Clint Dempsey is the best American soccer player ever, even better than Landon Donovan, but Dempsey’s skill and career remain underrated.
The Texan has displayed a level of advanced technical ability and creativity that no other American soccer player has ever displayed. American soccer still hasn’t produced many players who can smoothly execute individual skill against elite opponents in a game setting.
Even at 33 years old, Dempsey’s skill level, speed, and fitness suggest that he might still be in his prime.
Many observers still view Dempsey as inferior to Landon Donovan in skill and accomplishments on the field, and that’s unfair. Dempsey is often praised for his toughness and will to win, and while these are indeed great qualities of his, they neglect to mention his skill, creativity, consistency, and effectiveness. At his core, Dempsey is a player whose play is based on technical skill with the ball and the ability to display above average technical qualities against top competition.
While many of the American soccer players are essentially just hustle players and mentally strong players, Dempsey has always displayed a comfort and mastery with the ball that American players have normally lacked compared to players in Europe and Latin America. He has also showed more hustle and more mental toughness than his American counterparts.
The real gap between American soccer players and their better counterparts in Europe and Latin America is the absence of the first touch and overall ball skills to play smoother and faster.
With these real gaps between American soccer and the better varieties in mind, it puts Dempsey’s accomplishments and abilities in the right perspective. Consistently displaying refined and advanced technical ability along with a real talent at avoiding injuries is a real achievement.
There have been multiple interviews about Dempsey’s childhood and hard road to becoming a professional soccer player in the United States and in the United Kingdom, but a strong argument can be made that Dempsey really is underrated and underappreciated by American fans and journalists. Fans and journalists outside of the United States sometimes scoff at Dempsey for being good by not quite elite, but their standard is essentially a logical fallacy where unless Dempsey is a top player for one of only a few elite European clubs, then he is just mediocre in those critics’ eyes.
By any standard, Dempsey is a creative and technically-skilled attacking player who can dribble, pass, and score against top competition, and he’s displayed a facility at playing with both feet and scoring with his head. Elite club teams and national teams were never able to intimidate and psych out Dempsey as he routinely showed them zero respect.
Returning to the Donovan comparison, even the biggest Donovan homer must admit that Dempsey has a better club playing resume where he played in a better league (the EPL) against better competition. He also has an almost identical goal-scoring rate and tally as Donovan at the international level, and Dempsey can’t be accused of ever playing small or being bullied by opposing players and teams.
When Dempsey retires in several years, he deserves to be recognized as not only the most accomplished American soccer player ever but also the most talented and technical player. American soccer has seen Donovan or Tab Ramos, but neither of them displayed the level of technical skill and creativity that Dempsey not only showcased but showcased consistently for over a decade.
What really made Dempsey a pioneer for American soccer was how everyone could see that this player represented a new level of skill with the ball for American players. Dempsey proved that American players could be creative, technical, and effective even against world-class competition. That’s what Dempsey gave American soccer fans and players: the proof that Americans could be players that people in other countries recognized as truly skilled.
In the video included with this post is an interview that Clint Dempsey did with Colin Cowherd, and it’s perhaps the most illuminating Dempsey interview as Dempsey normally doesn’t say too much in his interviews.
Who Should Start for the USMNT in the Copa America?
Jürgen Klinsmann’s starting lineups continue to lack continuity, and there is always the feeling that one or two players are out of position. But, the squad has the personnel to field a balanced and talented lineup. There isn’t a lot of creativity or goal-scoring ability, but there aren’t likely to be any players who look at sea against Latin American competition.
Goalkeeper
Brad Guzan has been backed as the starting goalkeeper for the United States, and there is no reason to doubt him. Perhaps Tim Howard is better, but Guzan has never really been allowed to settle into the role and make it his own. Commentators and fans seem to always be looking to be able to say that any mistake Guzan made, Howard wouldn’t have made. We’ll see, but Guzan is a proven EPL goalkeeper that almost any national team would be proud to have.
Fullbacks
DeAndre Yedlin and Fabian Johnson are the best choices for the right back and left back positions. Yedlin has vastly improved his defending in regards to his marking, tackling, and physicality, and Johnson is a skilled left back who plays better as a wing in the midfield or attack. Johnson is a more skilled and technical player than Yedlin, but Johnson sometimes doesn’t track back on defense well enough.
Center Backs
In the center of the defense, Geoff Cameron and John Brooks are likely the best options at center back. An argument can be made that Cameron could better serve the national team as a defensive midfielder to let Bradley have more freedom to go forward, but Bradley is an excellent defensive midfielder who excels at not only defending but passing from the back of the midfield. This allows Jermaine Jones the license to attack.
Midfielders
A three-man midfield of Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, and Darlington Nagbe is a strong option for the United States. Bradley can play the role of the defensive midfielder who plays in front of the defense, and this frees up both Jones and Nagbe to go forward and feed Clint Dempsey, Christian Pulisic, and Bobby Wood.
Forwards/Attackers
In the attack, Christian Pulisic, Bobby Wood, and Clint Dempsey form the best trio. Pulisic and Dempsey are “wings” on paper, but really their role is more as playmakers and goalscorers in their own right. Both can float out wide or play more centrally, and likewise Wood isn’t a stereotypical center forward. Nevertheless, Wood is a center forward. Just because he drops deep, drifts out wide, and looks to play final balls doesn’t mean that he isn’t a center forward. The belief of the Number 9 as only a big bruiser of a center forward playing with his back to goal and mostly looking to score headers is a fairly Stone Age concept of the center forward position. Wood can score with either foot, and he can stretch the defense and get behind them. Speed kills, and Wood is certainly fast and skilled.
