USMNT: A Better Gold Cup Roster

 

Even before his preliminary USMNT Gold Cup roster, Jürgen Klinsmann should have had all of these players in mind.

Below is a stronger and more balanced Gold Cup roster than Jürgen Klinsmann’s preliminary Gold Cup roster or his final roster (for the group stage):

 

GOALKEEPERS: Luis ROBLES, Clint IRWIN, Dan KENNEDY

Bill Hamid and Sean Johnson are promising prospects, but were Robles, Irwin, and Kennedy even given a chance? Many people regard Robles as a mistake machine, but the same can be said of Hamid and Johnson.

It’s hard to be a goalkeeper with no one behind you to save you from mistakes. People criticize goalkeepers when they stay on their line and when they come off their line, but Robles, Irwin, and Kennedy were equally as worthy as Hamid and Johnson of roster spots.

 

Robles is more controversial than Irwin and Kennedy, but it’s hard to believe that Hamid and Johnson really outperformed Robles, Irwin, and Kennedy in MLS.

 

In many ways, Irwin and Kennedy are less prone to mistakes than Hamid and Johnson, while Robles is a keeper who makes phenomenal saves with the occasional overly-criticized mistake.

 

RIGHT BACKS: Jonathan SPECTOR, Kofi SARKODIE

 

Jonathan Spector proved himself against Brazil and Spain. Enough said. Not calling up an internationally-proven right back was inexcusable.

 

Kofi Sarkodie was another Klinsmann snub. Like DeAndre Yedlin who maybe should have been in the running for the preliminary Gold Cup roster despite his involvement in this summer’s U-20 World Cup, Sarkodie brings great speed and attacking play, which is one of the trademarks of modern outside backs, and Sarkodie has a sizeable body of MLS work for Klinsmann to have seen.

 

This Gold Cup was supposed to take players who had the tools to play international soccer and get them experience in the Gold Cup without calling up overly inexperienced players. Sarkodie certainly has demonstrated that his recovery defense, his attacking, and the threat he poses along the right flank are valuable assets for the USMNT.

 

LEFT BACKS: Chris KLUTE, Edgar CASTILLO

 

Chris Klute is personally backed by Eric Wynalda, and observers have been seeing just how effective his two-way ability is. For a country with precious few left backs, Klute has more than enough MLS starts and minutes to now consider him an experienced MLS player with the physical gifts and technical ability to excel at the international level.

 

Klute is known for his speed, but Klute possesses great touch, passing, overlapping runs, and crossing ability. When so many people just blindly hit crosses, Klute makes his way down the sideline and through traffic to play controlled passes into the box that have a specific target in mind.

 

Klute’s tackling, heading, speed, and two-way threat are there for all to see. Klute has been praised by Eric Wynalda, Marcelo Balboa, and Alexi Lalas, and it’s hard for Klinsmann and his staff to say that they’ve selected the best MLS players when a player with Klute’s skills and physical gifts wasn’t even mentioned.

 

Edgar Casillo made Klinsmann’s roster, and with good reason. Casillo had an impressive season with Xolos in La Liga MX as well as the Copa Libertadores. Castillo has improved his game tremendously over the past year, and his inclusion on the roster wasn’t considered surprising or controversial.

 

CENTER BACKS: George JOHN, Amobi OKUGO, Andrew FARRELL, Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE 

 

Andrew Farrell is a center back who has been playing as a right back for the New England Revolution, but a good way to make a lot of money would be to bet someone that Farrell’s skill, speed, and tackling eclipse Onyewu’s and Goodson’s. Farrell’s speed and ability is immediately noticeable. His time spent living in Peru because of his parents taught him the superiority of advanced technical ability and one-to-two touch passing.

 

George John’s exclusion makes no sense. John is regarded as one of the best center backs in MLS, and his services have been sought after by EPL teams and the Greek national team. Klinsmann has decided to just pretend that he doesn’t exist.

 

Gale Agbossoumonde is a well-known name in American soccer circles. For a stretch of some 10 MLS games, Agbossoumonde performed very well when Toronto FC’s more established center backs were unavailable.

 

Some 10 games worth of video to study (including a game marking Thierry Henry) is more than enough video evidence for Klinsmann to see the comfort on the ball Agbossoumonde brings in addition to his exceptional size, athleticism, defensive timing, and his soccer IQ.

 

Klinsmann wants Americans to blindly except the exclusion of Agbossoumonde over unqualified center backs like Clarence Goodson and Oguchi Onyewu.

 

For all of Klinsmann’s talk of change, proactive play, and better technical ability, Klinsmann is totally unwilling to let younger, more athletic, and more skilled players play at almost any position, even in the group stage of a tournament like the Gold Cup, which features truly poor competition.

 

Amobi Okugo can play as a defensive midfielder or as a center back, and he like George John was widely regarded as a Klinsmann snub. While Agbossoumonde and Farrell are choices for a coach who recognizes the need to use less experienced but better players, John and Okugo were players who the American soccer media widely viewed as roster snubs.

 

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS: Perry KITCHEN, Jeremy HALL

 

Kyle Beckerman was chosen to play in the Gold Cup, and Beckerman cannot play international soccer. He’s slow. He’s not quick, and he has never been able to keep up with the pace of the game against basically anyone the United States has faced when Jürgen Klinsmann was the coach or before.

 

On the other hand, Perry Kitchen and Jeremy Hall are upgrades to Beckerman. They are quicker. Their tackles are less reckless and better timed, and they have a more advanced skill-set. Jeremy Hall scored a goal this season in MLS where he muscled Giles Barnes off a bouncing ball and then somewhat Cruyffed his defender to get free, and then he scored a goal from outside of the box.

 

This display of skill combined with the athleticism and overall defensive and passing performance that he has displayed this year makes him a far superior international defensive midfielder to Beckerman.

 

Kitchen is a known commodity. He tackles and shields the ball well, and he knows how to pass well with both feet without conceding possession.

 

With his superior athleticism and comfort on the ball over Beckerman in addition to his ability to play center back, Kitchen would have been a much wiser choice than Beckerman who has shown that he cannot keep up with the speed of international play without excessive, reckless, and mistimed tackling.

 

Beckerman is something of a walking yellow yard, and he’s a walking red card against faster players.

 

ATTACKING AND BOX-BOX MIDFIELDERS: Benny FEILHABER, Joe CORONA, Stuart HOLDEN, Benji JOYA

 

Everyone in this category has a proven track record of international success. Benny Feilhaber and Stuart Holden are known commodities that have flourished against some of the best players in the world, and Joe Corona proved himself in the Copa Libertadores and La Liga MX. Klinsmann called him up, but in World Cup qualifying Klinsmann seemed to view Corona’s proven-ability to play creative, proactive soccer against the likes of Paulinho as irrelevant. Graham Zusi, a 26 year old MLS player who just signed a four year contract extension, was chosen to start over a creative attacking midfielder with smooth passing ability and strong scoring potential.

