The US huddle at training Monday night. They’ll take on Trinidad and Tobago Tuesday evening.
Neil W. Blackmon and Jon Levy
Introduction by Neil W. Blackmon
The US began World Cup qualifying on a high note Friday night in St. Louis with a convincing 6-1 win over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The match wasn’t without tension, particularly after Oalex Anderson, a part-time fisherman who also plays in the USL for Sounders 2, gave the away side an early advantage. But the Yanks responded quickly and were in command by the break, and that’s the response Jurgen Klinsmann said he wanted from his team.
Klinsmann is certainly hopeful the big win will give the team confidence as they enter Tuesday night’s qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain (6:30 EDT, BEIN SPORTS). Awaiting them will be a Soca Warriors side brimming with confidence, fresh off a massive 2-1 win over Guatemala in Guatemala City Friday evening and carrying residual belief from a summer where they won their group at the Gold Cup, a group that included eventual tournament champion Mexico.
Klinsmann, whose teams won only one road match at this stage of CONCACAF qualifying in the last cycle (a grinding win on a cricket field in Antigua and Barbuda was sandwiched between a draw in Guatemala City and a loss at Jamaica), expects a challenge Tuesday night.
“I think Trinidad & Tobago and probably Haiti have been the biggest winners or surprises in CONCACAF this year,” Klinsmann said Sunday. “They played a very good Gold Cup and also had some good results in friendlies and other test games. You have to give them a lot of respect. They’re known for their physical game and known for being strong. A lot of their players play in the English Championship and obviously playing at home they have a lot of confidence, and they want to prove to the world that they’re a good team.”
Given how well the Soca Warriors have played of late under Stephen Hart, the Americans aren’t likely to be surprised by a tough game. They know a result will be a grind, just as the Soca Warriors know that full spoils will make the Hex within reach only two games in.
‘Getting the road win was enormous for us,” Trinidad and Tobago and Chicago Fire midfielder Joevin Jones told TYAC. “Now we know we can stake a claim to the final qualifying round and control the group if we win in front of our fans Tuesday. Win at home, and most the time, you are in good shape,” he said.
Without further Freddy Adu, usuals and then the particulars.
Series: 22nd meeting. United States lead 16-2-3. This is the 15th time the two nations have met in qualifying, with the US leading those matchups 11-1-2. In Port of Spain, the Americans are 5-2-2, with a loss at this stage of qualifying in 2008 and a win in the Hex in 2009.
In the 2008 loss, Bob Bradley’s US played an experimental group having already secured passage to the Hex. Charlie Davies scored the lone US goal in a 2-1 loss, but the bigger story was who played: Brad Guzan received his fifth start for the US, DaMarcus Beasley wore the armband, Freddy Adu started, Michael Orozco made his senior team debut just two months removed from his Beijing red card and Chris Rolfe and Danny Szetala made their last appearances with the senior team in competitive play. It was Bradley at his most experimental.
In the 2009 Hex qualifier, a much more seasoned group of Americans struggled with the heat and Trinidad’s pace throughout, but stayed compact and didn’t let the Soca Warriors catch them out on the break. This set the stage for one of the better distance goals in US soccer history, from Ricardo Clark.
Point in this, other than the sentimental tears one gets when seeing the trafficfootball.com sideline advertisements? A US side in better form needed that moment of brilliance to defeat a Soca Warriors side with less quality the last time down here. Tuesday won’t be easy.
Weather: 84 degrees with a tropical breeze. Chance of rain. Humidity around 70 percent, which will give make the heat index around 95 or so. It’s hot down here. Fabian Johnson Misery Index: Peak Manaus. 10.
Kenwyne Jones gives Trinidad and Tobago one of the best attacking players in CONCACAF.
Neil W. Blackmon on what to Watch For From Trinidad and Tobago:
A fun side with dynamic attacking talent that is playing confidently.
Trinidad and Tobago are the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup, a footnote the citizens of this beautiful, soccer-mad island nation are quick to point out. So the team’s failure in 2014 to advance past the 4th Round of CONCACAF qualifying and into the Hex was a source of national angst.
Enter Stephen Hart, brought in to replace Jamaal Shabazz after the side tumbled out of the Brazil 2014 qualification tournament.
His main task when hired? Restore some semblance of defensive organization to a team that had once been opportunistic on the break but difficult to break down. The Soca Warriors had offensive firepower, but were hemorrhaging goals. Hart was asked to accomplish this task in time to advance the team back to the Hex in the 2018 Russia qualification campaign.
