or midfielders off the hook for Tuesday night, especially not when a gang of three jogging midfielders was caught napping just as hard as our young Liga MX center back on the Honduran goal. This is a young back four that the US is hoping will gel, and that means their teammates have to have their backs. And I’m not just talking about sprinting back on defense either (though I accept that’s the most we’re supposed to get out of Zardes); Kyle Beckerman, keeper Brad Guzan, and Captain Michael Bradley need to communicate with these guys constantly and help keep them organized. John Brooks looks like a future leader of the defense, but despite his incredible talent he’s not quite Carlos Bocanegra yet, so I want to hear loud voices on the pitch Friday night.
Ale Bedoya will likely rest again as his knee continues to heal. This puts the onus on other Yanks to defend and track back.
Is there a ton of pressure on Beckerman and Bradley anyway? Yes. But as long as Ale Bedoya is resting or playing limited minutes while his knee gets better, MB 90 and the Dred Pirate are going to have to run the organization ship themselves.
My second big key for the US is to dial back the direct, speed attack and insert some skill, creativity, and ball movement.
The American offense did exactly what its lineup was setup to do on Tuesday night, drive the ball forward quickly and hope that it eventually fell to Clint or Jozy in a prime location. That’s what Zardes and Yedlin hope to provide. And regarding the latter, remember, both the standard by which we judge DeAndre’s forays down the wing and the space usually afforded to him become harsher when he’s deployed as a midfielder. I’m not a formation fascist, so I’m not even calling for a drastic change; just put a little more skill on the field. The Honduras match was crying out for quality, and probably a half hour too late we finally saw Graham Zusi come on in the waning minutes. He made an immediate difference with his calm and cultured ball movement. And Zusi wasn’t even the guy I was hoping to see enter the match. How’s that for a blunt tease to my American Player to Watch? This team had technical skill on the bench against Honduras; some of it should start the match against Haiti.
And what will we see out of Haiti?
Watching the Panama/Haiti match was a surreal experience after growing accustomed to Panama’s signature brand of anti-soccer on speed during the team’s Dely Valdés era. In this match one team was dominating possession and creating half chances, while the other was working extremely hard on defense, playing physical to the point of fouling constantly, and creating half chances on the break. What’s odd was that Panama was the possession team, and it was Haiti doing their impression of Panama in the last two Gold Cups. Well that’s not quite accurate, as it wasn’t exactly “chaos theory” play out of Haiti. More like a well organized and determined group of guys defending as a team, and constantly ready to filter the ball to its skill players for a counterattack. Kind of an old Bruce Arena/Bobbo USMNT versus a more technically gifted opponent. All the more reason for the US to start some skilled players on Friday night; these guys are going to need some breaking down in the final third, perhaps even more so than Honduras, who seemed ready to play positive and attacking football for the first time in ages.
Haiti will be a more classic Gold Cup game: Les Grendadiers will foul, they’ll harry the US as the US enter the attacking third, and they’ll sit deep, absorb pressure and wait for the occasional chance to fly in behind the inexperienced US defense. And in Kervens Belfort and Jean Eudes-Maurice, along with Liege’s Jeff Louis, they have the burners to do it.
Haitian Player to Watch: Jeff Louis (Standard Leige)
For the second match in a row my opposition player to watch plies his trade for one of Belgium’s biggest clubs. Not a theme you generally expect in the Gold Cup. Perhaps it says something about CONCACAF on the come up, but just to make sure you don’t get cocky about our plucky little federation I’ll make sure to spotlight a Mexican second division player next match.
So if you just watched the highlight of the sublime goal scored by Haiti’s super sub with the super name, you might assume that Duckens Nazon is Haiti’s most talented attacking player. And this was an incredible goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZbTKmBoZwI
You’d be wrong.
I came away from the first match of the Gold Cup with much respect for Jeff Louis, an attacking midfielder with a lot of tools to choose from. More impressive than the tools themselves, was how he chose to use them against Panama. Louis has plenty of speed, which he flashed at the most opportune moments against Panama, rather than running himself out in the first hour (2009 Altidore is steamed about that burn). He’s got class in his feet, which he used to deliver a number of venomous crosses, diagonals, and free kicks into the box. And perhaps most impressively, Jeff Louis used crafty dribbling and subtle ball tricks to create openings. In a world in which we too often see guys bust out the right trick at the wrong time, Louis seems to use each move to effect, and that should make American fans uneasy after some of the defending we sat through on Tuesday night.
Time for Jurgen to go to Mix Diskerud, which he’s not done often in competitive matches.
US Player to Watch: Mix Diskerud (New York City FC)
I’m not usually a “Mix must start!” guy, but after four World Cup matches and now a Gold Cup opener watching probably the USMNT’s most skilled not Michael Bradley midfielder rot on the bench, I’ve about had it. Mix must play. He’s shown the versatility to play on a wing (wide midfielder), as a central attacking mid, or as a serviceable box-to-box center midfielder, so I don’t even have a strong preference where he’s deployed against Haiti. I don’t think he has a “position” really, but that’s not necessarily a weakness. Diskerud can play a host of positions adequately- a dark green circle for you Football Manager aficionados out there.
Sure, Jurgen hasn’t turned to Diskerud in competitive matches very often. He’s usually “the guy who does good stuff in friendlies.” But that needs to change.
Mix is the guy that’s going to pull the ball back and watch an overzealous Hatian whiz by. He’s also the American player that Haiti can least afford to give that extra second on the ball because this particular Yank will use his superb field vision and deliver an inch-perfect pass. He’s the perfect guy to play against a team that we don’t hold a speed advantage against. Apart from that I think I said enough on this topic in US section above. Diskerud is the embodiment of everything we were missing going forward on Tuesday night, so get him on the field please!
Prediction: USA 3 – 0 Haiti
Let the good times roll. The US tightens up the D, and shows the attacking dimensions that were missing for most of the Honduras clash. The team’s other forgotten man, Aron “The Iceman” Johannsson, goes all Unfrozen Caveman Striker as a super sub with a big goal to widen the lead. And there was much rejoicing.
Enjoy the match, and Go USA!