Clint Dempsey
The belief that Dempsey has lost a step of lacks the stamina to run for 90 minutes lacks much proof. Dempsey’s play and fitness don’t suggest that he is slowing down or should be a bench player. The view that the United States somehow don’t need Dempsey starting is a vast overestimation of the technical ability of the United States’ other players.
Dempsey still stands apart from all other American soccer players in terms of technical ability and creativity. Even Nagbe so far has looked to be largely one-footed despite all of his many great attributes. Pulisic is an excellent young player that has proven his abilities in the Bundesliga, but he isn’t at Dempsey’s level yet, as Dempsey has the skill, mentality, and physicality to excel against world-class competition. The United States would be best served by Pulisic and Dempsey playing together.
Importance of the Midfield
Much of the success of this team will be dependent on the midfield, which is the same situation where any team finds itself. An American midfield of Bradley, Jones, and Nagbe is full of running, ball-winning ability, and technical skill, and if those three don’t offer enough defensive coverage then the United States has major problems.
Those three offer almost an excessive tendency toward the defensive, but all three are two-way threats. Jones, Bradley, and Nagbe is two holding midfielders and an attacking midfielder, and that is a tried and true midfield formula.
For example, Argentina will likely be starting Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, and Javier Pastore which is two defensive midfielders and an attacking midfielder.
My USA XI: Guzan; Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, Johnson; Jones, Bradley, Nagbe; Pulisic, Wood, Dempsey.
This column isn’t about Landon Donovan and whether he lived up to his potential. This column is about the supremacy of Clint Dempsey in American soccer history.
Of all the American soccer players, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley have the best club resumes – because compared to other American soccer players – these two had the most success against high-level competition. Bradley has more impressive club names on his resume – like Roma – but Dempsey displayed the most skill and success consistently over time.
Dempsey showcased a level of technical skill and the ability to compete and be successful against quality European club competition that no other American really showed. Although Dempsey played for a small EPL club in Fulham – as well as Tottenham Hotspur – he still was consistently an effective and skillful midfielder and forward for seven years in the EPL.
On the international level, Dempsey showed an ability to always perform well regardless of the competition or the importance of the game. By scoring in three consecutive World Cups, Dempsey proved himself to be a consistently good player that didn’t just enjoy a few moments of success.
The Texan has been a complete player for all of his professional career. Dempsey combined skill with toughness and athleticism, and this allowed him to not be outclassed with skill or bullied with physicality and tackling. Whether defenders came at Dempsey with some roughness or with skill, Dempsey had the skill-set and tools to be effective. Other Americans have also been effective, but Dempsey was really the first to showcase impressive skill and technique even against elite competition. He didn’t just standout technically against weak opponents, but he was also a technical and skillful player when he faced off against elite defenders.
One of the problems for Dempsey’s reputation and fame has been that he has been dismissed as sort of mediocre in comparison to the world-class talents, but not being as talented as the handful of elite attacking players at the current moment doesn’t mean that Dempsey wasn’t a skillful and accomplished player on the club and international level. Another problem for Dempsey’s reputation is that he’s often described as just a tough or gutsy player without any mention of his fantastic skill with the ball.
By playing for a small EPL club for so long, many critics dismiss Dempsey’s accomplishments as not being with a top EPL club, so therefore his accomplishments are considered equal to Donovan’s MLS accomplishments; but, this is a flawed mentality and argument. When Dempsey was excelling in the EPL consistently, he was competing against top EPL clubs all the time, so his success was against better talent that Donovan faced. Landon Donovan was a great American player, but let’s not say that Donovan’s accomplishments compare to Dempsey’s against better competition on a bigger stage.
Both players are excellent players with perhaps the same level of actual ability, but Dempsey was playing against better competition in a better league. As Dempsey gets closer and closer to breaking Donovan’s international goal record with the United States (Donovan 57 goals, Dempsey 49 goals), it will be harder to keep insisting that Donovan was a better player than Dempsey.
More so than just a player that was good enough and athletic enough to be successful at the higher levels of soccer, Dempsey was and still is a creative and technical player that showcased a mastery of the ball with both feet, and it is this visual display of skill in real games that makes him the best American player ever.
The U.S. Men’s National Team’s lineup needs an overhaul immediately.
It’s unlikely that Jürgen Klinsmann will admit to unjustly snubbing players from his rosters or picking misguided starting lineups, but he is certainly capable of taking corrective action without admitting to doing so.
You have to assume that an ex-player of Klinsmann’s pedigree can easily look at the American player pool and say, “I need to simplify my lineup and play a three-man midfield with a center midfielder, a defensive midfielder, and an attacking midfielder, plus I need a Front Three with outside forwards on the right and left off a center forward.”
The problem with Klinsmann is that for some reason he thinks reinventing the wheel is just what the doctor ordered for American soccer.
Klinsmann probably holds American soccer in too low esteem.
Instead of just thinking that the United States doesn’t have enough players of Clint Dempsey’s level, Klinsmann thinks that the good players are just awful. The quality players are dismissed as not as good as elite world soccer stars, so therefore they have zero value for Klinsmann. Nothing else explains the exclusion of players like Benny Feilhaber, Maurice Edu, or Eric Lichaj.
The main problem with the U.S. National Team is a lack of a logical lineup made up of players deployed in their natural positions.