Two issues immediately complicated Hart’s task.
First, the better talent for Trinidad and Tobago remained in attack. Kenwyne Jones, a longtime English Premier League and Championship goalscorer, now captained the team and remained one of the more lethal attacking pieces in CONCACAF. Complimenting him were Orlando City star Kevin Molino, Chicago’s Joevin Jones, Columbus Crew’s Kevan George and a slick ball-mover, Lester Peltier who plays at Bratislava. Former Arsenal product Justin Hoyte was among those providing width. But Hart lacked much talent on the backend, with largely young players still plying their trade domestically or players well past their best to choose from. Identifying who could help quickly and ensuring they found places outside Trinidad to play was problem “A.”
Second, Hart was handicapped by a TTFA that had been bled dry, both financially and organizationally, from the longtime iron grip of Jack Warner. “There was institutional incompetence from the ground-up,” a source within the TTFA told TYAC on the condition of anonymity. “Start with the development programs being underfunded and all the way to the top.”
Hart wasn’t hired to fix any of that, of course, but it was an institutional barrier to overcome as he restructured the senior side. And it is a battle that is ongoing.
Only a handful of years removed from the end of the Warner era in Trinidad and Tobago football, the Soca Warrior men’s players are being paid on-time, which is an improvement and a feather in current TTFA President Raymond Tim Kee’s cap. And Tim Kee has fully funded and expanded the small country’s youth football programs, to assure that players are identified earlier and coached properly faster.
But Tim Kee’s management has also come under scrutiny, and not simply because he is often linked, albeit incorrectly, with the Jack Warner era. FIFA froze funding to the TTFA earlier this year amid accounting and auditing concerns, and creditor KPMG pulled out as well, demanding debts be paid. Tim Kee fired Sheldon Phillips, his general secretary, this summer, but many feel Phillips was sacrificed as a scapegoat, not because he did anything wrong. Meanwhile, the TTFA and the country were rightly embarrassed by a story about the women’s national team arriving in the United States with only 500 dollars for food and no lodging, and yet the team nearly qualified for the Women’s World Cup last summer. Making matters worse Tim Kee’s only executive committee cited corruption and an inability to rule with compromise and openness this week, declaring him “incompetent” and unfit to lead the football federation through a second term. Elections are at the end of this month.
In the midst of this sandstorm, the Soca Warriors have played terrific, fluid and attacking soccer. And Hart has done a splendid job finding contracts for defenders overseas and improving, even if only modestly, the technical ability of the players in defense. That’s helped the team take a few more chances on the break, as has Hart’s 4-2-3-1, where Khaleem Hyland and either Chicago Fire’s Joevin Jones or Columbus Crew’s Kevan George sit in front of the back wall of four and try to usher things outside, allowing the baseline wall of four to remain more compact. This also forces teams to pump in crosses, a decent defending formula for a side with tall, physical defenders like Sheldon Bateau, Daneil Cyrus and Radanfah Abu Bakr that can win most aerial 50/50s.
A potentially strong starting 11 for the home side Tuesday.
While Hart has experimented, as recently as a month ago in an impressive win at Panama, with a 4-4-2, he prefers to play the 4-2-3-1 because “we get confused as to how to stay organized and defend when we use two strikers.” That’s the look the Soca Warriors opted for Friday night in Guatemala City and a safe bet to be the look they’ll deploy Tuesday night against the Americans, leaving a lineup that looks a great deal like the one at the inset.
Couple of caveats here. The Soca Warriors didn’t take control of the game in Guatemala until the insertion of Kevan George, which helped them win balls in between the back line and the three attackers playing beneath Kenwyne Jones. I think that should be enough for George to start tomorrow night but Hart has preferred him off the bench.
Cordell Cato is another player who Hart has utilized more often as a substitute, opting instead for Andre Boucaud or Lester Peltier. Peltier is a smart player and capable of a good long pass or a nicely threaded through ball but Cato is more dynamic, and given how fragile the US flanks have been earlier, there may be incentive to start the flashier player, particularly at home.
Hart’s teams have not lost when they’ve taken the lead, so the Americans should expect that the Soca Warriors will come out aggressively in the early-going and look for the early goal. That was the formula they used against Mexico in September and if they have proven anything under Hart, it is that they won’t back down. That said, with a player as lethal in the area as Kenwyne Jones, the Soca Warriors have also been decent from behind, including a wild draw against El Tri at the Gold Cup this summer that saw them erase a 2-0 Mexico advantage.
