Michael Bradley and Alejandro Bedoya celebrate the American equalizer last night.
John D. Halloran
The United States men’s national team rounded out group play in the 2015 Gold Cup on Monday night, drawing Panama 1-1 in Kansas City.
It was another sloppy performance from the Americans—their fourth ugly result in a row. However, the team also headed into Monday’s match knowing that the top spot in Group A was already secure. The U.S.’s lone goal was scored by Michael Bradley.
Here are four thoughts on the game.
ANOTHER DEFENSIVE SHUFFLE IS IN THE WORKS
While head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has spent much of 2015 experimenting with new lineups, heading into the match against Panama, it looked like he had finally settled on a preferred starting backline of Timmy Chandler, Ventura Alvarado, John Brooks and Fabian Johnson—the same back four that started the team’s Gold Cup opener against Honduras.
Unless someone gets injured, suspended or plays themselves off it, this is your #usmnt back line for the rest of the Gold Cup. #USAvPAN
— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) July 14, 2015
JK on Brooks/Alvarado partnership: They’re young. The only way you get experience is to play. They are two very young CBs we keep building.
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) July 9, 2015
However, in the 16th minute of play against Panama, Brooks received a yellow card—his second of the group stage—and will now be suspended for the quarterfinals. Tim Ream, who looked very solid against Haiti last week in the left center back spot, could easily slot in for Brooks, or Klinsmann could opt to call-in Matt Besler (Editor’s Note: Klinsmann has not called in Matt Besler, instead adding only Alan Gordon, DaMarcus Beasley and Joe Corona for the knockout stages)—as changes to the roster are allowed in between the group stage and the knockout round.
The Brooks-Alvarado combination, which was torn apart repeatedly by Honduras last week, looked better on Monday night. Both Brooks and Alvarado were at fault on Panama’s lone goal, as Luis Tejada beat Alvarado on the dribble and Blas Perez snuck in behind Brooks, but the goal itself should have been disallowed as Tejada originally received the ball in an offside position.
After that gaffe, both defenders were better. For the rest of the night, Brooks made several important clearances—although it must be admitted his passing out of the back definitely could have been sharper. Alvarado, for his part, looked markedly better than in his cap-tying appearance against Honduras. He covered well on multiple occasions for defensive slip-ups down the right flank and had several important clearances himself.
ZARDES NOT THE ANSWER AT FORWARD
After the shaky performances of Jozy Altidore, and to a lesser extent, Aron Johannsson, thus far in the tournament, many pundits called for Gyasi Zardes to get the start at forward. After several bright performances on the wing—off the bench—Zardes looked to be the hot hand.
Klinsmann went that route against Panama, but Zardes was not the key the U.S. was looking for to unlock its attack. Any casual observer of Zardes in his time with the national team or the LA Galaxy has noted his poor and unpredictable first touch, a trait that becomes even more obvious when Zardes is playing up top in traffic with his back to goal.
https://twitter.com/RobUsry/status/620776249510731776
Despite being perceived as a “natural” forward, his skill set makes him most effective in space—which is why it’s no coincidence that he has been most effective on the wing as a sub. When playing as a starter, when opposing players are fresh and more compact defensively, Zardes struggles. However, when the game opens up in the second half, Zardes’ speed and work rate give him an advantage over tired defenders.
To put it succinctly, at this point in his development, he’s best as a sub.
UGLY IS UGLY; 7 POINTS IS 7 POINTS
As bad as the U.S.’s performances have been thus far in the Gold Cup, including a 2-1 win over No. 80 Honduras, a 1-0 win over No. 79 Haiti and a 1-1 draw against No. 62 Panama, they still managed to win their group—with a game to spare.
And as bad as those results may look on paper, CONCACAF is, well, weird.
Some of the normal CONCACAF excuses (like weather, field conditions and hostile fans), don’t apply to this summer’s tournament, but results in this federation—even against the minnows—have always been hard. And the U.S. certainly didn’t benefit from the officiating on Monday as Panama’s goal should have been disallowed and Panama should or at least could have been playing down a man after Alejandro Bedoya was clearly taken down on a breakaway in the 41st minute.
Brad Guzan was excellent for the United States last night.
But despite going down early, the U.S. battled back with a Michael Bradley goal in the 55th minute and Brad Guzan did well to keep the U.S. in the match. And sometimes you just need to grind out a result.
Bedoya, returning from a long injury layoff, contributed the assist on Bradley’s goal, and created some nice attacking opportunities throughout the match. His lack of fitness was obvious, as he started to give the ball away frequently in the second half, but his return to the fold should pay dividends for the U.S. in the knockout rounds.
Going forward, the U.S. will need better play out of a number of players. Its cadre of forwards certainly needs to be more productive and Kyle Beckerman—a warrior for the U.S. at last summer’s World Cup—needs to be sharper in his passing and tackling. The Americans also need more consistent play from its outside backs.
But all things considered, the U.S. is on to the next round, have won their group and will be playing in the Gold Cup quarterfinals this Saturday in Baltimore.
Finally, the environment in Kansas City was exceptional and the venue should join Columbus as an automatic qualifier host.
This isn’t an argument to take that qualifier away from C-Bus; it is just an argument that Kansas City should always host a World Cup qualifier. Yese, the capacity is only 18,500– but it is a boisterous 18,500K in an intimate setting that is the perfect advertisement for the sport in the United States. And it is the best kind of crowd- a knowledgeable and loud one- that will make life difficult on any qualifying foe. And unlike Seattle- which has had great moments but also hosted the national team and Gold Cup matches to pedestrian crowds and subdued environments, it’s a consistent group.
Atmosphere in Kansas City making it easy to remember why the US played a qualifier here and why they should always do so in future. #USMNT
— The Yanks Are Coming (@YanksAreComing) July 14, 2015
There may be better soccer-specific stadia and venues in the United States, but we’ve yet to see one.
John D. Halloran is a frequent writer for The Yanks Are Coming. His work has appeared on Bleacher Report and for American Soccer Now, among other places. He founded the soccer site American Touchline and is considered one of US Soccer’s preeminent minds on women’s soccer. He is also a state championship winning soccer coach. Follow him on Twitter @johndhalloran.