 

Even Benji Joya should have been on the preliminary roster, as the U-20 U.S. national team was in the group of death at the U-20 World Cup. Anyone who saw Joya play Paul Pogba had further confirmation of the skill that has already been on display for quite some time from the young midfielder. Joya is a complete midfielder who silenced his critics when he played against Pogba.

 

(Additional Attacking Midfielders) WINGERS: Joe GYAU, Brek SHEA

 

To give the USMNT the option of speed and skill out wide, both Gyau and Shea bring excellent speed and skill and the willingness to cut into toward the middle of the penalty box and try to score or set up their teammates. With most of the width normally coming from the outside backs, two extremely fast and slippery wingers on the roster gives the U.S. a different dimension with which to attack opponents.

 

At the very least, players like Gyau and Shea disrupt the defensive shape of opponents, which opens up space for these wingers’ teammates.

 

STRIKERS: Juan AGUDELO, Terrence BOYD, Lamar NEAGLE, Tony TAYLOR

 

The American soccer media can continue to insist that the MLS scoring-rate of American strikers is an accurate barometer of international success, but a realistic perspective of world soccer proves this to be questionable.

 

While a certain type of form and ability in MLS can signal the ability to play international soccer effectively as a striker, history has taught the United States that even small soccer countries often have faster and more skilled defenders than what is normally prevalent in MLS.

 

The competition in the Gold Cup is poor, but the point is to see how good the talent is outside of the players that Jürgen Klinsmann has been normally calling up.

 

The exclusion of Juan Agudelo from the USMNT’s Gold Cup roster is nearly impossible to support. Will Bruin has four MLS goals this season, and Chris Wondolowski has five; both are on the roster.

 

Agudelo has five MLS goals plus 17 caps inside a tall physique with lean and fast-twitch muscles that have translated to the international level.

 

Agudelo is too creative, too quick, too adventurous, and too dangerous to be excluded from a national team like the United States,’ which needs all the players like this that it can get its hands on.

 

Tony Taylor has been criticized for not playing too often in Portugal, but how many American strikers actually play at all in Portugal, and how many aren’t dropped by their second division teams when the team moves up into a league with great talent like the Portuguese Primeira Liga?

 

American soccer writers will try to compare battling for playing time in the Primeira Liga as less impressive than scoring regularly in MLS, but this opinion tries in vain to convince knowledgeable soccer observers that MLS and the Primeira Liga are comparable, even for a Primeira Liga bench player.

 

Taylor is very fast and skilled, and the fact that he wasn’t dropped by Estoril Praia when they moved up to the Primeira Liga says a lot. Certainly, Estoril could have found strikers everywhere in Brazil and Portugal to take Taylor’s spot or found some loophole in his contract to send him packing.

 

Taylor did actually play in the Primeira Liga, and if one thinks that is no different that playing in MLS, then one can try to rationalize that mentality.

 

Finally, Lamar Neagle has demonstrated a much higher capacity to play international soccer than both Jack McInerney and Will Bruin. The caliber of Neagle’s goals this year and his ability to free himself to take shots on goal and score is well-beyond anything Bruin or McInerney have shown.

 

On paper, both players look like two of the best MLS forwards, but the way that Neagle plays and the more advanced display of individual skill will translate much better to the international game. McInerney is fast but small, but he doesn’t have the 1v1 dribbling ability or trickery needed to outfox international defenders who are fast and used to dealing with more gifted dribblers.

 

Bruin and McInerney might be fine for the competition in the first round of the Gold Cup, but one of the purposes of this tournament was to initiate people who can break into the senior team. Neagle at least presents the size, speed, and skill to be internationally competitive, certainly more than Wondolowski has shown when given the chance to play international soccer.

 

The 2013 USMNT Gold Cup Roster

 

Benny Feilhaber. (Photo: Reuters)
Benny Feilhaber. (Photo: Reuters)

 

Jürgen Klinsmann selected another trademark imbalanced roster for the United States Men’s National Team’ s Gold Cup squad.

 

The roster has one right back, three left backs, only one defensive midfielder, several mediocre center backs without good agility, and mostly pedestrian strikers.

 

Klinsmann made one needed change from his previous roster which was putting more than one playmaker on the roster: Joe Corona and Mix Diskerud.

 

Below is the United States’ B Team Gold Cup roster selected by Klinsmann and his staff, and changes could possibly be made to the roster after the group stage of the tournament, should the United States advance out:

 

GOALKEEPERS: Bill HAMID (DC United), Sean JOHNSON (Chicago Fire), Nick RIMANDO (Real Salt Lake).

 

OUTSIDE BACKS: Michael PARKHURST (Augsburg), Edgar CASTILLO (Tijuana), Tony BELTRAN (Real Salt Lake), DaMARCUS BEASLEY (Puebla) , Corey ASHE (Houston Dynamo).

 

CENTER BACKS: Clarence GOODSON (Bronby), Oguchi ONYEWU (Malaga), Michael OROZCO FISCAL (Puebla).

 

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS: Kyle BECKERMAN (Real Salt Lake).

 

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS: Alejandro BEDOYA (Helsinborg), Joe CORONA (Tijuana), Mix DISKERUD (Rosenborg), Josh GATT (Molde), Stuart HOLDEN (Bolton), José TORRES (Tigres).

 

FORWARDS: Will BRUIN (Houston Dynamo), Landon DONOVAN (LA Galaxy), Herculez GOMEZ (Tijuana), Jack MCINERNEY (Philadelphia Union), Chris WONDOLOWSKI (San Jose Earthquakes).

 

The Gold Cup roster Jürgen Klinsmann has selected for at least the group stage of the Gold Cup should be very alarming to anyone who remembers that in the 2011 Gold Cup the United States Men’s National Team struggled with the following players on the roster: Tim Howard, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Eric Lichaj, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, and Juan Agudelo.

 

Looking at the roster by position, even the goalkeepers are just the same goalkeepers that Klinsmann always selects as third string or B Team goalkeepers without even using them or proving that they in fact deserve to always be on the roster.

 

Bill Hamid, Sean Johnson, and Nick Rimando may prove to be capable as international goalkeepers, but are they better than some of the other MLS goalkeepers like Dan Kennedy, Tally Hall, Luis Robles, and Clint Irwin?

 

So far, Klinsmann seems to just select Hamid, Johnson, and Rimando without proving that they should just automatically be given the B Team goalkeeper spots.

 

Klinsmann and his staff selected just one right back for the Gold Cup roster: Tony Beltran.