Jan Michael-Williams is the goalkeeper. He was effective until he was injured at the Gold Cup and did well preserving the lead against Guatemala late Friday night, but he’s a step down in quality from most high-level international goalkeepers. Expect the US to test him on set pieces, particularly given how good Trinidad and Tobago have been at defending traditional crosses and set piece balls that aren’t on goal.
Obviously, the gamechanger is still Kenwyne Jones. Questions about how long he can lead the charge to Russia 2018 are fair to ask, but at present, he’s saved his best form for the senior team. Jones has been one of the better players in CONCACAF for a long time, no matter where he’s playing in England. From a selfish standpoint, it would be great to see him in MLS- imagine a team like Portland with that type of quality at the tip of the spear. Think that’s funny? Look at what a lesser player, Kei Kamara, has just done this year. Or just look at the US roster, and figure out who other than Geoff Cameron can physically handle him?
Can the Yanks build on Friday’s result?
Jon Levy on what to Watch For From the United States:
All I wanted to see from the US on Friday night was an ideology; something Klinsmann successfully established in his first few years with the national team, which had gone missing in 2015. I got my wish. Now I want to see a CONCACAF road game results-oriented approach without letting the “keep possession” mantra fall out of frame. That’ll be a tall task against a hot Trinidad and Tobago team, but it should be doable, and expected. Celebrated managers in their second World Cup cycle don’t get to hang their heads about all the aspects of CONCACAF road games that rightfully shock the uninitiated.
Now the US played a relatively effective defense-first match against Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup last month, so I’d like to focus on the possession aspect of playing a pragmatic game on Tuesday night, because holding the ball has again become a near impossible dream for the Yanks when they play decent teams. And I don’t want to come off too flippant on this point: keeping possession is a high-skill, high-repetition game. Four years ago Jurgen had to institute new training regimens in order to foster that skill in this team. Then he had to beat that dead horse bloody, match after match, until we started to see a possession style semi-regularly, even against CONCACAF opposition. But those seemingly lean early days of the Klinzy regime seemed gone for good by the time the USMNT plane headed for Brazil. Sadly, extreme regression followed, with a US side that looked unprepared on the counter and unable to possess, a combination that left me calling for Klinsmann’s job, and then, calling for a return to what used to feel like his core ideology. As I’ve already alluded to, we got the good Yanks against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and regardless of opponent quality, you have to credit the team for getting that job done the right way. Jurgen Klinsmann himself also made a good point about his team facing adversity even in a blowout victory.
“You go down a goal to a nation like Saint Vincent and for a moment it makes you look really bad. You expect positive body language, you expect a reaction right away, you expect a higher tempo, and all they did all those things. They knew exactly how to react to a problem and they could face that against Trinidad and Tobago, especially away from home. Maybe things aren’t going your way and suddenly they might score or things aren’t working out the way you want, and you want them to have a positive spirit, a positive attitude – the attitude that no matter what happens, we’re going to get the job done.”
Jurgen’s right on this one. I mean, he’s as relentlessly positive as ever, which has been a bad look on a number of occasions since the Gold Cup semifinal loss, but the points about maintaining a positive attitude in the face of pressure or an opposition goal are valid. Especially if Jurgen’s watchword, “attitude,” actually translates to a patient, possession approach on the field. This match is the biggest test for the US in this round of World Cup qualifying, and we’ll likely come out of it with a renewed belief in a team that’s recently fallen on hard times, or a crushing sense of impending dread. Or maybe we’ll surprise everyone who is alive in the age of Twitter dot com and be really measured and level-headed about what we see… but that all depends on what we see.
Jon Levy on the Trinidad and Tobago Player to Watch: Cordell Cato (San Jose Earthquakes)
If you watched T and T’s Gold Cup matches this summer you were greatly entertained, and you probably came away with an appreciation for “danger man” Cordell Cato. At least that’s what the English would call him. Here at TYAC we’ll refer to the San Jose Earthquakes player an “attacking winger who could burn the mistake-prone American backline.” Yep, all of that in quotes. Print the tee shirts.
In fact, going back to the Gold Cup, I was preparing for the eventuality that the US might take on Trinidad at some point, and this tricky 23 year old was going to be my opposition Player to Watch. As it played out, both the Yanks and Soca Warriors won their respective groups, and neither team advanced to the potential battleground (the Gold Cup Final). But the plastic Easter egg ping pong balls wanted this matchup; and what they want, they get.
