Roughly a year ago, Jürgen Klinsmann suggested that the problem with the United States Men’s National Team was that the team needed to be “an edge more nastier” and work the referees more.
That tactic seems to have not worked.
Klinsmann once famously said “Anyone can play left back,” and if that was his attitude in a World Cup qualifier, then inexperienced players with a high-skill level deserve a shot in the upcoming friendlies with Belgium and Germany.
Since Klinsmann’s approach to coaching the United States Men’s National Team has achieved no real progress in improving the technical ability of the team, this writer would contend that essentially tossing in a large group of new players into the deep end against Belgium and Germany would at least offer the potential to see some improvement at various positions and in the overall technical ability of the team.
With other CONCACAF teams demonstrating better technical skill in World Cup qualifiers than the United States, the next two friendlies should be used to really take some roster and starting line-up risks just to see what the United States has in the talent pool. Certainly, Germany offers the chance to see new players’ skill level while factoring in nerves and inexperience.
What’s the real harm in really seeing how some totally new and promising players do when thrown into the lion’s den against Germany in an international friendly?
No matter what happens against Belgium or Germany, the United States should fare fine in World Cup qualifiers if it starts Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector, Omar Gonzalez, Geoff Cameron, Fabian Johnson, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Clint Dempsey, Juan Agudelo, and Jozy Altidore.
As opposed to what Klinsmann suggested below, a major change in the players included on the United States Men’s National Team as discussed below would seem to be a better strategy to improve the level of play.
Change the players or up the nastiness as suggested in the video below? You decide.
The World Soccer Source Best 30 American Soccer Players
What makes one player better than another player? Good question.
The names on the list are more important than the order as many of these names are drastically different from the first thirty names on American Soccer Now’s Top 100 from February, which asks several writers, pundits, podcasters, ex-players, and analysts to rank American players, but the list does not show how high each panelist ranked each player.
CRITERIA & REASONING:
*This World Soccer Source list is based on the criteria of skill, club performances, international performances, current form, and the players’ performances against high-level competition.
*Ultimately, every soccer fan will weigh each criterion higher than others.
*Some people will value the overall skill of the player: meaning the visual impression of how talented the player is in terms of technical ability, movement off the ball, and athleticism compared to quality competition.
*Other people will value consistent playing time at the club level and club form as the most important criterion.
*Still other people will consider how a player has performed against the highest level of international competition over the years, as the most important criterion as few Americans are playing for truly elite club teams: only Michael Bradley is playing in Serie A, Clint Dempsey plays and starts for one of the best teams in the English Premier League, and Jermaine Jones has been consistently playing and performing for one of the best Bundesliga teams, Schalke, for years.
*Keep in mind that a player’s ranking does not necessarily mean that a player is better or worse, based purely on talent, compared to players above or below the player. One excellent example of this is Freddy Adu.
*Observers are always quick to qualify what they say about Freddy Adu with some phrase such as “No one doubts Adu’s ability, but he needs to be more consistent.” Freddy Adu’s last game for the United States Men’s National Team at the senior level was against Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup Final, but Adu was widely considered the best American player on the field in that game against a Mexican team that was considered much better at that time and even now. What does this say about Freddy Adu compared to other American players? If Adu plays for the United States Men’s National Team rarely, but normally plays well, how high should he be ranked? How much does signing for and playing, even if for a short time, for Benfica matter?
*The performances of the United States Men’s National Team under Jürgen Klinsmann indicate that there is a major problem with how unwilling fans and the media are to accept the need for change, and there is a problem with the way that players are being selected as the United States Men’s National Team has several well-known problems that many observers quickly point out: a weakness in the center of the defense, poor overall passing, lack of goal-scoring chances created, a low number of total goals, and a heavy reliance on Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and Tim Howard.
*Every soccer fan, coach, player, analyst, and observer has a certain criterion that they value above others, but the most important thing about this list is that the names on the list are more important than the particular numerical ranking that each player is given.
The World Soccer Source Best 30 American Soccer Players:
1. Clint Dempsey (Tottenham; England)
2. Michael Bradley (Roma; Italy)
3. Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy; USA)
4. Tim Howard (Everton; England)
5. Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim; Germany)
6. Jermaine Jones (Schalke; Germany)
7. Geoff Cameron (Stoke City; England)
8. Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City; USA)
9. Steve Cherundolo (Hannover; Germany)
10. Terrence Boyd (Rapid Wien; Austria)
11. Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA; USA)
12. Joe Corona (Tijuana; Mexico)
13. Timothy Chandler (Nürnberg; Germany)
14. Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg; Norway)
15. Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union; USA)
16. Brek Shea (Stoke City; England)
17. Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht; Belgium)
18. Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna; Mexico)
19. Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar; The Netherlands)
20. Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders; USA)
21. Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa; England)
22. Maurice Edu (Bursaspor; Turkey: on loan from Stoke City; England)
23. Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City; England)
24. Brad Guzan (Aston Villa; England)
25. Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy; USA)
26. Joe Gyau (St. Pauli ; on loan from Hoffenheim; Germany)
Many American soccer fans seem to judge Freddy Adu with the same illogical criterion with which Jürgen Klinsmann judges him: only total domination merits a roster spot.
