Obviously, Timmy Chandler didn’t have a very good game outside of his cross that bounced through to Dempsey. Chandler was badly positioned a few times, and he gave away the ball in a very embarrassing way to practically gift Turkey a goal. Personally, I hope we see a little bit of DeMarcus Beasley to see how he does comparatively. I thought Yedlin, generally, did fine. I like Brad Davis in the lineup. Julian Green had one or two good moments, and about 10 bad moments. Like Klinsmann, I can see the potential, and I hope having him in the lineup doesn’t end up coming back to haunt us later. I think Jermain Jones tried to do too much with his passing, and Beckerman did a good job with his passing. However, I was impressed by Jones’ defensive intensity and determination to hustle and make plays. I think Jozy fouled the Turkey keeper. If the play had happened the other way around US fans would have been screaming for a foul. On his one-on-one with the keeper I think he should have done better to lift the ball a little and get the ball over the keeper’s foot. He did shoot it with his left foot, which I hope isn’t a too much of a sign of a limited scoring ability with his left for that opponents will exploit. We have to be clinical with our chances in Brazil.

I would be interested to see, at least for experiments sake at one point in the next two games, Diskerud at the top of the diamond and Bradley at the bottom with Davis and Zusi on the wings. If Diskerud is a #10 then that is the best position for him. Bradley can still make plays as long as the team is committed to filling his void when he makes a run forward as he should do. The US always looks great when he runs at pace to take the space in front of him. That is how the second goal came about. Bradley has everything you need in a defensive midfielder, and this combination would be very interesting to see for its potential offensive strength. Late in a game I might even take out the D-mid instead of a winger/shuttler to put in Diskerud, so he is in the middle of the park where he is more effective. I don’t really see Diskerud as a winger. However, Diskerud does worry me a bit. I only remember seeing him come into a game late when games are generally more wide open, and opposing defenders are fatigued. It would be interesting to see how he would do from the outset.

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I thought about calling this ‘Who does the USMNT need to contain Cristiano Ronaldo?’, but, obviously, defense is a team effort. It is just as important to think about formation as to think about personnel. Matthew Doyle thinks that Jurgen Klinnsman might man mark Cristiano Ronaldo, and he mentioned Maurice Edu as a candidate. Recently Landon Donovan was quoted as saying, “[Cristiano Ronaldo] is a special player and a special talent. We could play an amazing game against Portugal, and he could pull off two plays that only he can pull off, and we could end up losing. So what has to happen is we have to play well, no question.” The United States has been placed in what some would call the Group of Death. I feel like there are others that could earn that title as well. Additionally Matthew Doyle explained, “First and foremost is that the US will be facing a glut of left-sided inverted wingers in the group stage, starting with Ghana’s Wakaso Mubarak before continuing onto Ronaldo and probably finishing with André Schürrle.”

I’m sure that someone a lot smarter than me has figured most of this out, but I just thought I would put some of my thoughts out there. First, if someone who is going to man mark Cristiano Ronaldo or other dangerous inverted wingers what position/player can be sacrificed. Since marking him man-to-man is a defensive task then maybe a defender could be sacrificed, but I think the easy answer would be to sacrifice a midfielder. Maybe, it would be necessary to have a lone striker up top to supplement the midfield if a midfielder is sacrificed to mark Ronaldo.

Isn’t a defensive midfielder’s job to stop inverted wingers. They’re supposed to be there just in front of the defense cutting off lanes and double teaming. Maybe that is why Kyle Beckerman has been given more opportunities to prove himself recently. Beckerman has always played a very specific role, and he has been relatively consistent. Beckerman is having a career year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Klinsmann has given him more minutes after he saw that US group draw. Edu would be a midfielder that could play defensively, but he is more than willing to make deeper offensive forays than Beckerman. Geoff Cameron seems like a logical choice to creepily follow and harass Cristiano Ronaldo. I only said it that way because I would feel weird man marking a whole game in soccer.

With some of the decisions to be made it seems like Klinnsman has to decide between a player who positions himself really well or a player with good make up speed. Ronaldo plays on the right, so it seems like Klinnsman might have to choose between left backs like Fabian Johnson (speed) or the aging DeMarcus Beasley (experience and positioning).

The USMNT needs to maximize their players skills sets in order to just get out of the group stage, and then I’m sure they’ll hope they have enough clubs in the bag to make it a little further. How do you think the US needs to stop the dangerous inverted wingers that the US will face? Chad Marshall looked really good this week? He always seemed to be in the way of the opposing team. Is there something I’m missing as to why he isn’t higher on the pecking order than guys like Goodson, and maybe even equal to Gonzalez and Besler?

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Background Information (Feel free to skip this) Ukraine defeated a squad of most of the US’s European based players in Cyprus to a very small crowd. The match was originally scheduled to take place in Ukraine but due to internal politics between different factions that differed in opinion about whether or not they wanted more European Union or Russian involvement and aid in their country. Dozens have died in the unrest. The former Ukrainian Prime Minister was pro-Russian and the new PM is more pro-western. Different parts of the country have very different opinions about the situation. In southern Ukraine there is a peninsula on the Black Sea, the Crimean Peninsula, hosts a large Russian fleet. Russia sent in some of their military forces to occupy the peninsula on the premise that they wanted to ensure the safety of their citizens living there. The new prime minister has said that Russia has pushed their country to the brink of war, members of the international community have threatened sanctions, and one person said that it is the greatest crisis in Europe this century. Apparently, the Ukrainian national team sat on the tarmac for a few hours in Ukraine before leaving still unsure whether or not they were going to play the game.

Now, The Game

Ukraine is ranked 18th by FIFA, and they are the highest ranked country not in the World Cup. They brought most of their best players to play. They have excellent wingers that can get in behind the defense with pace. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they did. The US back line was bypassed with ease on several occasions. The first half only had a few bright moments. Klinsmann kept the same line-up for the second half, and the team responded and did much better. Yet, against the run of play Ukraine scored their second goal. Some of the subs came in made things a bit more interesting. Johannsson had the best shot of the night that was blocked at the goal line. I thought Jermain Jones had a really good game. Ukraine marched straight up the field and scored after her was subbed out. He showed a veteran presence that helped pull things together when everyone seemed very disconnected and out sync. The back line has not spent much time together and it showed. I think this game cemented in my mind that F. Johnson is more valuable as a left back than a left midfielder.

Check out this highlights to see some of this yourself.

I know that this isn’t close to the team that is going to Brazil, but even several of our core players have been in poor form (Dempsey and Altidore). I hope if the time cf comes Klinsmann will stick to his guns and make the tough decisions. I thought Claudio Reyna was rather poor in his last World Cup; unfortunately, some good players fall out of form and don’t deserve to play in the World Cup.

Player Grades

Jermain Jones 8

Tim Howard 8

Aron Johannson 7.5

Geoff Cameron 7.5

Clint Dempsey 7

Alejandro Bedoya 7

Danny Williams 7

Fabian Johnson 6.5

Brek Shea 6

Jozy Altidore 6

Sacha Kliejstan 6

Oguchi Onyewu 6

Edgar Castillo 5.5

John Anthony-Brooks 5.5

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