The United States is way below soccer’s giants in terms of the overall technical ability of the squad, but the United States does have international class players for every position.
Let us look over a possible lineup briefly to explore just how simple it is to form a capable, cohesive group.
The defense. There is no reason that Eric Lichaj, Maurice Edu, Geoff Cameron, and Fabian Johnson cannot perform well as the American Back Four. All of those players are being deployed in a position where they have tons of experience, and all of these players are both technically and defensively up to snuff and athletically impressive.
Edu and Cameron have experience together in the center of the defense, and both Lichaj and Johnson know their responsibilities as outside backs very well.
One of the biggest problems with the American midfield is Michael Bradley being forced to play as an attacking midfielder instead of as a defensive midfielder where he is world-class.
Bradley should anchor the midfield with Benny Feilhaber playing as a center midfielder where he has been playing in MLS for several seasons. Feilhaber, known for his creativity and attacking play, is now a much more industrious player, and he and Bradley can provide plenty of defending in the midfield.
The third player I would add to the midfield is Sebastian Lletget, who has done more than enough to prove himself for international play. Lletget is an exciting and creative attacking player that is more than happy to run non-stop and defend when the United States loses possession. Lletget also has a knack for scoring goals and setting them up.
Starting Lletget, Bradley, and Feilhaber in the midfield would be an enormous upgrade for the United States.
As for an attacking trident, Ethan Finlay, Juan Agudelo, and Clint Dempsey from right to left immediately come to mind. Finlay has been excellent in MLS assisting goals and scoring them, and he has tons of speed and skill to use attacking down the wing. Finlay is versatile enough to cut inside and also switch places with Dempsey and Agudelo in a fluid attack.
Why Agudelo hasn’t been a reference point for the team’s attack since he has been back in MLS after work visa limbo in England and Europe is a mystery, especially since Agudelo is a more dangerous and effective center forward than Jozy Altidore.
An attack with these three would also be a major upgrade for the United States compared to past incarnations.
With Brad Guzan in goal, the lineup proposed above is entirely made up of skilled and athletic players deployed in their natural positions.
There is no reason that the United States cannot start a lineup similar to this in the next two friendlies before the competitive match with Mexico for the 2017 Confederations Cup spot.
It’s unclear what the reason is for Klinsmann’s refusal to form anything resembling a logical or effective lineup, and it’s unclear why Sunil Gulati has made it clear that it doesn’t matter how Klinsmann performs as coach of the National Team.
Both Gulati and Klinsmann have to know that the media and fan base are not satisfied with the direction of the National Team, and if the same type of puzzling and bizarre lineups are used against Peru and Brazil, both men will likely witness a new level of criticism and complaints.
No one knows who Jürgen Klinsmann will start in the 2015 Gold Cup semifinal against Jamaica. Not even Klinsmann himself knows this. No point in guessing.
What about who should start and why? That’s easier to discuss.
Up to this point, Klinsmann has frequently forced Gyasi Zardes to play as a midfielder, and Alejandro Bedoya even played some 20 plus minutes at left back.
Let’s start with the center of the defense. Omar Gonzalez and Ventura Alvarado started together the last game and went the full 90, so starting them again makes sense for chemistry and consistency reasons.
Alvarado with John Brooks in the center of the defense gives the National Team more speed, but why throw the defensive chemistry into flux again?
Fabian Johnson has done well at left back, and starting DeAndre Yedlin at right back – his real position – gives the American defense more speed to chase down Jamaican attackers on the left side of Jamaica’s attack.
Yedlin is better than Timothy Chandler at chasing down and tackling attackers, so why continue to use Yedlin in the attack when the United States has Gyasi Zardes and Aron Jóhannsson to occupy the center to right side of the American attack?
In the midfield, Kyle Beckerman is a solid option anchoring the midfield as the defensive midfielder, but playing a three-man midfield of Mix Diskerud, Michael Bradley, and Joe Corona makes more sense. This gives the United States more skill, creativity, and possession, and Bradley can anchor the midfield in this tactical scheme.
Diskerud is not only a creative player that sets up goals and gets close to and into the penalty box to score them, but he’s also a center midfielder with a great engine and strong defensive skills. Corona is underrated in this area as well.
With Bradley and Diskerud carrying most of the burden of winning back possession in the midfield with Corona chipping in, as he did against Cuba in the second half of the previous game, the United States should have a nice balance of ball-recovery and possession.
This midfield isn’t perhaps up to the standards needed for a stronger opponent, but the United States could very well lose to Jamaica, so it’s important to give the midfield the pieces needed to keep possession and create goals.
It’s important to note that Alejandro Bedoya deserves to start in place of Corona or Diskerud, and most observers would say that he should.
Diskerud played well against the Netherlands and Germany before the World Cup, so it’s hard to say that his abilities wouldn’t be beneficial to the squad despite being relegated to the bench in recent games.
The USMNT would be wise to use a fluid attacking set-up against Jamaica to get Aron Johannsson, Gyasi Zardes, and Clint Dempsey all into the lineup, so an attacking trident would be a good option. Zardes has really been playing as a third forward anyway, and he is the ideal player to lead the line with Dempsey and Jóhannsson floating around him.
Below is the lineup discussed above, and it’s not the lineup the USMNT will likely use:
Clint Dempsey continues to demonstrate how special of an American soccer player he is. Landon Legend isn’t the only American soccer legend.
Along with Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, Dempsey’s abilities are on a different level than other American players.