 

The other right back in name only was Michael Parkhurst. Parkhurst is a good center back who has done well overseas, where he has recently been used as a right back. But, Parkhurst is a center back who doesn’t have the speed or the style of play to realistically be used as a right back against strong opponents.

 

Is Tony Beltran was on the roster, then where were the likes of Kofi Sarkodie, Jonathan Spector, and Eric Lichaj? Picking Beltran over the other three requires some evidence, and Klinsmann doesn’t have it.

 

Spector and Lichaj have a body of international work to support their inclusion over Beltran, and Sarkodie continues to display how he (like DeAndre Yedlin) is a fast and aggressive outside back who poses a two-way threat.

 

Sarkodie keeps getting better, and proving that Beltran is better than a player like Sarkodie is a tough sell. At the very least, Sarkodie has shown his ability in Olympic qualifying, and his form in MLS continues to improve.

 

Sarkodie’s attacking ability and his improved tackling has been something that many writers and pundits have noticed.

 

Exclusions like Sarkodie are a concerning pattern with Klinsmann where he selects certain players without backing up his selections, and at the same time, players who are as good or better aren’t even mentioned, almost to the extent that it would appear that Klinsmann’s scouting is inadequate and subpar.

 

Even if many of the opponents in the Gold Cup are soccer minnows, the United States still needs to improve as a team and gel, and this roster puts the USMNT in the position to possible lose to teams that it should easily beat.

 

While there is one right back on the roster, there are three left backs, and they aren’t the kind of left backs who can play as right or left backs. They are three left backs, who can only play on the left, and one of them, DaMarcus Beasley, isn’t even an outside back.

 

Beasley is a winger who did a good job of filling in at left back in the first half of the Hexagonal round of the World Cup qualifying when the U.S. needed a left-footed player to play left back.

 

Chris Klute of the Colorado Rapids deserved to be on the Gold Cup roster or at least part of the discussion.

 

Klute is a lightning-quick left back who can also play as a right back, center back, or as a midfielder, and Klute boasts a 4.3 40 time according to his former coach Eric Wynalda.

 

Klute is just what the doctor ordered for the USMNT.

 

He’s a modern outside back who attacks with speed and skill by combining to exchange wall passes with his teammates, and he makes dangerous overlapping runs. Marcelo Balboa also rates Klute highly.

 

Klute offers the United States an outside back who has the speed and skill to be effective going forward and on the defensive side of things.

 

Klute has great recovery speed, and he knows how to cover for the center backs when they come over to cover for him if he’s beaten.

 

He can dribble or pass the ball out of the back, and he uses his excellent vertical leap to head out dangerous balls played into the box or into the attacking third.

 

Klute can outplay Ashe, Castillo, and Beasley, and while Klute is not immune to being beaten off the dribble or with a pass just like any defender is, he is great at quickly closing in on the player who has passed him.

 

Chris Klute is an excellent example of one of many quality MLS players who have appeared from somewhat off the radar, and they are totally passed over by Klinsmann and his staff for players who haven’t proven that they are better.

 

Klinsmann has never even mentioned Klute, and Klute is almost never even discussed by the American soccer media. For all of these pundits and American soccer writers who seem to only pay attention to MLS, how did they miss Chris Klute?

 

At center back, it’s unclear how Klinsmann rationalized his selections.

 

For example, how does Klinsmann justify omitting George John from the roster, when John is a center back who is almost universally recognized by MLS coaches and players as one of the best center backs in the league? Even the Greek national team and EPL clubs have openly shown interest in John.

 

Looking at Klinsmann’s roster selections at center back, Onyewu and Goodson have repeatedly been shown to not have the agility or technical ability to take the United States to the next level, and using players of their age does nothing to incorporate younger and better center backs like George John, Amobi Okugo, Gale Agbossoumonde, and Andrew Farrell (who can play either as a center back, outside back, or midfield destroyer).

 

Say what you want about Agbossoumonde and Farrell, but their comfort on the ball, their strong defensive skills, and their athleticism are there for all to see.

 

These are promising players who have enough experience to not be dismissed as raw and unproven players. Farrell and Agbossoumonde are not YouTube players, but rather they are players who games can be viewed and analyzed on MLS Live.

 

Any American defender who could possibly improve the center of the American defense deserves to be considered.

 

Whereas Klinsmann often put five or six midfield destroyers on his previous rosters, Klinsmann has only one defensive midfielder on this Gold Cup roster: Kyle Beckerman.

 

Beckerman is a midfield destroyer, and the roster doesn’t have a back-up destroyer for Beckerman or two players of the second kind of defensive midfielder: the box-to-box midfielder.

 

How was Perry Kitchen passed over for this Gold Cup roster as an additional midfield destroyer? Everything Beckerman does, Kitchen does better.

 

Kitchen isn’t fast by international soccer standards, but he isn’t a slow liability. His passing and comfort on the ball is as good or better than Beckerman’s, and he can also play as a center back.

 

Amobi Okugo is another defensive midfielder or center back who was necessary as a substitute or as a starter. Given Beckerman’s glacial speed and poor quickness, he’s a liability that should have been replaced by Kitchen, Okugo, or Jeremy Hall.

 

Despite Beckerman’s sound fundamentals and technique, there’s no place for a player who’s that slow in international soccer, especially a country like the United States that wants to improve its quality of play and international competitiveness.

 

The rest of the midfield is all attacking midfielders of various varieties including two actual playmakers in Joe Corona and Mix Diskerud and one attacking midfielder in Stuart Holden who doesn’t easily fit into any category.

 

Additionally, José Torres is on the roster, despite never performing well or impacting any game he has played for the United States, and Torres doesn’t combine enough with his teammates or play enough final balls to be considered a playmaker.

 

Benny Feilhaber deserved a roster spot over José Torres because Feilhaber has outplayed Torres at the international level, and Feilhaber has been enjoying a solid season with Sporting Kansas City in MLS, despite being left off a recent travel roster.

 

Sporting Kansas City’s passing is better when Feilhaber is playing, and Feilhaber has also displayed quite a bit of tackling and strong defensive work for a playmaker. Feilhaber even had seven or eight tackles in a game against the LA Galaxy when Jürgen Klinsmann was in the stadium to watch the game.

 

Feilhaber’s qualities are well-known in the United States, and often coaches like Klinsmann expect him to either play more defense that a playmaker normally plays or they have unrealistic expectations for him.

 

People know Feilhaber is a talented passer, so they raise their expectations for him, while allowing less talented people to play.

 

Even without Feilhaber, at least the roster has Joe Corona and Mix Diskerud, but the selection of Torres over Feilhaber shows Klinsmann’s tendency to pick his players early and insist on selecting them over and over again without any evidence.

 

The roster also has wingers amongst the group of attacking midfielders. Alejandro Bedoya and Josh Gatt are wingers, but it’s hard to support that they match the combination of skill and speed that Joe Gyau and Brek Shea provide as wingers.

