Association Football

Seemingly lost in the conversation about the national team is Benny Feilhaber. Most see him playing a reserve role for the Nats come World Cup time. But in my view Feilhaber should be central to Bradley’s plans.

As this World Cup cycle began, Feilhaber looked certain to be a pivotal figure for the national team. He was playing in the Bundesliga for Hamburg – he even played in the champions league – but his move to the Premier League to Derby County backfired. Derby County was the laughing stock of the Premier League, the manager that brought him in got fired, and Feilhaber proved to be a luxury that a struggling bottom feeder couldn’t afford, choosing to go with more combative and defensive central midfielders. That experience at Derby and a couple of injuries saw a pause in Feilhaber national team progression – he basically fell off the map. However, he landed at Aarhus in Denmark and reemerged with the national team in the Confederations Cup. Feilhaber has had another solid year in Denmark, leading to interest from La Liga sides over the winter.

Feilhaber offers something that other central midfield options just don’t have to the same degree – poise on the ball and precision passing. Feilhaber is not as adept defensively as many of the other options, therefore playing him alongside Bradley – another player who likes to get forward – leaves us a bit vulnerable as occasionally both players get caught too far up field, allowing the opposition to counter. However, international football is very much about possessing the ball and that is Benny’s strong suit. He is also a creative force. He has an ability to pin point through balls from deep – think penalties won by Altidore in confed cup against Italy and by Eddie Johnson in Copa America against Argentina. He also moves well with the ball and with some tidy footwork he put Donovan through on the second goals against Spain. In general Feilhaber is as close to a #10 that the US has. And we all know he can hit the ball.
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Overall the US was outmatched by Holland, but they certainly didn’t get played off the field. There have been better US performances but overall the US was well organized defensively and showed flashes of attacking venom throughout the game. But in general the Yanks were slow to open up and launch counterattacks. Instead, the US too often just resorted to aimlessly hoofing the ball up field.

The US was defensively compact throughout the game, ceding much of the possession to the Dutch. But the Dutch did not slice threw the US the way they have other teams and only gotten on the scoreboard due to a catastrophic error by Jonathan Bornstein, who needlessly committed a penalty. The second goal was also fortunate for the Dutch as a deflected shot wrong footed Tim Howard. In the final 20 minutes the US pushed forward with Carlos Bocanegra scoring on an uncontested header off a free kick. Jozy Altidore nearly leveled in extra-time.

However, the game is sort of an after thought following news that Stuart Holden broke his leg after a vicious challenge from Nigel De Jong of Manchester City. Holden is said to miss just six weeks, but time frames for leg breaks are often unreliable and Holden’s World Cup place is now definitely in doubt.

There were some poor performances, with Jonathan Bornstein topping the list. He simply lacks the quality to play at the highest international level. He should have been called for two penalties and he frequently was exposed on the flank. He also doesn’t offer anything going forward, frequently leaving Landon Donovan essentially out to dry on the left.
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The US plays Holland this afternoon (2:30pm EST on ESPN2) in an important tune-up for the World Cup, which is now less than 100 days away. This is also coach Bob Bradley’s last opportunity to get US players together before he has to select the 23-man roster.

While there are some important absences from the US squad due to injuries to key players (Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu, Charlie Davies, Benny Feilhaber, Ricardo Clarke, and Steve Cherundolo are all out), on the bright side this will allow Bradley to test some squad players. No one wants to face the Dutch – who have been among the best teams in the world and are contenders to raise the cup – without some of their best players, but this game is not about the scoreline, it is about the quality of the performance. Therefore here are some things to watch for:

Are we able to hold up on the flanks? Jonathan Bornstein, who looks to get the start today, is a favorite of Bob Bradley. But he is in my view the weak link in the backline, this is not so much for any defensive frailties, which he has a few, but his poor distribution. The Dutch wingers will pressure him every time he gets the ball – will he just send panicky clearances up the field or will he be able to withstand the pressure and distribute to American midfielders.

Will the Maurice Edu – Michael Bradley central midfield be able to do distribute, as well as destroy? Going into the Confederations Cup last June, Maurice Edu, who had become a key player with Glasgow Rangers, looked prime to play a big role for the US. Unfortunately, he suffered a bad knee injury and has only returned to action in the last few months. Edu is an athlete that can cover a lot of ground and can put in a hard tackle after playing in Scotland. But can he distribute? The problem for the US central midfield, is that when playing two holding midfielders, such as Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark, our ability to keep possession of the ball has suffered.
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The US in a sloppy and erratic way dominated a sloppy and erratic El Salvador team, yet the US suffered from the oh so classic problem of scoring. In the end they got two goals to win the game, but this should have been a rout. Instead, the US found themselves behind midway through the second half.

The US just plain and simple lacked class in the final third and El Salvador just lacked class, giving the ball away in their own half endlessly. Yes the El Salvadorean keeper had a good game, but the lack of finishing quality was downright maddening – with Robbie Rogers second half one-on-one shank the most obvious.

In the end, this game I think didn’t clarify all that much about the US World Cup squad. The decision over the final forward slots is still a question, with Conor Casey, Brian Ching, and Robbie Findley in some ways performing as expected. One would expect Bradley’s attention will turn to some European options next week in the form of Eddie Johnson and maybe Kenny Cooper. Bradley did confirm his love-affair with Jonathan Bornstein by bizarrely playing him in the center of defense and making him captain. Fortunately he had little to do, except of course for getting his wires crossed with Brad Evans on the lone El Salvador goal.
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The USMNT has scheduled its two World Cup friendlies prior to the June tournament and I don’t think it could have done much better. US Soccer scheduled games against Turkey and the Czech Republic in May and both teams should provide a stern test and help sharpen the US team prior to facing England, Algeria and Slovakia.

These teams contrast greatly with the minnows that were scheduled in the run up to the 2006 World Cup. The US played Poland in Germany, followed by May games against Jamaica, Venezuela, and Morocco. Disturbingly the latter three games were against poor opposition that also didn’t reflect at all the sort of opposition the US would be facing at the World Cup, since the US would face two top-notch European clubs and arguably the best sub-Saharan African team. Some speculated at the time whether these games were intended to raise the confidence of the US team prior to the tournament – or to put it differently Arena didn’t want to schedule a friendly against a good Euro team that could end up squashing the confidence that the USMNT possessed going into the tournament. This clearly backfired. Not only did the US look shell-shocked facing the Czech’s but playing three weak teams gave Bruce Arena false confidence in some of his squad choices, most notably Eddie Lewis, who was exposed at left back against the Czechs.
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Just 4 months from today the US will face off against England. There have been some changes to the last AF World Cup squad.

Players dropped: Damarcus Beasley, Marvelle Wynne, and Chad Marshall. Players added: Charlie Davies, Jonathan Bornstein, and Clarence Goodson.

A couple of other developments.

First, Donovan’s performance in the midfield has given me more confidence in his defensive qualities, meaning that I moved him into the midfield as opposed to him playing up top.
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