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One day a coach of the United States Men’s National Team will make the changes necessary to kill giants.

The changes that need to be made in order to beat elite national teams are to use players of Michael Bradley’s athleticism and skill-set as center backs and play even more technically-advanced players in the midfield and at forward that can unlock defenses with their dribbling, passing, shooting, and movement off the ball.

Even though Michael Bradley is a natural defensive midfielder with good passing ability, this change is one that should be made against elite national teams in order to improve the center of the defense when the United States Men’s National Team faces opponents that can easily slip past defenders like Clarence Goodson and Carlos Bocanegra .

The reality of international soccer at the highest level is players of Michael Bradley’s technical ability are playing as center backs and even more technically-skilled players are playing farther up field, and this characterization of Michael Bradley is not a criticism of him, but rather an acknowledgement of the skill required for an elite defender. Looking at two elite center backs, Thiago Silva and Pepe have outstanding technical ability that is more on par with elite midfielders than center backs.

Obviously, one of Michael Bradley’s strengths is the distance he covers in games with his tireless running, but his skill-level may be needed in the center of the defense to prevent the United States from being overwhelmed by countries like Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Holland, and France.

In addition to moving Michael Bradley back to center back against elite opponents, Jermaine Jones should also be moved back to the center of defense in order to have the speed, technical ability, and defensive bite and timing necessary to try to shut down the world’s best attackers.

The reasoning behind not starting Geoff Cameron at center back against top national teams is not because he is not good enough but rather to maximize the skill and athleticism of the back line by moving him to right back where he has performed well in the English Premier League. Cameron is fast and excels in the attack, so by moving him to right back, the United States would have a skilled and fast defender on the right side plus a right back that can cause the opposition problems in the attack. With Cameron, Bradley, Jones, and one other defender playing left back, the United States Men’s National Team will have greatly increased the skill and athletic prowess of its defenders.

Fabian Johnson has solidified his starting spot at left back, but with Bradley and Jones moved back to the center of the defense against the world’s best national teams, the United States Men’s National Team would need a technically-skilled player with the speed and defensive abilities to play directly in front of the defense, and this can only be Fabian Johnson, as players such as Danny Williams, Maurice Edu, and Kyle Beckerman are either too slow or not technically-smooth enough to serve as a passing outlet for the defensive back four when the United States plays really strong national teams.

Brek Shea could provide the combination of speed and wide play needed out of a left back, and Shea has displayed an increased level of physicality than that which he displayed when he first started playing in Major League Soccer and for the United States Men’s National Team. Given the fact that Shea is left-footed and excels at playing wide, using Shea as a left back would give the United States a modern formation that is more in line with top national teams where the width in the attack comes from the outside backs as opposed to wingers.

With Shea’s overall skill-set and speed, playing left back is something that he can do and that he has already done. While starting someone other than Fabian Johnson at left back would be unexpected for American soccer fans, starting Shea at left back would give the United States a dangerous attacker while allowing someone of Johnson’s two-way abilities and speed to fill the void left by Bradley’s and Jones’ moves to the center of the defense.

As was discussed briefly above, with Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones moved back to the center of the defense, the United States will need a defensive midfielder with the ability, speed, and defensive technique and instincts to man the center of the park and roam in front of the defense and venture up into the attack as well. This player is Fabian Johnson.

As the United States will need a skilled passer in the midfield to provide defensive coverage and help to control the tempo of the passing, someone of Johnson’s two-footed abilities and speed can fill the void left by Bradley and Jones. The advantage of using Fabian Johnson as a defensive midfielder is that he has the advanced technical ability and attacking skills to not merely be a roaming defensive destroyer that just breaks up the opposition’s attacks though interceptions and slide tackles.

The next change the United States Men’s National Team needs to make against top-tier national teams (and most opponents) is to use more technically-skilled players in the midfield that naturally pass and move without needing to be coached to play that way. In order to be able to play this way and maintain possession and create scoring chances against the world’s best national teams, the United States Men’s National Team will have to stop using two or three defensive midfielders and begin using at least one or more of the following attacking midfielders: Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, Benny Feilhaber, and Freddy Adu.