 

Shea has performed better than Bedoya for the United States, and Gatt offers less speed and skill than Gyau offers. Gyau also plays in a more competitive environment in Germany.

 

The omission of both Terrence Boyd and Juan Agudelo from the group of strikers was very indefensible, especially since strikers like Chris Wondolowski were selected over both of them.

 

Given the problem with goal scoring in the 2011 Gold Cup, how can anyone have any confidence in Klinsmann and his staff who selected strikers like Chris Wondolowski, Will Bruin, and Jack McInerney to do something that Altidore and Agudelo struggled to do?

 

In 2011, there was a real lack of service for Altidore and Agudelo, despite the presence of attacking midfielders like Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. With Benny Feilhaber injured before and during the tournament in 2011, the then-coach Bob Bradley was forced to insert Freddy Adu into the semifinal game against Panama because the USMNT was not creating any scoring chances.

 

Bob Bradley should be applauded for putting Adu on the roster to begin with, but given Bob Bradley’s prefence for using two midfield destroyers, it must have taken a lot for someone like Bradley to abandon his coaching philosophy and put Adu into the game.

 

This Gold Cup roster has the playmakers and attacking midfielders to play final balls and create scoring opportunities, but it doesn’t have the best strikers at Klinsmann disposal to finish those final balls, with the exception of Herculez Gomez.

 

Klinsmann selected Will Bruin and Chris Wondolowski over Juan Agudelo, and Agudelo has more goals in MLS than Bruin and the same amount as Wondolowski.

 

Unlike Bruin and Wondolowski, Agudelo has proven ability on the international level and 17 international caps for the USMNT.

 

Klinsmann can rationalize the inclusion of McInerney because he has a good MLS goal-scoring rate this season, but he can’t justify selecting Bruin and Wondolowski over Agudelo.

 

Agudelo is only 20 years old, and he has already shown more ability to perform on the international level than Wondolowski. Agudelo is better, taller, faster, more active off the ball, and more aggressive than Wondolowski.

 

Klinsmann said that Agudelo needed to be more “consistent” and less “up and down,” in order to make the team and yet he still has more goals than Bruin and the same amount as Wondolowski.

 

There is a definite pattern with Klinsmann’s roster selections, which almost seems to boil down to his selection of players he feels he can get to play a more proactive style rather than selecting the players than already play that way.

 

Klinsmann is quite frankly using many of the same players who have already shown that they don’t have the capacity to play at or close to the same level as the United States’ best regular players like Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley.

 

The United States and really Klinsmann is squandering an opportunity to take a number of players who have demonstrated that they have the skill-set and natural gifts to play soccer well at the international level and begin to incorporate them into the national team set-up so that the U.S. can improve.

 

Using these new but talented players isn’t a bigger risk than using many players who fall short of being able to keep up with the speed and skill of international soccer.

 

WORLD SOCCER SOURCE’S NOTABLE ROSTER OMISSIONS (WHICH ARE LARGELY UNPOPULAR WITH THE AMERICAN SOCCER MEDIA):

Benny FEILHABER

Juan AGUDELO

Chris KLUTE

Kofi SARKODIE

Eric LICHAJ

George JOHN

Andrew FARRELL

Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE

Freddy ADU

Benji JOYA

Terrence BOYD

Perry KITCHEN

Joe GYAU

Brek SHEA

Amobi OKUGO

Tony TAYLOR

 

OFFICIAL US SOCCER ROSTER RELEASE AND QUOTES:

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2013/06/23-player-roster-to-compete-in-2013-gold-cup.aspx

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2013/06/gold-cup-roster-qa.aspx

 

 

How good is Klinsmann’s USMNT XI?

 

Clint Dempsey (left) and Jozy Altidore (right). (Photo: AP)
Clint Dempsey (left) and Jozy Altidore (right). (Photo: AP)

 

For several months, this writer has proposed fielding a United States Men’s National Team XI made up of some of the U-20 players with the best USMNT players, even the ones Klinsmann refuses to use.

 

What would this look like? It would look like Benji Joya, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O’Neill, Caleb Stanko, Mario Rodriguez, José Villarreal, Alonso Hernandez, Juan Agudelo, Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, and even Freddy Adu being given a real shot.

 

The caliber of the passing hasn’t been good enough, and there haven’t been enough shots on goal.

 

So, just how good are Klinsmann’s starting line-ups?

 

Skipping quickly past the goalkeeper position, either Tim Howard or Brad Guzan are proven international and EPL keepers who serve the United States well.

 

Who plays right back? Well, Steve Cherundolo is certainly a seasoned Bundesliga and USMNT veteran who nobody really ever doubted in the past. Now, he’s a little older, and he asked for time off this summer. Additionally, some observers feel as if he’s lost a step.

 

Jonathan Spector is a capable player with strong technical ability, experience, and respectable athleticism for an international player. He’s by no means slow, and he isn’t very old. Spector performed well against Spain and Brazil in the 2009, and that’s something that he can continue to point to for a long time.

 

A bolder choice is tossing DeAndre Yedlin into the deep end with the full USMNT at right back where he gives the United States a modern outside back blessed with speed, attacking inclinations, comfort on the ball, and fairly aggressive defensive tendencies.

 

Yedlin is thought of as primarily an attacking threat, but he has certainly demonstrated an ability to tackle well, force attackers wide, and track down opposing players. The advantage of using Yedlin is that he puts the opposition on its heels when he marauds down the sideline, which breaks the defensive shape of the opposition and sucks opposing players toward the sideline, which frees up Yedlin’s teammates.

 

Who should be the two American center backs is really up for debate, and until all of the relevant parties are allowed to step into the ring, no one is really going to know which American center backs or defensive midfielders can take the center of the American defense to the next level.

 

Are Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler better than Carlos Bocanegra, Clarence Goodson, and Oguchi Onyewu? Definitely yes.

 

Are Gonzalez and Besler better than Jay DeMerit? Probably not.

 

DeMerit was baptized by fire and performed well in two major FIFA tournaments against truly elite attackers. DeMerit didn’t just survive when the famous players were coming at him, he showed that he was an American center back that was too good to be victimized by elite forwards.

 

With that being said, Jürgen Klinsmann owes American fans and himself the opportunity to get to see the list of 10 or so center backs being tossed into the shark tank.

 

Center back is a difficult position primarily because faster and better players are sprinting at center backs while center backs are backpedaling; at any moment, the opposition can play balls through or over center backs or simply decide to dribble past them with a full head of steam.

 

It’s easy to say that center backs are mistake prone or too easily beaten. It’s hard to stop someone sprinting at a center back when the center back has his back to goal.

