Jon Levy
The USMNT enters Sunday afternoon’s match against Panama (4PM EDT, ESPN) on putrid run of form. The only team colder than the US right now? You guessed it, Van Halen’s favorite CONCACAF club: Panama.
Since defeating Ghana in Natal, the USMNT have won only one match- a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in Prague. Go ahead and stop doing math in your head: that’s good for one win in nine matches, with losses to Germany, Belgium, Colombia, Ireland and Chile in that group of games. Not good. And really, not very US like– this is the worst US streak in terms of results this century.
The run of poor results has the manager blaming fitness levels and fans and players alike searching for answers. Indeed, the mood around a Jurgen Klinsmann camp hasn’t been this dire since the now storied Brian Straus article that preceded the Snow Clasico victory over Costa Rica. Put simply, the US need a result. And for many in the US soccer community, for perhaps the first time, there’s a sense that Jurgen Klinsmann needs a result too.
Let’s kick around the usuals then dive into the particulars, shall we?
Series: 15th meeting. United States lead, 11-1-2. Sunday will be the first meeting between the two nations in California. It also marks the first meeting since Graham Zusi’s late goal knocked Panama out of the World Cup in 2014 and sent Mexico to a playoff instead. The only Panama victory? A 2-1 stunner in Tampa at the 2011 Gold Cup. Neil W. Blackmon was there and recapped it at The Shin Guardian. Bob Bradley gets little credit for winning the rematch (THAT FREDDY ADU PASS, and the Dempsey “I know I’m going to be captain” hug)– but the loss perhaps the first of the final blows sealing Bob’s fate.
Weather: 72 degrees at kick. Abundant sunshine. Chance of rain zero percent.
Southern California in February is a really nice place to be, traffic or no.
Can Clint Dempsey lead the US to a much needed win?
What to watch for from the Yanks:
The recipe’s been startlingly consistent in this run of bad results. Start strong, control the game early and/or score an early goal. Then lose all shape, grit, desire, skill, and composure, and limp down the stretch to a loss or draw. Okay, maybe it hasn’t been quite that bad, but you can’t argue with the formula. “Shooting Star(s and Stripes) FC: Disappointing fans since late 2014.” That’s what it says on the club crest; I’ll work on a mock-up of the design.
Now I understand the other side of the coin here as well as you do. There is no better time to experiment with your soccer team than in the spate of friendly matches that follow the World Cup. New players, new formations, new concepts, they’re all welcome. The band’s gotta jam together and noodle around in the studio for a while before writing new songs if they want to avoid constantly churning out the same (Nickelback) album. So yes, Jurgen’s experimentation is welcome. And yes, this is the best time to lose a few matches in a row if you absolutely must do so. And no, I’m not calling for Klinsmann’s head yet; hell, I’m not even altogether concerned about the trend until I see something similar in a match that counts for something.
But…
Results matter, always. Setting a standard matters, whether it’s a standard of excellence or a standard of “pretty good” and “damn hard to beat” like the US was in Brazil. These aren’t platitudes, they’re American ideals. And I’ll argue that they’re ideals universally held by successful teams of all nationalities, whether they compete on grass, in a boardroom, or for Academy Awards.
I understand the philosophy that sides with experimentation is at odds with “Victory or Death” as described directly above, but I don’t care. I reserve the right, however irrational, to be simultaneously both pissed off and laissez faire in my valuation of the performances in these horrible not-quite-irrelevant exhibition matches. See, we US Soccer fans have become quite the complicated and moody bunch.
As for the actual team on the pitch, I expect we’ll see at least one more half of half-baked 3-5-2. I think we’ll win the possession battle as usual against Panama, even in the post-Dely Valdéz era. And I don’t give a damn who starts at center back, even the most unfamiliar of combinations should be able to keep this newly toothless Panama attack off the score sheet. Then again, Blas Pérez is in their squad. Even so Matt Hedges, who will probably get a deserved start, should look to slightly one up fellow national team newcomer Steve Birnbaum, who had a fine showing against Chile while conceding three goals.
Other than that I’m setting my expectations low. A deviation from the frustrating formula described above will do nicely, and I think we’ll get that.
Our starting eleven.
If I had to pick an eleven, it would like the one in the graphic to the right.
Explanations? Sure.