Dempsey totally distinguished himself from all of his American peers except for Donovan as soon as he became a professional. His skill on the ball with his first touch and trickery were new for an American.
American soccer has been known for fitness and toughness without much technical skill, but Dempsey combined fitness and toughness with skill soccer.
Like Dempsey and Bradley, Donovan was an excellent two-footed player, but Dempsey has shown a level of fast footwork that has shown that Americans can use this sort of skill to be effective against elite competition.
Several other American players experienced success in the top European soccer leagues, but it was Dempsey that consistently performed and started in an attacking role in a major European league.
American soccer players not only owe Donovan a huge thank you for raising the bar on American soccer standards, but they equally owe Dempsey a thank you for his consistently good attacking performances for years at the club and international level.
Recently, there has been discussion of phasing Dempsey out of the National Team, but every time he plays for the United States, he showcases a level of skill and quick attacking play that the United States is hoping to see from all of its attacking players.
Dempsey is closing in on Donovan’s international scoring record for the United States, and it’s clear that Dempsey isn’t fully-appreciated by the American media and fans.
Before you support the phasing out of Dempsey, remind yourself that there is still no replacement for him and matching his achievements will be a big task for the next best American soccer player.
While Donovan is widely-considered the best American soccer player of all time, Dempsey is equally as good, if not better.
For his attacking skill, his success in Europe, his longevity, his heart, his toughness, his ability to score, and his trailblazing role for American soccer players, Dempsey has rightly earned the right to be called the best American soccer player alongside Donovan.
When Dempsey retires, don’t forget Dempsey’s achievements or the way that he played. There are no stats to describe Dempsey’s contributions to American soccer.
Clint Dempsey, Giant Killer . (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The United States Men’s National Team is close to becoming a Giant Killer.
Granted, there is a big talent gap between the technical ability of the United States as a collective unit, but someone like Clint Dempsey is a world-class soccer player, even if someone like Robinho is much better.
Furthermore, a defensive or box-to-box midfielder like Michael Bradley isn’t anywhere close to Paul Pogba in terms of skill or athleticism, but that certainly doesn’t take anything away from Bradley’s qualities and physical gifts.
For the United States to become a Giant Killer, the entire Starting XI needs to be players who are close to or equal to Dempsey’s and Bradley’s level.
The key is a team comprised of technically-skilled and athletic players who have different and complimentary skills that allow them to play their own natural positions better than other American players.
There has been real progress in American soccer, and even if Jürgen Klinsmann isn’t using the best outside backs at his disposal and even if he doesn’t seem to be entirely convinced that he needs to start a playmaker, the talent and athleticism is there in the core group of United States internationals.
To be fair, it was already there when Bob Bradley was coach because Tim Howard, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore were all regulars during his tenure.
The good news is that Bradley and Altidore are drastically better than they used to be, and Bradley was somewhat close to being a finished product before Klinsmann took the reins as coach of the United States.
Altidore is really the player who has seen an enormous improvement in his technical ability, his smoothness on the ball, his finishing, and the aggression with which he attacks the goal, but the reason for these improvement was his time spent in Dutch football.
On the other hand, Dempsey is a player who has just progressively become better over time, but Dempsey’s skill-level and his ability to excel against top competition was already excellent when he first started playing for the United States and before he went to play in the English Premier League.
Of all the core group of strong U.S. internationals, Donovan has been around the longest, and players like Bradley and Dempsey provided skills and qualities that he didn’t have or they served as needed support. Dempsey and Donovan play the same position, and they can just be started together on opposite sides of the field and allowed to roam free.
Looking really closely at Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore, what one sees is a defensive midfielder, two attacking midfielders who aren’t playmakers but who can score, and finally a first striker who combines athleticism with size and technical ability.
These four players along with Tim Howard give the United States half of a Starting XI minus the Back Four and a playmaker, and the role of playmaker has a front-runner: Benny Feilhaber, a proven and experienced central attacking midfielder.
Giant Killing is the next step for the United States.
Jürgen Klinsmann needs to start Bradley as a defensive midfielder behind Donovan, Feilhaber, and Dempsey as a line of three attacking midfielders with Altidore as the first striker.
If Klinsmann does that, which he hasn’t done, then he simply needs to find four quality defenders and either a second defensive midfielder or an additional center forward or a second striker, the latter of which can play off Altidore as a sort of secondary playmaker to compliment Feilhaber.
Once Klinsmann fields something like the Starting XI proposed in the paragraph above, then the United States Men’s National Team is inching closer to becoming a Giant Killer.
There are probably very few people in the American soccer media or in the American fan base who would strongly doubt the logic of starting Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore together, especially if Geoff Cameron was inserted into the Front Six to be the midfield destroyer in place of Jermaine Jones so that Bradley had more license to go forward and attack.
Although Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the like would be better in terms of collective team skill, starting Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore together is certainly a competitive and legit Front Six that national teams would take seriously.
The Front Six proposed is strong because it has a more stay-at-home defensive midfielder or midfield destroyer, a defensive midfielder with more licence to attack, a playmaker flanked by free-roaming attacking midfielders who can score, and a first striker that has the skill and speed to stretch the opposition’s defense. The Front Six is also all players who can keep possession by playing one-to-two touch soccer with purpose.
Despite the skill of the Front Six, the weak area is thus the American defense because no matter how well that American Front Six does, what happens when really first-rate midfielders and attackers terrorize the American Back Four?