 

Gonzalez and Besler? Cameron and Gonzalez? Cameron and Besler? Shane O’Neill and Besler? Cameron and Shane O’Neill? George John and Maurice Edu? The list of possibilities goes on as several center backs like Amobi Okugo, Gale Agbossoumonde, Caleb Stanko, and Andrew Farrell (amongst others) weren’t even mentioned in the options above.

 

Taking a look at Agbossoumonde and Farrell together at center back in a friendly would be a very bold move that could prove to bring better skill, defense, and athleticism to the center of the American defense.

 

Should Fabian Johnson play as a left back where he can attack and bring better skill to the left side of the defense?

 

Should a brand new MLS player like Chris Klute be allowed to suit up for a friendly or tested in camp?

 

Should right backs with the ability to play as left backs be used?

 

These are all legitimate questions, which Klinsmann hasn’t posed or tried to answer through testing, with the exception of frequently using Johnson at left back.

 

Despite Klinsmann’s makeshift line-ups, one thing is for certain: the United States Men’s National Team has a better and more athletic pool of players than ever before.

 

Will they get a chance to show what they can do? Will they be giving a fair shot?

 

The front six offers a lot more certainly.

 

Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore are starting as a box-to-box/defensive midfielder, roaming attacking midfielder or second striker, and first striker, respectively; this fact leaves three open spots.

 

Will Trapp isn’t beating Jermaine Jones or Geoff Cameron out for the defensive midfielder spot any time soon, and Perry Kitchen hasn’t even been given the chance to show how well he would do against someone like Brazil, if Jones or Cameron were unavailable.

 

Can Jeremy Hall or Amobi Okugo outperform Maurice Edu? Who knows?

 

The U.S. has other midfield destroyers as well, but no one from Tab Ramos’ U-20 U.S. side (except maybe Stanko in the future) is taking the misunderstood number 6 role, which requires a lot of comfort on the ball, speed, defensive skill, and elegant passing ability.

 

Two spots remain to be discussed, and these two spots have been Jürgen Klinsmann’s clearest display of being a poor tactician.

 

The ability to appreciate creative passing skills in a player who is willing to try passes that might not slip through the defense and the need of the first and second strikers to have a playmaker who is inventive, smooth, instinctual, and a risk taker is a connection that Klinsmann either refuses to try to address or a connection that he refuses to accept.

 

Either way, Klinsmann has been unwilling to even test out the best playmaker options at his disposal and pick one. Klinsmann’s standards for playmakers are high, but he has never proven that his assessment of Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, Freddy Adu, Mix Diskerud, or anyone else is correct. He needs to prove it.

 

He needs to allow a playmaker to play with Cameron/Jones, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore, and he needs to evaluate all of the options at his disposal.

 

With Cameron or Jones playing with Bradley and Dempsey and Donovan combining with Altidore to help him to attack the goal, Klinsmann doesn’t have a good excuse to not try out playmakers who link the more defensive midfielders with Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore.

 

Until he tries it out, he can’t support his tactics. Klinsmann needs to try something. He is entitled to not use his archenemies (Feilhaber and Adu) to whom he has nothing to teach , but he could at least play a line of three attacking midfielders Donovan, Corona, and Dempsey behind Altidore with Cameron and Bradley playing deep.

 

That’s fair.

 

That’s tactically sound.

 

Based on how Benji Joya has played in the U-20 World Cup and in CONCACAF U-20 World Cup qualifying, Joya would be a very useful midfielder to begin to incorporate into the USMNT.

 

Joya brings skill, calm passing, defensive qualities, good athleticism, and intensity. He’s a complete midfielder that offers Bradley, Cameron, Jones, and Dempsey a player who can play at their level and help the team to produce better soccer.

 

Perhaps the best performance ever for the USMNT under Klinsmann was the game against Panama in which Klinsmann had players close to fulfilling the 1 through 11 numbering system: Tim Howard 1, Brad Evans 2, Omar Gonzalez 3, Matt Besler 4, DaMarcus Beasley 5, Geoff Cameron 6, Fabian Johnson 7, Michael Bradley 8, Jozy Altidore 9, Eddie Johnson 9, Clint Dempsey 11. No number 10 or anything close to it.

 

Even Joe Corona, an actual number 10 who proved himself in the Copa Libertadores, was on the bench for several qualifiers before and after the Panama game when the U.S. was passing poorly. Corona’s cameo against Panama was essentially a public insult from Klinsmann that said, “It means nothing to me that you start for a good Liga MX team that went deep into the Copa Libertadores, and I don’t care that you proved yourself twice against Corinthians.”

 

Looking at the starting line-up against Panama, the right back and left back were questionable as legitimate options against better teams. Eddie Johnson was oddly used as a right midfield winger. Clint Dempsey was used as a 10.

 

The reason the line-up worked was because Cameron, Bradley, Fabian Johnson, Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, and Altidore all had the skill-level, playing style, and athleticism to display a higher caliber of passing play despite the rather bizarre formation with a striker like Eddie Johnson as a right winger and Dempsey as a playmaker .

 

The Best 40 American Players (July 2013)

Clint Dempsey, the best American soccer player ever. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Clint Dempsey, the best American soccer player ever. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

THE FOLLOWING PLAYERS ARE RANKED USING THE CRITERIA OF SKILL AND PROVEN ABILITY AT THE INTERNATIONAL OR CLUB LEVEL:

 

“Clint (Dempsey), I think has the most ability.” – Pelé (on who is the best American player)

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2013/06/05/4026451/pele-freddy-adus-career-hasnt-turned-out-the-way-i-expected

 

1. Clint DEMPSEY

2. Michael BRADLEY

3. Jozy ALTIDORE

4. Landon DONOVAN

5. Tim HOWARD

 

6. Benny FEILHABER

7. Geoff CAMERON

8. Jermaine JONES

9. Fabian JOHNSON

10. Freddy ADU

 

11. Steve CHERUNDOLO

12. Joe CORONA

13. Juan AGUDELO

14. Terrence BOYD

15. Brad GUZAN

 

16. Benji JOYA

17. Eddie JOHNSON

18. Stuart HOLDEN

19. Joe GYAU

20. Mix DISKERUD

 

21. Jonathan SPECTOR

22. Luis GIL

23. Brek SHEA

24. Mario RODRIGUEZ

25. Alonso HERNANDEZ

 

26. Tony TAYLOR

27. DeAndre YEDLIN

28. Andrew FARRELL

29. Chris KLUTE

30. Eric LICHAJ

 

31. Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE

32. Perry KITCHEN

33. Daniel CUEVAS

34. Teal BUNBURY

35. Maurice EDU

 

36. George JOHN

37. Kofi SARKODIE

38. Shane O’NEILL

39. Caleb STANKO

40. Matt BESLER

 

**NOTE: HERCULEZ GOMEZ WAS INJURED AT THE TIME THAT THIS LIST WAS MADE.

 

 

 

The State of the USMNT

 

Clint Dempsey will be the best American soccer player for years to come. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Clint Dempsey will be the best American soccer player for years to come. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

 

Starting with the strikers and moving backward towards the goalkeepers, there are lots of pros and cons to what Jürgen Klinsmann is doing.

