As far as January friendlies go, this wasn’t bad. Usually these games are the drab, disjointed sorts that make Australian Open fans of us all.
This one wasn’t that. Or it was half that, anyway – because the US backline was predictably disjointed. That’s what happens when you play, as Alexi Lalas said at halftime, “Straight up street-ball.” The US played a new formation, a mostly new defense, an attacking midfielder converted to d-mid, and two natural wingbacks who’ve only occasionally played that spot as pros.
It wasn’t pretty. It was compelling.
Here are three things we took away from the USMNT’s 3-2 loss:
1. Did the 3-5-2 work?
It was the first time the US scored more than a single goal since the second game of the World Cup, so it did kind of work, yeah. What was best about it is the way it provided some clarity in attack – namely we’ve got some freaking fast guys who love to run north-south out wide, while players like Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore (!!!) and Matt Besler (!!!) have raised “Let’s just dump this into space” into something of an art form.
The wide players – Brek Shea and DeAndre Yedlin – were always a threat to get in behind. And Yedlin, at least, is now reliably turning that kind of danger into chances.
Beyond everything else, I’m deciding to take that away from this game. Yedlin’s not the finished product just yet, and he clearly ran out of gas about 55 minutes in. Chile absolutely tore him up over the last 30-35 minutes of the game, and while there were multiple errors on the game-winning goal, Yedlin’s failure to track his run was the biggest.
But if you’re a USMNT fan who can’t get at least a little bit excited about Yedlin right now, you probably just prefer to be miserable.
2. Did the 3-5-2 not work?
It sure didn’t! Jurgen Klinsmann scrapped that experiment at the half, coming out for the second 45 in a 4-4-2.
There was a lot of talk before this one about how Jones’ athleticism would be an asset in central defense, how he’d be able to put out fires just by out-running them. Often enough that was the case, and I can’t really fault him or Besler too much for the first goal – miscommunications happen, even between World Cup vets. That’s a learning experience.
Jones, though, had an absolutely brutal giveaway, and once again looked weak in the air.
That giveaway came midway through half after a mostly mistake-free opening 20 minutes from the veteran. As the game wore on, Jones had gone hunting the ball in midfield more and more, playing more like a classic sweeper than a central defender in a zonal scheme (which is what the US were playing).
When Jones gets more involved with games in that manner, he becomes more and more prone to bouts with hero ball. That didn’t change in New England (watch minutes 60-75 of MLS Cup), and it didn’t change in this one.
So that giveaway came in typical fashion: Jones lingered on the ball, trying to choose the perfect pass instead of the right pass.
Want to know why Jones hasn’t been a regular for Germany for the past 10 years? Because of that.
The focus in any back line needs to be on steady, mistake-free soccer rather than athleticism. Experimenting with Jones in that role - the most important role in any 3-5-2 - certainly has merits, and I doubt we’re done seeing him given the conch in that manner.
But it's going to be a roller coaster. Strap in.
3. So we’ll see the 3-5-2 again?
I think we will, and I think we should. I don’t think Jones is the right guy to play in the middle of it, but to be fair to him he didn’t have an easy job. Everybody in that back five was learning the formation, and the midfield balance ahead of him wasn’t close to right.
Starting Bradley and Mix Diskerud as dual volantes doesn’t made a whole lot of sense from a defensive perspective, and the US were doubly hamstrung by Klinsmann’s decision to start Clint Dempsey in the hole behind two true forwards. It didn't make much sense, and as a result we ended up seeing Altidore dropping back to play more emergency defense. Chile were able to consistently flatten midfield and back line, and Altidore's back-checking proved crucial in getting pressure to the ball.
Put another way: the US just played a game in which Jozy Altidore's defensive work was what kept our midfield from being overrun. That's not pretty.
At the same time…
Yeah… nothing’s working right now. The US have one win from their last nine, and have been outscored 9-0 in the second half since the World Cup. Going back to the tournament itself, 14 of the 18 goals the US have given up have come after the break.
The US are in a rut. Klinsmann has to discover a way out. With the Gold Cup beginning to loom, nothing would be more compelling than that.