Klinsmann has said that he wanted to see Adu taking over games more and dominating games more before he could play for the United States, but this make little sense from a coaching standpoint.
Why does a technically-skilled playmaker with a special skill-set need to dominate every game in order to play for the United States, when no other American is subjected to this standard?
Klinsmann and American fans want the United States to score more goals, but yet they invent nonsensical reasons to exclude all of the natural playmakers from the starting line-up or roster: Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud.
Klinsmann and the United States are lacking players that have the technical skill to play a brand of quick-passing soccer that Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo, Geoff Cameron, and Fabian Johnson play. Among the players listed above, none of them are playmakers that play the final passes that produces goals.
Plenty of Americans as well as Klinsmann feel that either Bradley or Dempsey should be forced to be played out of position as playmakers, but this opinion overlooks the reality that neither player is a true playmaker as Bradley thrives playing as a deep-lying defensive midfielder that has strong technical and attacking skills and Dempsey is skilled at attacking defenses and scoring goals.
While both of these players are much better than the majority of their teammates that Klinsmann has been calling up, they have never demonstrated the ability to play a constant stream of inch-perfect balls in the final third that Adu and several other playmakers have shown.
The criticism of Adu has mostly been that he has played for a lot of clubs and that his coaches at the Union this year chose to not start him multiple times.
These two pieces of criticism do not disprove the fact that Adu is the most technically-skilled player in the American player pool and that Adu has performed well for the United States, especially when he has played with players like Bradley, Dempsey, and Donovan, who have the skill level to play one-to-two touch soccer and read his passes.
Adu played most recently for the United States in Olympic qualifying where he not only scored but he also set up two crucial goals to go one goal ahead of El Salvador in the last game of Olympic qualifying.
Adu formed a good playing relationship with talented young players like Joe Corona, Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, Mix Diskerud, Brek Shea, and others.
The last time Adu played for the United States’ senior team was in the 2011 Gold Cup in which Adu immediately changed the game against Panama where he not only played the killer pass to set up Donovan’s assist to Dempsey, but he also played a diagonal pass on the ground and on a silver platter for Bradley, which Bradley failed to shoot with conviction.
Additionally, in the final against Mexico, Adu was praised by both Pablo Ramirez and Hugo Sanchez of Univisión for his ability to unsettle the Mexican defense by taking defenders off the dribble and playing elegant passes and corner kicks; Adu also took the well-placed corner kick which Bradley put in the back of the net with a glancing header.
The United States only lost to Mexico once Steve Cherundolo sustained an injury, and the then-coach, Bob Bradley, made the mistake of subbing in Jonathan Bornstein, who Mexico instantly identified as the defensive weak link.
The problem that Adu comes up against is that when he goes to play overseas he has the stigma of being an American and when he plays in MLS people expect him to take over every game he plays in.
Many American fans seem to expect Adu to set up multiple goals every game and score multiple goals every game, or they do not want him to play for the United States. This line of thinking overlooks the fact that Adu has proven for five years in international play that he has the skill-set to be an effective playmaker even against teams like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Mexico.
This ability to be a dangerous playmaker is needed in an American midfield that has Dempsey as a free-roaming attacking midfielder and quasi-forward and Bradley as a technically-skilled defensive midfielder with the skill to play defense, pass the ball well, and to participate in the attack when needed.
While Dempsey and Bradley are the two most proven midfielders at the club level and international level for the United States, neither one has the same gift that Adu has to create goals, and this skill is the most needed quality that the United States lacks, along with a skilled center back partner for Geoff Cameron.
Adu can be used by the United States with a degree of flexibility because the United States and really Klinsmann could elect to deploy him as a second striker with an additional playmaker behind him or use him in a line of three technically-skilled midfielders with the ability to maintain possession and play one-to-two touch soccer.
Whether or not Klinsmann, American fans, American commentators, and American soccer writers think that Adu has performed well in MLS, there is nothing to suggest that Adu has ever demonstrated any difficulty being an effective attacking force for the United States in international play.
Even if the Philadelphia Union’s coaches have left Adu on the bench or off the game day roster on several occasions, these were decisions made by coaches Peter Nowak and John Hackworth, whose coaching abilities have been questioned by many.
