What the US will need to work on ahead of crucial Portugal match

This gloomy, anonymous snipe piece written by Brian Straus a year and a half ago makes for very interesting reading after the United States’ 1-2 victory over World Cup arch-rivals Ghana on Monday night. Written shortly after the United States’ World Cup qualifying away loss to Honduras in March 2013, the article quotes anonymous players taking shot after shot against coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s approach.

At least one analyst brought up Straus’ today in light of hamstring injuries to both Jozy Altidore and Matt Besler, in part because one player tells Straus that the U.S. squad under Klinsmann is “overtrained and undercoached.”

Yet within the piece there is also discontent expressed over Klinsmann’s preference for German-born players, disagreement with his ever-changing team selection policy, and criticism over the lack of tactical instructions to help the players out.

What difference a year and a half makes. Today, German-American defender John Brooks, who came on for an injured Matt Besler, is being described as an American hero for his last gasp header. There was no division evident when the team in red and blue piled on the player, the first American substitute to score in a World Cup.

That said, some of the elements concerning Klinsmann’s lack of coherent tactical advice rang true. I had an idea this morning to re-watch the match to see if there were any obvious weaknesses in the US beyond the obvious—fatigue.

Instead of a single, clear issue, I came out instead with a hodge podge of observations, both positive and negative. And yes: there was a sense the U.S. was a little tactically all over the shop, though the good news is that if Klinsmann or someone (Berti Vogts!?) seriously reviews the tape, they’ll find a lot of things to work on. Like:

• On several occasions Jermaine Jones was allowed to run the ball by himself with only Dempsey in support, with Altidore-emergency-sub Aron Johannsson isolated up front.

• On several other occasions, the US did break as a team with many options in support, almost always prompted by the forward run of Bradley, but then quickly played the ball out to touch or were stripped of possession along either flank by Ghana and forced to track back and defend, again. Very MLS-y like cavalierness toward possession and keeping attacking momentum. Constant turnovers are a major source of match fatigue, and opposition goals.  

• Ghana meanwhile weren’t forced into crossing the ball a total of 38 times, but in doing so they played into a very narrow and surprisingly disciplined US defense. Perhaps alarmingly for Klinsmann, Portugal will almost certainly keep the ball on the floor through the US backline. Brooks, Johnson, Beasley and Cameron won’t look nearly as competent against Ronaldo and co.

• Bradley was uncharacteristically poor. With better fitness and a little more passing intelligence when playing on the counter against a Portugal desperate to score, the U.S. could still cause problems for Paulo Bento’s side.

So, roughly, what were strengths against Ghana could be weaknesses against Portugal, and vice versa. All neatly wrapped in a bow! If the U.S. secures a draw, they should be a dead certainty for second place if Ghana lose to Germany as expected.

Klinsmann has several days to prepare a suddenly injury depleted USMNT to do the impossible. Again. He has more than enough material to work with.