This is the true impediment to American success because Tim Howard or Brad Guzan can only make so many game-saving saves before top national teams or second-tier national teams eventually find the back of the net. Howard and Guzan cannot be expected to stop every shot off the feet or head of elite players.
Klinsmann has Brad Evans, Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, and DaMarcus Beasley as his preferred Back Four, but questioning their ability to stop the type of competition in the World Cup is a fair question, and it is a question that needs to be taken seriously.
Many people have placed too much trust in the ability of those four defenders (two of which aren’t defenders) to stop elite attackers or even merely international-caliber attackers, and this mentality could doom the United States in the World Cup.
American soccer and the United States Men’s National Team has improved, although not really because of Klinsmann, but the American defense is a problem and a matter of concern.
There are two solutions to the problems with the USMNT’s Back Four: 1.) Start a more proven Back Four such as Jonathan Spector, Michael Orozco, John Anthony Brooks, and Eric Lichaj; or 2) Start a Back Four made up of DeAndre Yedlin, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, and Chris Klute.
Of course, the obvious third solution is some combination of the more-proven defenders with the newer MLS defenders.
Plenty of people will contend that the young MLS defenders are unproven and inexperienced, but at least they are defenders that are both skilled and athletic. Their youth or their lack of international inexperience doesn’t change the fact that they have the skill and the athleticism to compete at the international level, and their youth and inexperienced shouldn’t be used against them.
How long until the U.S lets the better defenders play?
The real question is not which players Klinsmann prefers, but rather who are the best American players at each position?
Given the amount of teams in the 2014 World Cup that are frankly much better than the current preferred Klinsmann starting line-up, the United States would be wise to start the Front Six advocated in this article and use a new Back Four that has the ability to compete with the types of players who will be in this World Cup.
The United States won’t be a Giant Killer in this World Cup if Klinsmann’s makeshift defenses are used or if no playmaker is used.
These two things need to change because starting Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, Feilhaber, Dempsey, and Altidore as the Front Six at the very least makes for a competitive group of players with the skill and the athleticism to do well in the 2014 World Cup.
No one will know how good the United States Men’s National Team really is until Klinsmann fields the best American players at the same time in a balanced formation that tactically makes sense.
Brad Evans, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, DaMarcus Beasley, Graham Zusi, and Brad Davis are solid MLS players, but they are not Giant Killers.
They really aren’t as good as other American options such as DeAndre Yedlin, Andrew Farrell, Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud.
Many of Jürgen Klinsmann’s first-choice starters hold players like Cameron, Bradley, Dempsey, Feilhaber, Donovan, and Altidore back, and this needs to change.
Landon Donovan (10) and Clint Dempsey (8). (Photo: MexSport)
Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey Are Not Playmakers
Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan are excellent attacking midfielders or second strikers, but they aren’t playmakers.
The best way to get the most out of both Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey is to start them as the right and left attacking midfielders with a true playmaker in between them.
Joe Corona won over a lot of American fans and members of the American soccer media with his play in the 2013 Gold Cup, but Corona had already proven himself way before the Gold Cup, particularly with his play against Corinthians in the Copa Libertadores.
With the coaching change at Corona’s club, Tijuana, Corona has found himself in the doghouse struggling to get club minutes, but for the purposes of the United States Men’s National Team, this shouldn’t matter given his skill-set as a playmaker who can also play on the right or left side of the field.
Mix Diskerud has also begun to win more plaudits due to his playmaking abilities and his clear ability to perform well against strong competition. Recently, Diskerud has reminded people of how Donovan and Dempsey aren’t playmakers and that they somewhat lack the true traits of a playmaker or central attacking midfielder.
Then, there is Benny Feilhaber. It’s unfortunate that after a season of quality passing and good form (not to mention his international record with the United States) that Feilhaber has only been praised or even discussed by the media or the majority of the American fan base after several excellent playoff games for Sporting Kansas City.
Furthermore, many of the people who praised Feilhaber after writing him off for so long seem to have been more interested in the amount of running he put into the second leg of the MLS Cup Semifinal against the Houston Dynamo than his technical ability, passing skills, and vision.
In short, Feilhaber garnered praise recently mostly by running a lot, and for Klinsmann’s entire tenure as coach, there has never been much support for using Feilhaber as a central attacking midfielder between Donovan and Dempsey.
The United States Men’s National Team has seen the most success when Michael Bradley was used as a defensive midfielder and when Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey flanked Benny Feilhaber who was used in the center to orchestrate the passing of the United States and create more scoring opportunities.
Given Freddy Adu’s almost total lack of playing time with Bahia, Adu has been scoffed at by Americans and non-Americans alike, but there’s never been much to suggest that the United States has the collective technical ability as a team to mock or freeze out skilled playmakers who haven’t lived up to people’s expectations or even seen a reasonable amount of club minutes.
When the 2014 World Cup comes around, the only thing that will matter is if the players that are started or used by Jürgen Klinsmann are physically fit to play and if they have the skill level to compete at the international level.
Feilhaber, Diskerud, Corona, and Adu are all skilled players with various club situations and form, and each player is different. The USMNT’s World Cup roster will probably need two or three of those players on the roster as they can all play left, right, or center, and they all bring playmaking qualities that Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan don’t bring.
With strikers like Jozy Altidore, Aron Jóhannsson, and Juan Agudelo in the American player pool, using a playmaker behind Altidore and in between Donovan and Dempsey with Michael Bradley and Geoff Cameron or Jermaine Jones in front of the Back Four is a strong tactical set-up to give the USMNT a balanced and talented Front Six that can compete in a World Cup.