 

The main thing Klinsmann has done right is that he is close to finding a Starting XI that can play a higher caliber of soccer against top national teams.

 

The main two things he has done wrong are 1.) failing to use a player to connect the midfield to the attack; and 2.) filling the non-starter roster spots with players who haven’t proven they are better than other players the U.S. has at its disposal.

 

There’s no real connection between the improved international play of players like Jozy Altidore, and anything Jürgen Klinsmann is doing as a coach. Klinsmann simply likes to remind Altidore how he was a great German striker and thus entitled to publicly rag on Altidore, as opposed to solving the problem of providing Altidore with more service.

 

Klinsmann has publicly insulted Altidore on multiple occasions (supposedly as some sort of motivational tactic), but the improved service that Altidore received when playing for the United States was the real reason for Altidore’s recently improved scoring rate and combination play with Clint Dempsey.

 

Altidore’s improved skill-level and international performances is a product of steady improvement from childhood until seeing lots of playing time with technical footballers in Holland.

 

Clint Dempsey has been playing for the United States Men’s National Team as a second striker, even if a diagram of the line-up makes him look like a central attacking midfielder, but Dempsey’s performances for the U.S. have always been better when he’s provided with a better supporting cast who can play on his level.

 

Dempsey’s record and highlights speak for themselves, but Dempsey is often the scapegoat when the USMNT plays poorly. Often, Dempsey receives lower ratings from the American soccer media than players who clearly didn’t show as much class and intensity in a particular game. The more players like Michael Bradley who are playing with Dempsey, the more he’ll be able to play off his teammates and shine.

 

Despite the praise Graham Zusi has received from the American soccer media for his World Cup qualifying performances, Zusi looked mostly in over his head against Germany and Belgium. Often a single cross that finds its target in a game largely characterized by just trying to keep up with international competition will garner Zusi praise.

 

Zusi is certainly a technically-sound player with the ability to rely less on a steady stream of crosses and more on higher-caliber passing than he does. Zusi crossed the ball 12 times against Honduras, and while a few of them were well-weighted and elegant, others looked like he was married to crossing the ball. Nevertheless, Zusi has shown the ability to play a better style of passes, but he should play that way more.

 

One of the back ups for Zusi is Joe Corona, and Corona almost seems blackballed by Klinsmann, despite seeing a small number of World Cup qualifying minutes against Panama. Whatever Klinsmann’s rationale is for not using Corona more, even though he continues to call him up to the national team, it makes but little sense.

 

Every soccer fan around the world knows that the one missing element from the U.S. national team now is starting a higher number of technically-skilled players like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Geoff Cameron, Jozy Altidore, and Fabian Johnson. Corona is not only technically-skilled, but he’s creative, experienced, and a starting attacking midfielder in a league that is better than Major League Soccer: La Liga MX.

 

The constant refusal to let Corona play a bigger role is a tough sale for any knowledgeable soccer fan. The United States Men’s National Team is simply not good enough in its current form to exclude players like Corona.

 

Amidst the euphoria of sitting on 13 points in World Cup qualifying, American soccer fans and the American soccer media should be mindful of how easily Germany’s B Team was able to score a flurry of goals in a matter of minutes when it was actually trying. Additionally, Belgium absolutely destroyed the United States in the friendly before Germany.

 

The United States wouldn’t have been outclassed to such an extent by Belgium if a greater number of  better players were used. Without any thought, anyone who has followed the USMNT knows that Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber could have simply been given a uniform for the Belgium game and had no problems performing well without looking in over their heads. The United States might have still lost, but the quality of play would have been better.

 

People can say what they like about Donovan or Feilhaber, but both of them have skill-sets that this current U.S. team is missing.

 

While the United States has a variety of strong pieces in Klinsmann’s recent starting line-ups, there is undoubtedly a better right back, a better right midfielder, and a better playmaker. Klinsmann could simply insert three new starters to start with eight of his current starters and make the USMNT instantly better.

 

The State of the United States Men’s National Team is that eight of Klinsmann’s 11 starters should continue to start: Tim Howard (goalkeeper), Omar Gonzalez (center back), Matt Besler (center back), Fabian Johnson (left back), Michael Bradley (defensive midfielder), Geoff Cameron or Jermaine Jones (defensive midfielder), Clint Dempsey (second striker), and Jozy Altidore (first striker).

 

The United States needs to use new players at right back, at the central attacking midfielder role, and as the right attacking midfielder, and Klinsmann has the players available to him to strengthen these three positions.

 

At right back, Klinsmann has DeAndre Yedlin, Jonathan Spector, Eric Lichaj, and Andrew Farrell. At playmaker, Klinsmann has Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, Benji Joya, and Freddy Adu. And lining up as a right midfielder, Klinsmann has Landon Donovan, any of the players listed at playmaker, Joe Gyau, Brek Shea, or Stuart Holden.

 

The State of the United States Men’s National Team is that it has the players in the pool to shore up its weaknesses, but Klinsmann refuses to use even the internationally-proven ones.

 

The United States is in first place in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, but the line-ups Klinsmann is using don’t have the collective quality to beat stronger national teams. Klinsmann will have to use someone who can provided Dempsey and Altidore with more service, and Klinsmann will also have  to use a right back with more speed than Brad Evans.

 

Not everything that Klinsmann is doing is bad, as Klinsmann is somewhat close to fielding a starting line-up with 10 skilled, dynamic, and athletic field players, but the missing connection between the defensive midfielders and the attack is still a problem.

 

One reality of the USMNT is that Jürgen Klinsmann is using some players who make the United States play below its real ability, and it’s time to see just how good the U.S. really is.

 

The Best 50 American Soccer Players (June 2013)

 

Clint Dempsey will be the best American soccer player for years to come. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Clint Dempsey will be the best American soccer player for years to come. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

 

The Best 50 American Soccer Players (June 2013 Edition)

 

World Soccer Source contends that the list of players included in “The ASN 100” produced by the excellent website, American Soccer Now, displays an unrealistic estimation of the skill-level of many of the players included on their list in comparison to the types of international competition that the United States Men’s National Team faces.

Valuing Major League Soccer statistics over the touch, technique, movement off the ball, athleticism, vision, and fundamentals of players in Major League Soccer or elsewhere can only tell one so much.