That means the US will have the unenviable task of tracking T and T’s trickiest player, and he pops up all over the pitch. Of course ever-present striker Kenwyne Jones will make the task much harder just by being himself. We all know where Jones is going to be, within ten yards anyway, and the menacingly consistent EPL/League Championship veteran doesn’t miss from his office inside the box. So the US will be asking two defenders to at least keep an eye on Jones at all times, while a defensive midfielder and a fullback will have the pleasure of chasing Cato for the duration of his involvement in this match. That’s a tall task even if Cato sticks to his wing, which he won’t.
In a lot of ways Cato is Trinidad’s version of Panama’s Alberto Quintero, except the T and T man is a bit more of a positional wild card. While his roaming tendencies will likely trouble the American defense, they could be a blessing on the counterattack. Still, if you’re really looking at the Cordell Cato best-case-scenario for the USMNT, look to the fact that he came off the bench last match against Guatemala. Maybe Halifax King of Donair legend/Trinidad manager Stephen Hart will give the Yanks a similar reprieve and keep Cato on the bench of 60 minutes. That’s my hope, but don’t bet on it.
Now in midfield, can Fabian Johnson be the difference maker US Soccer need him to be?
Neil W. Blackmon on the US Player to Watch: Fabian Johnson, Borussia Mönchengladbach
I was watching the Champions League this month and saw Eric Wynalda delivering his analysis with the smarmy and dismissive undertone that he often delivers his analysis with and the one thing that stuck out was his lingering on the idea that Fabian Johnson playing in an advanced role from width was a game-changing and splendid proposition.
Now if you read TYAC you know this didn’t stick out because it was a novel idea, but because it was nice to hear someone with the soccer-background Wynalda has (Op-Ed: Hire Him, Deal with the baggage, End Op-Ed) being snarky about how obvious it is that Fabian Johnson shouldn’t play fullback for anyone, least of all the United States of America. Forget for a moment that Fabian Johnson is the best wide player the United States have and traditional soccer smarts say put your best wide player in midfield where he can most influence the game. Forget that, and recall history instead.
Johnson’s best performances for the US have come when he’s been given license to attack relentlessly down a flank. And they’ve come against better opponents than the US play Tuesday night or, quite frankly, will play in CONCACAF qualification with the lone exception of Mexico.
There are a host of examples of Johnson’s influence, but the best remains in Manaus against Portugal, Johnson was a fullback to start (I’ll get to this) the game but lined up on the same flank as Ronaldo- yes, Ronaldo- Johnson spent most the first half playing functionally like a deep winger. His position was often covered by Jermaine Jones, switched to the right of the midfield for precisely this purpose, and the number of 2 v 1’s he created with Graham Zusi in the first half was incredible. If he is lined up on the right as a wing tomorrow, he’ll be checked by 25 year old Mekheil Williams, who plays for Antigua GFC in Guatemala. I’m sure Williams will play admirably, but if you can run circles around Andre Almeida and Bruno Alves, you can hurt Mekheil Williams and suck Sheldon Bateau out into the channels. If he does that, the US can break down a team through the center that will be set up to not get broken down through the center.
Now, Johnson playing midfield is preferable to the fullback spot from the Portugal match because it allows him an entire game free from significant defensive responsibility to attack. It also allows DeAndre Yedlin to start games, a proposition with short-term risk but long-term reward. And when Alejandro Bedoya gets back, it is a much safer proposition because all Yedlin truly demands to be internationally effective is reliable cover. Bedoya can do that this cycle.
As for Johnson, who hates heat but excelled in the tropics of Manaus, here is another chance in piping hot conditions to be the best field player the Americans have next to Michael Bradley. And that’s probably what he is anyway.
Prediction: Trinidad and Tobago 2 – 1 USA
The Yanks gave us the now familiar early gaffe/late gaffe treatment against Mexico last month, and I think that’s exactly what we’ll see against in Trinidad. We saw it in the 2010 World Cup in the Ghana match, and again last summer against Portugal. That old formula does the US in again. But hey, I think Michael Bradley’s gonna score, so we got that goin’ for us.
Enjoy the match, and Go USA!
Neil W. Blackmon and Jon Levy co-founded The Yanks Are Coming. Reach them at nwblackmon@gmail.com or jon.f.levy@gmail.com. Follow them on Twitter @nwblackmon and @TYAC_Jon.