These coaching mistakes do not change the fact that Adu has an advanced technical skill-set as a playmaker, and the United States desperately needs a playmaker to create more scoring opportunities.
As this writer has contended in other articles, the United States even has more than one playmaker; lots of observers invent perceived problems with all of them, so they advocate for the United States to force someone to play out of position.
Among many Americans there appears to be some misunderstanding of the importance and the role of a playmaker. The best teams in the world all use playmakers because goals are the most important thing in soccer, and playmakers create goals, which create victories.
The playmaker is certainly expected to pressure the opposing team’s defense when the opposition has the ball, but playmakers are not supposed to be routinely tracking all the way back deep into their own half to play defense because then they would be out of position to fulfill their role on the team, which is to control the tempo of the passing and to convert their team’s passing into goal-scoring opportunities.
No one with an advanced understanding of the game has really ever questioned Adu’s talent, but people have argued that Adu should not play for the United States if he is not starting and dominating every game in MLS.
The United States does not have the luxury of not including someone of Adu’s ability on the roster because the United States is not good enough to not need players like Adu.
Soccer is a team sport, and just having Bradley and Dempsey in the midfield is not enough technical ability and firepower against opposition with 11 technically-advanced starters; the United States needs playmakers like Freddy Adu, Benny Feilhaber, Joe Corona, and Mix Diskerud to create goal-scoring opportunities for the United States, particularly when the United States is losing.
Hugo Sanchez praised the performance of Freddy Adu against Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup final.
While many people will use the United States’ victories over Mexico and Italy as evidence that Jürgen Klinsmann is coaching well, the reality is that the United States has not passed well or played technically advanced soccer in any of their games under Klinsmann.
Many of the players used by Klinsmann are excellent soccer players, but as long as Klinsmann continues to use the same starting line-ups, the United States will not even be a first or second tier team in terms of international soccer. So far, the United States has played better soccer under Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, and there is one year’s worth of video evidence of the low level of collective, team play of the United States under Klinsmann.
However, Klinsmann does have the ability to dramatically improve the quality of soccer that the United States play with just five starting line-up changes. If he makes these five starting line-up changes, then he will be able to field a starting line-up with 11 technically skilled and athletic players. He needs a right back, a center back to partner with Geoff Cameron, two attacking midfielders, and another striker, as opposed to just starting one.
Klinsmann needs to eliminate Kyle Beckerman, Maurice Edu, Danny Williams, Jermaine Jones, and José Torres from the starting line-up, but Jones should be starting if Michael Bradley is injured. Additionally, Edu and Jones should certainly be among the 23 players on the roster for the World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica, and starting Edu or Jones as a center back with Cameron would be preferable to starting Carlos Bocanegra or Clarence Goodson.
Klinsmann should continue to use Tim Howard as a goalkeeper, Geoff Cameron as a center back, Fabian Johnson as a left back, Michael Bradley as the lone defensive midfielder (unless he’s injured), Herculez Gomez or Terrence Boyd as a striker, and Clint Dempsey as a free-roaming attacking midfielder.
At forward, Klinsmann needs to start two of the following three strikers at the same time: Juan Agudelo, Terrence Boyd, and Herculez Gomez. Gomez played very well against both Brazil and Mexico, and a strong argument can be made that Gomez has earned one of the two starting line-up spots as evidenced by his play against Brazil where he forced Santos’ and Brazil’s goalkeeper, Rafael, to make several very difficult point blank saves. That being said, Klinsmann has yet to test out Agudelo and Boyd together, and they might complement each other well as Boyd is more of an out-and-out striker that goes straight to goal. Regardless of which two strikers are started, Klinsmann should start two of the three strikers mentioned above at the same time.
Klinsmann needs to introduce Benny Feilhaber and Freddy Adu as dual-playmakers and free-roaming attacking midfielders to play with Dempsey. At right back, Klinsmann needs to start Eric Lichaj, and if he is unavailable, Zach Loyd or Sheanon Williams. Finally, Klinsmann needs to start Jay DeMerit, Omar Gonzalez, or George John as the second center back to play with Geoff Cameron. Among those three, DeMerit is the one that has proven himself on the international level the most with his effective and imposing defensive performances in the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. Between Gonzalez and John, Gonzalez might be quicker and more agile that John, but Klinsmann has not tested out either Gonzalez or John with Cameron to see which center back performs the best at the international level.
The five changes to the starting line-up advocated for above should be used against Jamaica, and if those changes are made against Jamaica, the United States will have, for the first time ever, 11 technically skilled and athletic starters in their line-up. Never before has the United States had the ability to field 11 technical skilled and athletic starters, and the United States now actually have more than 11 players that fit those criteria.
