Jordan Morris scored his first goal for the United States, giving the Americans a 1-0 lead.
John Halloran
Dos a cero, the most iconic scoreline in the history of the United States men’s national team, added another chapter to its storied history on Wednesday night as the U.S. once again defeated arch-rival Mexico 2-0, this time in San Antonio, Texas.
The victory came on the back on two second-half goals, the first scored by Stanford sophomore Jordan Morris and the second by New England Revolution striker Juan Agudelo.
Here are four thoughts (not related to the shambolic pitch) from the win.
Kyle Beckerman Still Has a Role to Play
As the U.S. worked its way through 2014 World Cup qualifying, perhaps no player on the U.S. roster was as maligned as Kyle Beckerman. In a number of poor performances early in the process, Beckerman looked out of sorts and far too slow for the international game.
However, once the team arrived in Brazil, Beckerman was one of the team’s best players. TYAC support for Beckerman had always been high– Neil W. Blackmon likened Beckerman support late in the World Cup cycle to the Harlem Shake- where Beckerman and a handful of RSL fans stood in the center and danced to the beat of their own drum until a breaking point was achieved, and I think that’s right.
On Wednesday night, Beckerman once again demonstrated his value to the U.S. with his solid defending and simple possession out of the back.
Beckerman. Kyle Beckerman.
— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) April 16, 2015
Beckerman is not a flashy player—and at 32 years old not a realistic long-term option for the team—but he still clearly has a role to play, especially as the U.S. prepares for this summer’s all-important Gold Cup.
Diamonds Are Forever
As U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has continued to experiment in the months since the World Cup, one thing has become abundantly clear—the Americans look best when deployed in a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield.
4-4-2 diamond midfield. That's our formation. Said it since day one. #USMNT
— Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis III (@theJON_TRON) April 16, 2015
Used against Switzerland last month—and often last summer—the diamond midfield has a number of advantages. First, it takes advantage of the U.S.’s abundance of quality center midfielders, while avoiding its dearth of natural wingers. Second, when used correctly, it offers the team both a compact midfield defensively and width on the attack. Last, it gives the team two strikers, a set-up with which the U.S. has almost always fared better than single-forward looks.
Invisibility is Not a Soccer Superpower
For everything that went right on Wednesday night, there were still a number of poor individual performances. Both Joe Corona and Miguel Ibarra were completely invisible while splitting halves on the left side of the U.S. midfield and Jordan Morris—his goal aside—went long stretches without being involved.
Even with the injury to Clint Dempsey, the suspension of Jozy Altidore and the unavailability of the European players, it’s still a little embarrassing that Morris and Gyasi Zardes are the two best options the U.S. currently has at forward. Morris’ goal doesn’t hide the fact that he did not have a good game overall and Zardes’ weaknesses were again clearly exposed. With Zardes, Klinsmann and fans should be well aware of what they are going to get—a great effort with some occasional contributions combined with plenty of bad touches and many lost possessions.
Omar Gonzalez and Ventura Alvarado were also largely invisible, but for center backs, that’s largely a positive quality. For what it’s worth, Gonzalez was very good, once again exposing the fallacy of a still-too-large segment of the American fan base that doesn’t rate him as a quality international defender.
Bradley’s best moments last night came, predictably, when he was in the scrum playing deeper.
MB90 as the No. 10 (again)
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, Klinsmann continues to see Michael Bradley as the team’s attacking midfielder and deployed him in the position once again on Wednesday night, albeit with a bit more lateral help. Bradley wasn’t nearly as ineffective as he was last month in the European friendlies and did contribute a number of nice combinations, but he still looks below his best when playing higher in the midfield.
Bradley plays best from a deeper role, when he has time to survey the pitch and carefully select his passes. When playing in the attacking role, he struggles to make correct decisions with the ball and frequently gives it away in the rushed transition to the attack.
Keeping the diamond formation, it’s hard to see why Klinsmann wouldn’t prefer Bradley in the one of the “wide” No. 8 roles where he can use his superior fitness to work up and down the pitch for the U.S. That same role would seem to fit Jermaine Jones perfectly—who has a great engine of his own.
A U.S. midfield with Bradley and Jones going box to box, Mix in the attacking role and Beckerman holding could be quite impressive.
John Halloran is a frequent contributor to The Yanks Are Coming. He founded American Touchline and his work frequently appears at American Soccer Now. You can and should follow him on Twitter at @johndhalloran.