Whether one prefers Feilhaber, Diskerud, Corona, or Adu playing as a central attacking midfielder, the United States really does need one of them to connect the defensive midfielders to Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore. The playmaker will strengthen the passing and the attack of the United States, and it’s time for more people to accept that the use of one is vital to World Cup success and American soccer progress.
With the 2014 World Cup coming up next summer, at the very least Jürgen Klinsmann and Americans should support starting Geoff Cameron and Michael Bradley as a two-man defensive midfield where Cameron hangs back more than Bradley, and Americans should support playing a true playmaker in between Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey behind Jozy Altidore.
This set-up gives the United States defensive coverage and quality passing deep in the American midfield, and it gives the United States three attacking midfielders including a playmaker who can not only pass and attack well but who can ensure that Altidore receives enough service.
The key to this set-up is making a point of starting a true playmaker because no one has any major doubts about the efficacy of Cameron, Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore, even if observers have their own Starting XI preferences.
While the American defense has been a problem for the United States Men’s National Team, the midfield has also been an enormous problem because the U.S. hasn’t showcased quality passing and combination play at a level that’s good enough for a deep World Cup run.
Setting the defense to the side for the moment, the American midfield is something that can be examined with some basic math.
Normally, a World Cup roster would have eight or perhaps nine midfielders, with three or four of those players being defensive midfielders. If one accepts that Bradley, Jones, Donovan, Diskerud, and Dempsey should all be on the USMNT roster, then three midfield spots are open.
Any honest evaluation of the United States Men’s National Team’s player pool in the midfield reveals Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey to be players that are probably just too talented and way too capable of playing well against strong competition to leave off the roster.
Therefore, if one looks to add another defensive midfielder to that list, a player like Kyle Beckerman is too big of a liability from an athletic standpoint to put on a World Cup roster.
Beckerman isn’t just a player who isn’t quite quick enough or fast enough to put on a World Cup roster, but he is a player that is totally overmatched in terms of speed, quickness, and agility to really compete outside of MLS and CONCACAF.
Given this reality, the United States needs an additional defensive midfielder on the roster, and the only options are Maurice Edu, Amobi Okugo, Ricardo Clark, Perry Kitchen, Jared Jeffrey, Will Trapp, or Jeremy Hall.
Of course, Geoff Cameron, who has been listed as a defender, can play the midfield destroyer probably better than any American except Bradley, and Cameron has the defensive skills, the technical ability, and the athleticism to perform at the World Cup.
Additionally, another option would be to list Shane O’Neill as a midfielder, in which case he could play as a defensive midfielder, as a center back, or as an outside back.
O’Neill is probably a better defensive midfielder than all of the options listed above with the exception of Cameron, but selecting Beckerman to represent the United States in a World Cup would be a very unrealistic expectation of his ability to really keep up with the speed of international play.
With this information in mind, selecting Shane O’Neill to be the third defensive midfielder along with Bradley and Jones would likely be the wisest course of action, even if many people view it as a risky or crazy selection. O’Neill proved his worth not only in MLS but also for Tab Ramos’s U-20 side.
Turning to the attacking midfielders, by selecting Dempsey and Donovan, the United States is left with two to three roster spots for attacking midfielders, and Mix Diskerud, Joe Corona, and Benny Feilhaber stand out as players who have clearly shown that they have the tools to play at the international level with players like Bradley, Dempsey, and Donovan.
Whether one looks at Brad Davis, Graham Zusi, or Alejandro Bedoya, any realistic examination of the touch, vision, passing ability, and general playing style and technical ability reveals them to be quite a few levels below Diskerud, Corona, and Feilhaber in terms of their ability to receive and release the ball quickly enough to not be overrun by better national teams.
Based on the number of roster spots in the midfield, by selecting Bradley, Jones, O’Neill, Dempsey, Donovan, Feilhaber, Corona, and Diskerud, the USMNT has eight players who fulfill needed roles.
Players like Bradley, Jones, and O’Neill provide defensive coverage in the midfield and serve as passing outlets for the defenders, and they also are key elements to the midfielders’ ability to pass well and keep possession.
With these players providing quality defending and excellent technical ability directly in front of the defense, the need is then to have attacking midfielders who can foster quality passing that leads to possession and the creation of goal-scoring opportunities.
Dempsey, Donovan, and Corona are all attacking midfielders who can play centrally, out right, or out left, but Donovan and Dempsey are really better suited to line up out wide with lots of freedom to roam or as second strikers with the same freedom.
On the other hand, Corona is also a true playmaker like Diskerud and Feilhaber, and the inclusion of Dempsey, Donovan, Corona, Diskerud, and Feilhaber on the roster gives the USMNT many line-up options in the midfield in front of the defensive midfielders.
Even Feilhaber and Diskerud are capable of playing on the right or on the left because their style of play is predicated on showing for the ball and moving into space wherever they are needed.
Any brand of soccer based on confining attacking midfielders to a specific side of the attacking half or the attacking third eliminates any fluidity or quality to the passing play of the team.
Diskerud, Corona, and Feilhaber are players who allow the United States to field a Front Six where players with excellent technical ability, creativity, and agility can play in front of defensive midfielders like Jones and Bradley who provide a combination of defensive ability, running endurance, and passing ability that the attacking midfielders don’t have.
