Clint Dempsey’s penchant for scoring goals continues to bail the Americans out.
John D. Halloran
In a performance that can’t be characterized as anything other than poor, the United States men’s national team limped to a 1-0 win over Haiti on Friday night in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The win, shockingly enough, also won Group A for the U.S.—with a game to spare—despite two relatively poor performances thus far in the 2015 Gold Cup. The Americans’ lone goal came courtesy of a second-half strike from Clint Dempsey, while Brad Guzan earned the shutout in goal. Here are three thoughts about the US moving forward from that game.
On rewatch, Johannsson’s runs off the ball were good– but his touch let him down time and time again.
DOES ANYONE WANT TO START AT FORWARD?
Even the most gracious evaluation of Jozy Altidore’s performance against Haiti would say that the forward was poor. An honest evaluation of his performance would likely call it a horror show.
Altidore, who was competing on Friday against the birth nation of his parents, struggled for the second straight game to make an impact and throughout his entire 45 minutes against Haiti—he was withdrawn at the half—Altidore’s touch, passing and service were all subpar.
Most striking, however, was the big man’s seeming lack of confidence. Yes, Altidore is coming off a hamstring injury, but he also wasted several key opportunities to make an impact. In the 34th minute of play, Michael Bradley made a strong run up the field and found Altidore open inside the box. With space on his left to shoot, or go straight to goal, Altidore instead tried to cut the ball back and, ultimately, lost possession (the play was almost identical to a similar moment in the game against Honduras on Tuesday night).
Altidore with no confidence to take that with his left foot. #USMNT
— Nate Bukaty (@nate_bukaty) July 11, 2015
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Bradley again found Altidore in the box for what looked like a promising opportunity, but a poor touch by Altidore resulted in another lost possession.
If head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is to bench the Toronto FC striker, who can he go to?
Most fans called for Aron Johannsson to be brought into the lineup after the U.S.’s poor offensive performance against Honduras on Tuesday. And Johannsson his opportunity against Haiti, starting the match and getting 83 minutes to make his case. Unfortunately, he didn’t take advantage of the chance.
Over and over again on Friday, Johannsson lost possession through bad touches and bad passes and certainly didn’t look like the key to unlocking the U.S. attack. A few moments of bright footwork and intelligent runs off the ball aside, Johannsson’s touch, and ultimately his ability, or inability, to do what forwards should do- score- was disappointing.
Klinsmann, no doubt looking for help at this point, is limited in his options. Juan Agudelo, Jordan Morris, Bobby Wood and Rubio Rubin were all left off the roster for various reasons and Chris Wondolowski certainly isn’t the answer.
One solution could be to start Gyasi Zardes up top. Although Klinsmann has primarily, up to this point, played Zardes as a winger, the LA Galaxy attacker can also (and probably should) play up top. The tricky part for Zardes is that he seems to play best as a substitute, as he demonstrated last week in the warm-up game against Guatemala and showed again on Friday when he provided the game-winning assist only 62 seconds after coming into the match.
It’s a conundrum that Klinsmann will need to figure out as the U.S. moves deeper into the tournament.
THE MESS IN THE MIDFIELD
Against Haiti, Klinsmann went with wholesale changes to his starting XI. One result of those changes was a major shakeup to his midfield set-up as the U.S. went with Bradley as the holding midfielder and Dempsey as the attacking midfielder on Friday night.
At first glance, the move seemed worth a look, as the two often seem to wander into each other’s space when paired as an attacking midfielder and forward.
However, the set-up didn’t look particularly good in practice as the U.S. struggled to establish any sort of rhythm on the attacking side of the ball and looked vulnerable to counterattacks when possession was lost. Dempsey, despite being the only U.S. player to score in the U.S.’s two Gold Cup matches, hasn’t looked his best this tournament and Bradley was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball.
OPPORTUNITIES TAKEN AND MISSED
With so many changes to the U.S. lineup, there was a significant opportunity for several players to make a case for increased playing time. Unfortunately, few took the chance.
As discussed above, Johannsson struggled, and in the midfield, Mix Diskerud put in a shaky performance. While his effort was certainly there, Diskerud lost the ball too often through poor touches and on two separate occasions committed dangerous fouls on the edge of the box. In the ninth minute of play, Diskerud’s lost dribble and subsequent foul resulted in a set piece for Haiti which they put off the crossbar.
The US defense continued to look a bit shaky against Haiti, but kept the clean sheet.
In the back, neither Greg Garza nor Omar Gonzalez made the most of their chances. After a shaky performance from Ventura Alvarado in the U.S.’s first game, the opportunity was there for Gonzalez to stake his claim for the spot at right center back. Instead of staking his claim, he struggled, and was directly responsible for two of Haiti’s best chances.
In the 20th minute of play, Gonzalez stepped and missed a tackle which eventually resulted in an open shot on net. Then, in the 57th minute, Gonzalez tried to play an attacker offside and, when he wasn’t, Guzan was forced to come up with a huge save on the ensuing breakaway.
HUGE save by Guzan! Still 1-0 USA. #GoldCup pic.twitter.com/HYPYwYNxBl
— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) July 11, 2015
For his part, Garza also struggled. While he did contribute to a few good attacks, he was also beaten 1 v. 1, dispossessed in his own end on the dribble, gave up an unnecessary corner kick at one point and was beaten twice in the air on the back post. Although Garza was officially cap-tied in the match, it was likely a performance he’ll want to forget.
The one man who did take advantage of his opportunity was Tim Ream. While Ream has enjoyed award-winning success in England’s second division for the past several seasons, he has seen scant opportunities with the national team—his last start coming in the 2011 Gold Cup.
On Friday, Ream was solid, winning challenge after challenge and calmly distributing possession out of the back for the U.S. He also broke up several dangerous counter attacks.
In the past, Ream has always looked a little soft for the international level, but Friday’s performance was encouraging. Unfortunately for him, his chances going forward still might be limited as Klinsmann views his center backs as “right center” and “left center” and John Brooks already looks to be established as Klinsmann’s first choice on the left.
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.