Goalkeeper is Johnson, selected again not because he’s more valuable than Rimando or even higher on the Gold Cup depth chart. But if Jurgen Klinsmann is going to continue to emphasize the importance of Olympics qualification, then history is instructive that the US will be bring an overage goalkeeper. That keeper, logic follows, will be Bill Hamid or Sean Johnson. So why not get Johnson reps in matches with the senior team to prepare him more adequately for international play?*
Back three: Jermaine Jones was dreadful as the anchor middle man in the 3-5-2. I don’t think this is Jones’s fault, either. History teaches us Jermaine Jones can’t be tethered and his natural inclination is to roam and attempt to be disruptive all over the pitch. As the middle in the 3-5-2, where fidelity to position is so crucial, Jones’s natural desire to move forward, to have possession, to initiate attacks are all tactically suppressed. Trouble is, of course, Jones can’t suppress those things for 90 minutes, so you get the late tackles and the danger-zone turnovers you got against Chile.
So let’s run Matt Besler out in this spot. Besler was good defensively in the 3-5-2, after all, but he seemed out of sorts when the US had possession, trading off between being too wide (thus closing space off the wingbacks need) or being mystified at what Jones was doing and as such too narrow. The center seems better. Birnbaum had a good match, he remains on the right. Matt Hedges gets a much-deserved look on the left side of Besler, with Panama a better match-up for the Dallas man than Chile was.
Jermaine Jones remains, of course, one of the best midfielders the Americans have, and probably will remain that through the Copa next summer. So if Klinsmann is intent on 3-5-2 (we really don’t know the answer to this until Fabian Johnson is back with the team– more on that in the Player to Watch section), why not let Jones play behind the Bradley-Diskerud pairing.** Also think Lee Nguyen could get his extended look in this match, which would shorten the day for either Diskerud or Bradley.
The wingback spot is troubling because people have such radically different ideas about what wingbacks do. One thing that is universally understood? Wingbacks do have to defend. And no one has ever said “Brek Shea and DeAndre Yedlin sure are great defenders.” Whether that’s a crippling blow to the 3-5-2 depends on what you think the endgame plan is for Yedlin, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Bottom line? Yedlin getting forward and into dangerous positions on the right happened early and often in the first half against Chile and he’ll get that chance again against Panama.
https://twitter.com/nwblackmon/status/563135021989785600
We’d like to see Miguel Ibarra on the left, where he’s playing on his natural foot and has the fitness to do the tracking back for ninety minutes Brek Shea just couldn’t do. Dillon Serna at minute 60 makes sense here too. But I’ll echo the tweet from my colleague Neil W. Blackmon and suggest that it is fairly easy to criticize the fitness of your national team selections when you are choosing players like Brek Shea, who has played two matches for his clubs in 18 months, and you impossibly task him with playing 90 minutes. There’s pushing your guys and then being ridiculous. Ya’ll can decide where we come down.
Fitness criticism also rings hollow when you start Bobby Wood, who was out of his element against Chile, and Jozy Altidore, who tired as well. It would be nice to see Altidore score another goal against Panama, or Clint Dempsey, who has looked mostly uninspired in a US shirt since returning from Brazil last summer.
The Canal Men haven’t recovered from Zusi’s goal.
And what will we see out of Panama?
Here at The Yanks Are Coming we thrive on gushing about Los Canaleros, probably to a fault. We’re a US Men’s National Team blog first and foremost, but some would have you believe our secondary goal is to serve as a propaganda machine for Panamanian soccer. While this is in no way our intent (and no one who writes for us has any ties to Panama), we can’t help it that Van Halen wrote a great song, and the Dely Valdéz brothers crafted a relatively brilliant “chaos theory” system that allowed Panama to consistently challenge and often beat the most talented teams in CONCACAF.
But as noted in the introduction, the story of the Dely Valdéz team ends in near Shakespearian tragedy. An American team that had nothing to play for put in a performance (what a novel idea) down in Panama, and used a couple late goals to eliminate The Canal Men and give Mexico a path to World Cup qualification. So much for The Yanks Are Coming’s notion that Panama was bound for Brazil.
Julio Dely Valdéz and his twin brother Jorge were out, but the grass sure isn’t greener for Panama, at least not yet. You might be familiar with “new” manager Hernán Darío Gómez, but you’re probably not. He presided over forgettable periods for Guatemala and Colombia (twice). He did lead the Ecuadorian national team to the World Cup in 2002, but that was thirteen years ago, and in his first year with Panama the team is having major goal scoring issues. Granted, it stands to reason that these players would struggle to transition from the Dely Valdéz specialized alt rock system to a more traditional blues based chord progression, so maybe Gómez just needs more time to jam with these guys. Or maybe Jorge Dely Valdéz should be given his chance to be the boss if this team doesn’t put in a performance in this summer’s Gold Cup.