When it comes time to select midfielders for the USMNT’s World Cup roster, players like O’Neill, Diskerud, Corona, and Feilhaber are needed both as support and as substitutes for players like Bradley, Jones, Dempsey, and Donovan.
Diskerud’s international play in recent months seems to have convinced the American soccer media and the American fan base of his importance as a playmaker, and the play of Feilhaber and Corona for club and country greatly overshadows anything Brad Davis, Graham Zusi, or Alejandro Bedoya have ever done.
Stuart Holden showed just how important a complete midfielder can be for the United States, and young or not, Benji Joya is the only other midfielder in the American player pool who brings Holden’s combination of attacking and defending to the midfield.
While Michael Bradley is often described as a box-to-box midfielder, his attacking ability and creativity aren’t on par with Holden’s or Joya’s, and this is why Joya would be an inspired and needed selection for the 2014 World Cup.
Like it or not, there’s no room for Zusi, Davis, Bedoya, or Kljestan on the USMNT’s World Cup roster because they can’t outplay Diskerud, Corona, Feilhaber, Joya, and O’Neill.
Jozy Altidore, Aron Jóhannsson, and Juan Agudelo will need attacking midfielders and playmakers who can provide them with the service they need to score in the World Cup, and the likes of Davis, Zusi, and Bedoya just don’t match up to the U.S.’ better attacking midfielders that have proven that they can perform at a higher level.
To explain this gap in skill more clearly for the purpose of avoiding any misunderstanding, consider the following:
If Bradley, Dempsey, or Donovan are injured or suspended, the United States will need players like Shane O’Neill, Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, Benny Feilhaber, and Benji Joya to compete against quality opposition.
On the off chance that Bradley, Dempsey, and Donovan couldn’t play, the U.S. could field a Front Six made up of O’Neill, Joya, Corona, Diskerud, Feilhaber, and Altidore and still be competitive, but the same thing couldn’t be said of fielding Jones, Kljestan, Bedoya, Zusi, Davis, and Altidore.
The collective thinking of the American soccer media and the American fan base is largely a parroting of Jürgen Klinsmann’s own opinions, and the reason that this is so is because many people feel that Klinsmann’s playing resume makes his coaching decisions infallible.
This refusal to question Klinsmann’s selections or to evaluate players based on their physical gifts and skills is probably the root of the problem of the United States’ tendency to underperform as far as the quality of the soccer goes.
Many people use Klinsmann’s win/loss record as evidence of the success of his methods and of his player selections, but consistent winning against better national teams requires improving the United States’ quality of play, and the steady improvement of Bradley, Dempsey, and Altidore has nothing to do with Klinsmann.
The collective skill-level of the players on the national team is directly related to the ability of the United States to begin to consistently challenge and beat better national teams.
If you were to ask a cross section of American soccer journalists who they thought should be the midfielders on the roster, you would likely find that the responses were consistent with whichever players Klinsmann had most recently called up to the national team.
Therefore, the collective thinking is probably that Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Kyle Beckerman, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Graham Zusi, Mix Diskerud, and Fabian Johnson should be the USMNT’s midfielders, but Beckerman and Zusi can be immediately removed from the roster in favor of Corona and O’Neill, Okugo, Kitchen, or Edu.
The problem with the collective thinking is that if Bradley, Donovan, or Dempsey is unavailable for a game, then the national team is without viable substitutes.
By putting Feilhaber, Corona, and Diskerud on the roster, you ensure that those three players are available to allow the United States to pass well and create scoring chances.
While the collective thinking is that Bradley, Jones, Beckerman, Dempsey, Donovan, Zusi, Diskerud, and F. Johnson should be the USMNT’s midfielders, World Soccer Source believes that Bradley, Jones, O’Neill, Joya, Dempsey, Donovan, Corona, Feilhaber, and Diskerud represent a group of players who have the tools necessary to compete in the World Cup.
The decision is yours, but there isn’t any real evidence that Zusi and Beckerman can outperform talented and proven players like Corona, Feilhaber, Joya, or O’Neill against higher-level competition.
Then, there’s always Freddy Adu who has shown the ability to open up games and create scoring chances against top competition. Not a bad option to put on the roster given the lack of technical ability and creativity on the United States Men’s National Team.
Can Graham Zusi and Alejandro Bedoya really outplay Freddy Adu? The evidence says they can’t.
The good thing about Adu is that he can be listed as a forward in place of Terrence Boyd, which gives the USMNT four forwards: Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo, Aron Jóhannsson, and Freddy Adu.
This group of players leaves 10 rosters spots open for seven defenders and three goalkeepers, and O’Neill and Cameron triple as center backs, as defensive midfielders, and as outside backs.
Coming into October of 2013, and since the United States has already qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, here is the Best Starting XI that Jürgen Klinsmann can start for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in October.
Michael Bradley and John Anthony Brooks are currently injured with an ankle injury and elbow injury, respectively, but here is the best Starting XI that the United States could use, if both players are healthy in time.
This starting line-up combines proven-players with players who have shown a real ability to offer the United States Men’s National Team upgrades in certain areas, most notably in the defense and at the playmaker role.
The national team must keep starting its very best players like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, and Jozy Altidore, but it should fill the rest of the starting line-up with new players with the tools to compete at the next level.
