Michael Bradley on the ball v Switzerland
Photo: US Soccer
Was it a victory lost or a tough draw earned?
The United States once again gave up a late goal that cost Juergen Klinsmann’s team a much needed win, however it earned a share of the spoils by overcoming Jozy Altidore’s profanity-driven red card dismissal with over 20 minutes left to play.
As one might imagine, the Twitterati were out in full force after the final whistle at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich. Of course it was all Klinsmann’s fault for one faction, while another pinned its disappointment solely on Altidore. Then there were the optimists, proud of the team for putting on a better show than it did last week in Denmark, while gutting out a tie down to ten men. And finally the realists showed up, once again pointing out that friendly results simply don’t matter and all that does right now is integrating new players into the team ahead of this summer’s Gold Cup, and next summer’s Copa America Centenario.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
Let’s lay out a simple fact. Every football writer in the world has gotten it wrong on more than one occasion. There isn’t one man or woman paid for their opinions on football that hasn’t missed a sitter in their careers. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, Bob Bradley goes and beats Spain in a Confederations Cup semifinal. If it were all so simple and predictable, we simply wouldn’t love the game so much.
But social media opinions are concrete. They are immovable. There is simply no other way it could be. Just ask them.
Perhaps there’s a little bit of truth in all opinions about what’s happening to the US team under the Golden Bomber, and from all factions.
Klinsmann once again made some big changes to the team that got beat 3-2 in Aarhus, but not all of them were the right ones. He did the right thing by moving Alejandro Bedoya back out to the wing, but simultaneously took captain Michael Bradley out of his holding role and tried once again (and failed) to turn him into a trequartista. In a rare show of continuity, he stuck with three of the four back line defenders against the Swiss, and it showed dividends until Altidore’s dismissal.
The one change? Big Brek. Isn’t it funny? Shea is likely the most often ridiculed US player in the pool, yet somehow he manages to score that brilliant free kick and shut everyone up for a day. And he’s still the guy whose goal won us the last Gold Cup. It’s a funny old game.
Klinsmann also decided that the 4-2-3-1 was not the answer going forward (for this week at least – we may just as easily see it again versus Mexico in a few weeks), and opted for a 4-4-2 diamond that often looked more like a 4-3-3 as Bradley continued to look for the ball in advanced positions. Danny Williams made a strong return to the national team but was more often connected to Bedoya and Morales on the wings than his back line, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a team intent on attack.
But once again, the mix-and-match from Klinsmann failed to produce a victory.
However, that disappointing result could also be readily directed towards Altidore and his hopelessly stupid barking at the referee after an equally unnecessary yellow card tackle. The TFC forward seemed at odds with the man in the middle all evening, and eventually the bubble burst. It seems in the land of neutrality, verbal aggression will be strongly frowned upon.
But Altidore is no longer the young teenager who thrilled Giants Stadium with the Red Bulls back in his 2006 debut season. He’s a well-traveled veteran now with plenty of experience under his belt, so there’s simply no excuse for letting his teammates down like that after working so hard against a very good Swiss side.
His temperament got the best of him in Zurich, but better this week in a friendly than this summer in the Gold Cup. Hopefully the agony of watching his team concede yet another late goal will help him reevaluate his choice of words in the future when things aren’t going his way. Better yet, don’t say anything at all.
For the optimists out there, statistics work in mysterious ways, and Twitter didn’t take long to toss them out there. Sure, the United States has only won two of its nine matches since the World Cup, but six of those have been on tough foreign soil. And as ESPN’s Paul Carr pointed out, Klinsmann has won or drawn seven of his 12 European road games – a feat that took the US 18 years (and 26 games) to match between 1992 and 2010.
Look, the Swiss are no joke. Even mildly under-strength, the team still boasted the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Gokhan Inler and Stephan Lichtsteiner in its starting eleven, and had the luxury of bringing on a quality sub like Granit Xhaka off the bench. Holding on against a top-15 side on the road while down a man is no easy task, so in that sense, the US can be somewhat proud of its performance.
If it’s perspective you’re looking for though, there’s plenty of that as well. These games simply will never be discussed again once the next big tournament arrives. This is cold nights at the driving range before playing a nice course for real on the weekend. It’s experimenting with different ingredients in the kitchen before the entire family shows up for the holidays. There is absolutely nothing that the last six months of results will affect when it comes down to games that matter. There is no position to be gained. There is no seed to be earned.
It is a time for experimentation and integration. It is an opportunity to see which young players can handle the bright lights and not get lost in the big city. And in that respect, getting hung up on wins and losses is a fool’s errand, because the only thing worth evaluating is which system worked best with which players. Except under Klinsmann, that hasn’t exactly been easy to grasp just yet.
Yes, we all want the same thing. We want a US team that plays attractive football, doesn’t give the ball away cheaply, scores sumptuous goals and, most importantly, wins every single match it plays. But that’s not going to happen. It doesn’t happen for Brazil. It doesn’t happen for Germany. It certainly doesn’t happen for England.
There are good days and bad days, and hopefully the best of them happen to be when it counts for something. Sure, the manager plays a crucial part in setting up his players for success – mentally, physically, and tactically – but if his players simply aren’t up to the task for 90 minutes out each time they’re asked, then setbacks are going to follow.
We all want a US team that shows drastic improvement in all aspects from the teams we glamorize like the 1995 Copa America team, or the 2002 World Cup squad. But if you break those teams down instead of just floating effortlessly in the nostalgia, they had their own fair share of issues. Things just came together at the right time, and in the right place.
It appears many US fans believe that only our team has been trying to improve for the last few decades, but that’s simply ludicrous thinking. Every nation on the planet has worked to the best of its ability to improve and catch up to the world’s elite – with mixed results of course.
So whether you believe the US is progressing or regressing, there’s enough evidence out there if you look for it to tell you that you’re right. That alone should tell you something very important.
Trust me on this one. I’ve never been so certain of something in my life. But I could be wrong …
Lineups:
USA: 1-Nick Rimando (22-William Yarbrough, 46); 21-Timmy Chandler, 15-Michael Orozco (19-Ventura Alvarado, 46), 6-John Brooks, 13-Brek Shea; 14-Danny Williams, 11-Alejandro Bedoya (2-DeAndre Yedlin, 76), 7-Alfredo Morales (5-Tim Ream, 89), 4-Michael Bradley (capt.); 20-Gyasi Zardes (8-Jordan Morris, 89), 17-Jozy Altidore (sendoff, 68)
Subs Not Used: 3-Greg Garza, 10-Miguel Ibarra, 16-Julian Green, 18-Rubio Rubin
Head coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
SUI: 21-Roman Burki; 2-Stephan Lichsteiner (6-Silvan Widner, 46), 22-Fabian Schar, 5-Steve von Bergen, 3- Jacques Fracois Moubandje; 8-Gokhan Inler (capt.) (10-Granit Xhaka, 46), 16-Gelson Fernandes (9-Haris Seferovic, 72), 7-Fabian Frei (17-Pajtim Kasami, 46), 23-Xherdan Shaqiri; 19- Josip Drmic (15-Breel Embolo, 56), 18-Admir Mehmedi (14-Valentin Stocker, 46)
Subs Not Used: 1-Yann Sonner, 4-Fabian Lustenberger, 11-Valon Behrani, 12-Marwin Hitz, 13-Ricardo Rodriguez, 20-Johan Djourou
Head coach: Vladimir Petkovic