As for Sunday afternoon, I expect a relatively well organized dumpster fire. Which is a shame, because American soccer fans have become accustomed to watching many of these Panamanian players excel. Sorry Hernán Darío Gómez, as the English would put it, I don’t rate you.
Can the young Tottenham man continue to mature?
US Player to Watch: DeAndre Yedlin
We haven’t been the easiest on DeAndre Yedlin. I guess somewhere there’s the old story about the coach or parent or drill sergeant who is hard because he just wants “you” to reach your maximum potential. And maybe there’s some of that. But we’re picking DeAndre Yedlin because this is the sort of match a player with his remarkable attacking talents should begin to dominate. Tottenham Hotspur spent a ton of money to see Yedlin instantly impact games with his electric pace and ability to get in behind a defense. And we saw why they spent that money again during the first half against Chile, when not only was Yedlin constantly a threat, but he was also providing significantly better service.
Furthermore, on the US’s second goal, Yedlin demonstrated attacking nous that we hadn’t seen before– holding up and waiting for the overlap (see video) rather than simply trying the “I’m fast” blow-by. That’s the kind of intelligent play that creates sustainable, dangerous attacking soccer. And it is what Yedlin offers now on that end.
His defense remains pedestrian at best, and that’s when he’s not tired and he’s playing interested. He is prone to fits of disinterest defensively and was carved apart by Chile when he got tired the other night– both huge problems if Jurgen Klinsmann thinks a 3-5-2 with Yedlin at wingback is sustainable. A match like Panama provides less pressure for Yedlin, and a great chance to show he can defend when called upon against CONCACAF opposition, at the least.
If Jurgen Klinsmann were predictable, 3-5-2 wouldn’t be a long-term experiment.
After all, Fabian Johnson remains the US’s best wide player (by some margin) and a four man backline is the best way to ensure Yedlin and Johnson play together at the same time. But it would be nice to have flexibility should one be injured, or should Klinsmann want to switch roles. These are the types of matches where DeAndre Yedlin can garner the confidence for that type of switch.
U-20 star Ismael Diaz has next for Panama.
Panamanian Player to Watch: Ismael Díaz
Ismael Díaz is a seventeen year old striker/attacking midfielder that just spearheaded the attack for Panama’s Under-20 team as it tore up the CONCACAF U-20 Championship a couple weeks ago. He’s good on the ball, has great attacking instincts, and should be a pleasure to watch in this summer’s U-20 World Cup. Díaz has a great goal scoring record at age level, and he’s already received his first senior cap, in which he scored his first senior goal. Oh, and this kid’s been playing first team football for Panamanian CONCACAF Champions League regulars Tauro FC since he was fifteen.
Five of Ismael’s U-20 buddies are in this Panama squad as well, and they might just help Hernán Darío Gómez put his stamp on this national team. Another of those players to watch out for (bonus!) is dynamic midfielder and CONCACAF U-20 Championship Golden Ball winner Luís Pereira.
I’m not gonna lie and tell you I have any idea which of these young players will actually see the field on Sunday, but even if they ride the bench, I’d like to think this little section was more instructional than writing about how “Blas Pérez finds the ball in the box,” or “Aníbal Godoy tackles hard,” for the millionth time.
Prediction: USA 3 – 0 Panama
Finally, a comprehensive performance to build from. Lee Nguyen for the win with a goal and an assist.
Enjoy the match, and Go USA!
* – I don’t know how much Klinsmann emphasizing the Olympics is about Klinsmann the technical director and how much of it is about Klinsmann the manager. Which is another way of saying that if the two think differently– if Klinsmann compartmentalizes the two in his brain– then he goes with Rimando because that’s who he trusts. Or maybe he won’t go with an overage goalkeeper this time because he trusts Cody Cropper, who is the presumptive U-23 goalkeeper.
** — I would prefer that Michael Bradley be the sit/hold player because that allows Jones to be the player I’ve already described. But Jurgen seems to prefer him as the attacking hub of the midfield, so he’s the one we pair with Diskerud.
Jon Levy is Co-Founder and Co-Editor of The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at jon.f.levy@gmail.com and you should follow him on Twitter at @TYAC_Jon.