Here is World Soccer Source’s Best Starting XI for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers:
GOALKEEPER: Brad GUZAN
Chosing Brad Guzan over Tim Howard is a tough decision because Tim Howard excels at making game-saving stops that register high on the difficulty scale. There is some concern that Howard doesn’t always come off his line to collect balls played in the air fairly close to his own six-yard box, but goalkeepers are often judged too harshly. Nevertheless, it’s time to see if Guzan comes off his line better than Howard, and if Guzan is better at saving shots from distance than Howard is. Either way, this choice between two excellent keepers is a toss up, and until Guzan plays more, it will be hard to determine which keeper should start. Starting Guzan isn’t risky, nor is it a drop off in skill.
RIGHT BACK: DeAndre YEDLIN / Andrew FARRELL
The time for Jürgen Klinsmann to let DeAndre Yedlin or Andrew Farrell play right back is now. The United States has qualified for the 2014 World Cup, and both Farrell and Yedlin are better than Brad Evans. Both players are more technically-skilled than Evans, and both can stay with faster and more-skillful attackers better than Evans. Although Geoff Cameron can play right back quite well, Cameron has shown how he excels as a midfield destroyer with his tackling, passing, and running, so it’s better to let a natural and explosive outside back like Yedlin or Farrell play right back. Both Yedlin and Farrell are extremely fast and technically-skilled, but Farrell’s tackling is likely better than Yedlin’s (but Yedlin’s defense and tackling are quite good). Time will tell if Yedlin or Farrell is better or if they are just different, and time will tell if Farrell proves to be better suited to be a starting USMNT center back.
CENTER BACK: Shane O’NEILL
Just like DeAndre Yedlin and Andrew Farrell are legitimate options for the United States and likely upgrades at right back, Shane O’Neill is an upgrade at center back to both Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler. O’Neill is a better defender and a better soccer player in general, and O’Neill possesses a complete skill-set that allows him to play better defense and pass and dribble out of trouble better than Gonzalez and Besler. Both Gonzalez and Besler have become familiar to American soccer fans, and the recent winning streak makes people afraid to accept the possibility that there is another level above that at which Besler and Gonzalez play.
CENTER BACK: John Anthony BROOKS
Assuming he’s healthy, John Anthony Brooks should start at left center back for the USMNT. Brooks is a starting center back for Hertha Berlin at 20 years old, and he was named to the Bundesliga Team of the Week twice already this season. These facts combined with his agility, size, skill on the ball, and athleticism are just too much to ignore, and Brooks showed that he was ready to play international soccer against top competition when he started against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
LEFT BACK: Chris KLUTE
Chris Klute is the best American left back in the American player pool. Klute offers better defending and more speed than Fabian Johnson or DaMarcus Beasley, and Klute is a constant attacking threat who creates a lot of goals. Klute’s defending and attacking skills combined with his athleticism (most notably his world-class speed) make him too good to not incorporate into the national team now. Skeptics will argue that Klute is inexperienced, but since any defender has the potential to make a mistake or be beaten in any game, the possibility that a new defender may be beaten a few times is just an irrational excuse to ignore a talented player at a position where the United States is weak.
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER: Geoff CAMERON
Geoff Cameron’s passing, tackling, skill on the ball, and tireless and smooth running make for an excellent midfield destroyer to patrol the back of the midfield, while Michael Bradley has more freedom to attack and drop back as he sees fit. Jermaine Jones also likes to participate in the attack when he plays for the United States, and starting Cameron over Jones prevents a hole from being left in front of the American defense.
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDER: Michael BRADLEY
Michael Bradley is a defensive midfielder who was always skilled as a passer and as a defender, and his trademark was his ability to run for the full 90 minutes participating all over the field. Bradley’s passing and technical ability have progressively improved, and Bradley’s forays into the attack and his combination play with Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan make him the ideal player to provide Cameron passing and defensive support deeper in the midfield, in addition to providing the link from Cameron to the attacking midfielders and strikers.
RIGHT MIDFIELDER: Landon DONOVAN
Landon Donovan’s skill-level and experience are a vital component of the USMNT, and using Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan together as attacking midfielders gives the United States good passing and excellent attacking in the midfield. Donovan’s speed and his ability to score and set up goals are well-documented. Starting Dempsey and Donovan together should be a priority for Jürgen Klinsmann.
PLAYMAKER: Benny FEILHABER
Benny Feilhaber brings playmaking qualities that Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan don’t have. Whereas Donovan and Dempsey are skilled-attackers who can score or help to create goals, Feilhaber is an actual playmaker who makes sure players like Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, and Clint Dempsey receive service when they make their runs in the final third. Feilhaber is a proven-performer, and he allows Dempsey and Donovan to focus on scoring goals and combining with Altidore, rather than being tasked with providing all of the playmaking responsibilities.
LEFT MIDFIELDER: Clint DEMPSEY
Whether Clint Dempsey is playing as an attacking midfielder out on the left or playing as a second striker, his role is a fluid role built around passing and moving throughout the attack in an effort to score or set up goals. As the best American soccer player ever and the most skilled American player now, Clint Dempsey is an obvious inclusion in any USMNT Starting XI that is looking to have the United States playing its best soccer.
STRIKER: Jozy ALTIDORE
Jozy Altidore has shown that he has blossomed into a more-refined striker with improved technical-skill and better movement off the ball; Altidore has also become a more aggressive striker and a more ruthless finisher who can score with both feet and his head. Altidore’s scoring drought with Sunderland is a product of no longer playing for a team like AZ Alkmaar that places a premium on quality passing and good technical play. Sunderland’s poor form doesn’t change the fact that Altidore has become a complete striker who brings skill, athleticism, and size to the front of the American attack.