Once the United States faces better opponents, players without the technical qualities seen more in better soccer nations will be thoroughly outmatched on the field

American Soccer Now won’t rank players based on their technical ability and their ability to play high-level soccer against strong competition, as is the case with American Soccer Now’s high ranking of Graham Zusi compared to the visibly-superior Joe Corona, who is not only more skilled, but who performs well consistently against better Latin American competition.

While all of the players included on American Soccer Now’s list should be applauded as solid professionals, the overall make-up of ASN’s list places a low premium on technical ability and ranks many of the United States’ best players way too low.

For example, Freddy Adu was ranked 73rd by ASN in last month’s list after being signed by one of the two major Salvador, Brazil clubs, Bahia, in the Brasileirão.

In short, The ASN Top 100 and the people responsible for making it support the use of less-skilled players who don’t put the United States in a position to beat first and second-tier national teams.

 

*THE WORLD SOCCER SOURCE LIST IS NOT A LIST OF THE MOST SKILLED PLAYERS RANKED IN ORDER. THESE RANKINGS ARE BASED ON A COMBINATION OF FACTORS: SKILL, CLUB FORM, PROVEN INTERNATIONAL ABILITY, THE LEAGUE PLAYED IN, AND CURRENT INTERNATIONAL FORM.

 

Caveats:

-Every player, coach, fan, writer, commentator, analyst, etc has a different idea of what “best” means in terms of ranking soccer players.

-Some people want a player’s club or international form at the moment the rankings are done to be the most important factor.

-Other people believe the league played in is the most important indicator of a player’s skill and form.

-And, still other people contend that skill is the most important factor, with the obvious requirement that the player has actually demonstrated skill against real competition.

-Still others try to balance both skill, the league played in, and current form when evaluating players.

-This list attempts to balance skill, current form, and the league played in.

-World Soccer Source advocates actually calling up certain players to the national team over certain players who are ranked higher on this list. For instance, Hercúlez Gómez is ranked higher than both Mario Rodriguez and José Villarreal, but World Soccer Source believes the four USMNT strikers on the roster should be: Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, Mario Rodríguez, and José Villarreal.

 

Zinedine Zidane had this to say about how to determine what “best” really meant:

 

 

 

The Best 50 American Soccer Players (June 2013)

 

1. Clint DEMPSEY (Tottenham)

2. Michael BRADLEY (Roma)

3. Landon DONOVAN (LA Galaxy)

4. Tim HOWARD (Everton)

5. Benny FEILHABER (Sporting Kansas City)

 

6. Jermaine JONES (Schalke)

7. Geoff CAMERON (Stoke City)

8. Fabian JOHNSON (Hoffenheim)

9. Joe CORONA (Tijuana)

10. Freddy ADU (Bahia)

 

11. Steve CHERUNDOLO (Hannover)

12. Juan AGUDELO (New England Revolution)

13. Terrence BOYD (Rapid Wien)

14. Jozy ALTIDORE (AZ Alkmaar)

15. Benji JOYA (Santos Laguna)

 

16. Hérculez GÓMEZ (Santos Laguna)

17. Brad GUZAN (Aston Villa)

18. Jonathan SPECTOR (Birmingham City)

19. Mix DISKERUD (Rosenborg)

20. Brek SHEA (Stoke City)

 

21.  Eric LICHAJ (Contract not renewed by Aston Villa)

22. Omar GONZALEZ (LA Galaxy)

23. Eddie JOHNSON (Seattle Sounders)

24. DeAndre YEDLIN (Seattle Sounders)

25. Edgar CASTILLO (Tijuana)

 

26. Perry KITCHEN (DC United)

27. Joe GYAU (St. Pauli on loan from Hoffenheim) 

28. Mario RODRIGUEZ (FC Kaiserslautern)

29. José VILLARREAL (LA Galaxy)

30. Stuart HOLDEN (Bolton)

 

31. Tony TAYLOR (Released by Estoril Praia)

32. Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE (Toronto FC)

33. Chris KLUTE (Colorado Rapids)

34. Teal BUNBURY (Sporting KC)

35. Kenny COOPER (FC Dallas)

 

36. Sacha KLJESTAN (Anderlecht)

37. George JOHN (FC Dallas) 

38. Andrew FARRELL (New England Revolution)

39. Alonso HERNANDEZ (Monterrey)

40. Daniel CUEVAS (Santos Laguna)

 

41. Shane O’NEILL (Colorado Rapids)

42. Kofi SARKODIE (Houston Dynamo)

43. Lee NGUYEN (New England Revolution)

44. Zach LOYD (FC Dallas)

45. Jeremy HALL (Toronto FC)

 

46. Lamar NEAGLE (Seattle Sounders)

 47. Caleb STANKO (Freiburg)

48. London WOODBERRY (FC Dallas)

49. Junior FLORES (Contracted by Borussia Dortmund)

50. Corey BAIRD 

Real Change for Klinsmann’s USMNT

 

Freddy Adu (Source: Esporte Clube Bahia)
Freddy Adu (Source: Esporte Clube Bahia)

 

Real Change:

After seeing Jürgen Klinsmann add Brad Evans and Corey Ashe (both solid professionals) to the United States Men’s National Team roster, it would appear that there is something terribly wrong with how Jürgen Klinsmann and his assistants are selecting players for national team duty because there are certainly better players than Evans and Ashe available to the USMNT, not to mention the less than stellar roster selected in general.

At this point, Jürgen Klinsmann should poach all of the best players off the Under-20 World Cup roster and the U-23 Olympic qualifying roster and put them on the full United States Men’s National Team.

This would be real change.

Many of the USMNT regulars are excellent international-caliber players who the United States needs, but these top players like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and Geoff Cameron are surrounded by too many players who are well below their skill level.

The United States needs to surround many of its best regular starters with new or younger players, many of whom Klinsmann keeps with the U-23 and U-20 squads.

Americans want to see the United States play better and win, and Americans want the national team to be considered skilled by other countries.

Fielding players who can improve the level of the United States’ play is fairly easy to do, but there’s no guarantee that the changes will instantly or consistently produce victories.

This is how the United States can implement some meaningful changes, and every proposal is followed by a more conservative and already proven option:

-Start DeAndre Yedlin at right back because his combination of technical skill, speed, attacking qualities, and defensive qualities makes him a modern outside back. Yedlin will make mistakes. Accept it. Timothy Chandler makes mistakes too. At least play Jonathan Spector or Eric Lichaj at right back if Timothy Chandler and Steve Cherundolo are unavailable.

-Start Gale Agbossoumonde at center back with Geoff Cameron. Agbossoumonde will make mistakes. Cameron made a mistake in the World Cup qualifier against Honduras, but he’s still a talented and athletic center back and the best American center back. If the USMNT’s coaching staff isn’t ready to use Agbossoumonde, they should at least make sure that both Omar Gonzalez and Geoff Cameron are starting as the center backs instead of using Gonzalez and Matt Besler.