Unlike the other three players, Freddy Adu can also be deployed as a second striker, but some combination of these players along with Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley is the essential step that needs to be taken in order to make real improvements to the passing and skill-level of the United States Men’s National Team. Freddy Adu’s importance to the United States has been discussed previously by this writer here:

http://www.worldsoccersource.com/?p=2445

In addition to playing more creative attacking midfielder, it is important that the United States use an actual playmaker as all of the world’s best national teams and club teams use a true playmaker. Wherever one choses to look, this is true.

Right now, Holland uses Wesley Sneijder. Germany uses Mesut Özil. Brazil uses Oscar, Ganso, Kaká, or Ronaldinho. Italy uses Andrea Pirlo and to some extent Giovinco. Spain uses Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, and Cesc Fàbregas at the same time. France used to use Zidane as its playmaker, and France had the most success in Euro 2012 when they used Samir Nasri behind Karim Benzema and Jérémy Ménez. Any close examination of the world’s best national teams and club teams will reveal some sort of playmaker pulling the strings, controlling the passing tempo, and setting up goals.

In addition to using a playmaker with other creative attacking midfielders, the United States Men’s National Team needs to score more goals and and use players that are simply willing to take more shots on goal, even if the chances are just half chances. Goals are the most important thing in soccer, and the person that creates goals is just as important as the person that scores the goals. It is no mystery that strikers like Mario Balotelli score more when they play with someone that can feed them final balls or just passes the offer the half chance of a goal.

Over the years, American soccer observers have bemoaned the lack of elite strikers, but now both Terrence Boyd and Juan Agudelo have shown consistently that they can perform against Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Russia, and others. Terrence Boyd is a fast, skilled, tall, and aggressive striker that showed no problem playing against Italy, Brazil, and Mexico, and Juan Agudelo has all the same characteristics as Boyd while being somewhat of a less direct-to-goal striker. Agudelo has shown his abilities against Argentina, Russia, and various other opponents over the last few years, and it makes little sense to continually leave strikers like Boyd and Agudelo on the bench. The United States must use these strikers if they wish to cause problems for top national teams and elite defenders. The specific problems with Klinsmann’s player selections at striker and elsewhere are discussed in greater detail here:

http://www.worldsoccersource.com/?p=2655

 

http://www.worldsoccersource.com/?p=2640

Despite Jozy Altidore’s outstanding goal-scoring rate in Holland with some dazzling goals, Altidore has never shown the same potential and ability to really cause defenses the same problems that Boyd and Agudelo have shown at the international level. To be fair to Altidore, he did execute an excellent goal against Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup, and Altidore has really been forced to play without a playmaker for the United States Men’s National Team most of the time. Jürgen Klinsmann must find out whether changes need to be made to the players supplying the final balls or the players tasked with scoring them, and there is no reason that the roster cannot include a variety of attacking options at striker and in the midfield.

With these things in mind, Jürgen Klinsmann and the United States Soccer Federation need to learn that the Thiago Silvas of the world will never be beaten by a formation featuring three defensive midfielders, and Klinsmann should know this and make the appropriate changes. It is time to acknowledge that the United States has a lot to learn from the best soccer nations in the world instead of trying to reinvent the wheel by using rosters with lots of hard workers and not enough highly-skilled players.

The United States has a big enough player pool to field line-ups with the same tactics and strategy that Brazil and other top national teams use. The United States is not as good as the best national teams, but this is no reason to not try to play like them instead of settling for being considered a team that runs a lot with a lot of heart because all of the running in the world will not save the United States from being picked apart by superior passing and being beaten off the dribble.

Using several of these players mentioned above at different positions runs contrary to what many American observers almost all agree on, but the United States does not have the luxury of valuing club performance in Major League Soccer or playing time over skill.

Countries like Italy, Spain, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, and Holland do have the luxury of selecting from an abundance of highly-skilled players based on their current form, but the United States cannot toss players that do not have the proper skill-level and athleticism to the lions that play for soccer’s giants.

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