-Start Michael Bradley and Benji Joya as a line of two central midfielders with Joya having total freedom to go wherever he wants on the field. If this option is too bold for the USMNT, then start Stuart Holden next to Michael Bradley.

-Start Joe Corona, Freddy Adu, and Clint Dempsey as a line of three attacking midfielders in front of Michael Bradley and Benji Joya (with the understanding that Joya is not playing as a defensive midfielder). If the USMNT thinks Freddy Adu is still adjusting to playing in Brazil, then certainly a proven player like Benny Feilhaber deserves a start. Klinsmann should at least be willing to start him, especially since Bradley, four defenders, and a goalkeeper will be behind him.

-Start Juan Agudelo at striker now despite Jozy Altidore’s improved technical skill and record-breaking goal total for an American playing in Europe because Juan Agudelo is better and more aggressive than Jozy Altidore. Juan Agudelo will create more scoring chances and score more goals, and Agudelo will draw defenders toward him, which will free up space for other American players to move into. If the USMNT coaching staff thinks Altidore’s form dictates that he starts, then they should make sure to put creative midfielders behind him in the system outlined above.

-In addition to this starting line-up, the United States needs to fill the remaining roster spots with capable players who have the skill and athleticism to play international soccer now despite the elements in the American soccer community who want to see more experience before letting the newer players play.

-Andrew Farrell and Shane O’Neill should be the two back up center backs, or, at the very least; Omar Gonzalez and George John should be the back up center backs if the U.S. starts Agbossoumonde with Cameron.

-Kofi Sarkodie and Chris Klute should be the back-up right and left backs, respectively. If not, then Jonathan Spector and Eric Lichaj should be the back up outside backs, if Yedlin and Fabian Johnson are starting.

-Jermaine Jones and Perry Kitchen should be the additional defensive midfielders on the roster.

-The remaining midfield roster spot should be occupied by Benny Feilhaber.

-Finally, the other three striker spots on the roster should be given to Mario Rodriguez, Terrence Boyd, and José Villarreal.

Note: All of the changes proposed above by and large were followed by “safer” and more conservative options for the USMNT. Even if the bolder options are just that, too bold, then the proven USMNT internationals should be used as opposed to Klinsmann makeshift rosters and starting line-ups.

Embrace and accept risks and know that the U.S. has other quality player options besides those proposed above:

Americans and non-Americans alike can debate about which players should be on the roster, and many of the players above could be replaced by other players who are also worthy of roster spots. The United States’ talent pool now exceeds the amount of roster spots available.

For instance, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Omar Gonzalez, George John, Eddie Johnson, Herculez Gomez, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo, Brek Shea, Mix Diskerud, Joe Gyau, and Caleb Stanko all deserve roster spots.

Even players like Junior Flores and Corey Baird should be players the USMNT’s coaching staff is considering to call into a full national team camp just for the purpose of seeing how far along they are in their development.

Some coach of the United States is going to have to be willing to make the types of changes and bold decisions outlined in the previous section and let the United States play the world’s best national teams straight up.

Merely surviving against top national teams isn’t progress, and nobody around the world cares if the United States runs a lot and just plays good team defense.

Other national team coaches will be impressed with the teamwork and heart, but these same coaches will still see the U.S. is missing the elements to consistently win against top national teams.

Bold decisions aren’t new to the USMNT. Bruce Arena started 20 year olds in the 2002 World Cup.

The United States might lose when it plays new or younger players, but the United States has been barely tying teams or winning under Klinsmann.

With changes, at least the United States will play better and be in the position to win.

People will respect a United States Men’s National Team like the one proposed above, and a team like the one proposed above can win.

The United States already doesn’t beat the world’s best national teams when the other teams are fielding their full strength national teams because Clint Dempsey doesn’t have enough attacking support, and Michael Bradley doesn’t have enough support in the midfield to establish good passing combination play with his teammates.

Tim Howard, Geoff Cameron, Michael Bradley, and Clint Dempsey deserve to have technically-skilled and athletic teammates, even if the new additions are inexperienced in international soccer.

Using a squad like the one proposed above is no different than Bruce Arena starting Landon Donovan against Portugal in the 2002 World Cup, and it’s no different than Bruce Arena starting Clint Dempsey against Italy in the 2006 World Cup because Dempsey had never faced competition like Italy before.

Bruce Arena didn’t start Clint Dempsey in the first game of the 2006 World Cup against the Czech Republic, and the United States was thoroughly dominated.

Players will make mistakes, and there’s no way for a club or national soccer team to eliminate the possibility of mistakes being made by its players, even if world-class and experienced players are used.

Elite and world-class players make mistakes too, some times, big mistakes.

Proposed 23-Man USMNT Roster: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Luis Robles; Geoff Cameron, Gale Agbossoumonde, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill; DeAndre Yedlin, Kofi Sarkodie, Fabian Johnson, Chris Klute; Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Perry Kitchen; Clint Dempsey, Joe Corona, Benji Joya, Benny Feilhaber, Freddy Adu; Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, Mario Rodríguez, José Villarreal.

 

Proposed Starting XI: Tim Howard; DeAndre Yedlin, Gale Agbossoumonde, Geoff Cameron, Fabian Johnson; Michael Bradley, Benji Joya; Joe Corona, Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey; Juan Agudelo.

 

Is Jürgen Klinsmann a coaching improvement for the USMNT?

 

 

Jürgen Klinsmann. © Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images
Jürgen Klinsmann. © Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images

 

Is Jürgen Klinsmann a coaching improvement for the United States Men’s National Team?

 

Despite being a legendary German striker and a certified soccer great, the answer to that question is, “No.”

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Major Omissions from the May/June USMNT Roster

 

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© Colin Reese

 

The United States cannot afford to leave players of Juan Agudelo's ability off their roster. © Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images
The United States cannot afford to leave players of Juan Agudelo’s ability off its roster. © Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images

 

Jürgen Klinsmann omitted a shocking amount of proven and talented players from the May/June United States Men’s National Team roster. Whether it was outside backs, center backs, or attacking players, Klinsmann’s newest roster ignores major weaknesses with the USMNT.

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Obvious Problems with the May/June USMNT Roster

 

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© Colin Reese

Time for Jürgen Klinsmann to return to formula that works. © Martin Meissner / AP Photo/
Time for Jürgen Klinsmann to return to a formula that works. © Martin Meissner / AP Photo/

 

The United States Men’s National Team roster selected to participate in two friendlies (Belgium and Germany) and three World Cup qualifying games (Jamaica, Panama, Honduras) contains several solid, international-caliber selections, but the roster also fails to correct weaknesses in the balance and technical ability of previous rosters.

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