USA Lacks Identity As They Board Plane to South Africa + My Starting XI for Australia

In a sloppy 2-1 victory of Turkey Saturday in Philadelphia, the US Men's Soccer Team showed that there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered.  I can't recall the last time I screamed so often and so loud at my television set.  My dog ran out of the room at one point.

With only 2 weeks of training, and 1 warm-up match left before the tilt against group favorites England, I attempt to break down the most updated look of the US Men's National team shown against Turkey and look forward to the match vs. Australia next week.



The 4-4-1-1 Experiment

It started off promising with some intriguing connections between the midfield and the Altidore/Dempsey combination at the top of the formation.  By the time 10 minutes had past, Turkey had no problem handling the pair.  This was primarily due to Altidore's inability to make a solid first touch, hold the ball, stretch the defense, and allow the bulk of the U.S midfield to advance forward.

If this formation is attempted in South Africa, the top of the formation will need to be filled by someone who can get a good first touch, take a physical beating, and hold off defenders.  Somebody like a Brian Chi...  Sorry.  I forgot.  He's not getting a the plane.  My bad.


Altidore


I wasn't impressed with the performance of young Jozy.  If you want to be a top flight striker in international football, you must possess the ability to make a good first touch and make proper layoff passes.  Yes, he did score, but my grandmother could have finished that beautiful ball from Donovan.


Before the end of the first half, he made his one other notable play as he poked the ball around the Turkish defender and beat him to the ball to get a dangerous cross through the goal mouth.  But that was it.  


I don't know if he can be trusted to carry the load up-top for the US.  With 3 other forwards with almost no international experience, Bob Bradley may have painted himself in a corner.   Altidore is going to need to get it together quickly.


The Turkish Goalkeeper


Wow!  This dude was scary looking and his distribution was even more frightening.  He should consider a move to Hollywood where he could easily make a career as a staple nemesis in future James Bond films.


The Turkey Goal

Spector made a great run out of the back but got stonewalled at the top of the Turkish penalty area.   Where was Landon Donovan, Ricardo Clark, or Michael Bradley.  There was plenty of time to identify that your right defender was going forward and someone... anyone... needed to cover for him.   I don't know who to blame for the lack of help, but Demerit, Bocanegra, and Howard all deserve blame for directing traffic in front of them

Substitutions

Findley:  I about flew out of my chair in disbelief when I saw Findley get off the bench.  But... he played well for the first 20 minutes of the second half and then seemed to get lost a bit.    He has a habit of making straight-forward runs rather than angled runs (to make it easier for the ball to be played into him).  He was more effective in vertically stretching the field than Altidore.

Onyewu:  I wasn't surprised to see Onyewu get some time.   He needs time in these friendlies if he has any chance of contributing in South Africa.  Goodson's performance in the first half was satisfactory... but nothing like his game against the Czech Republic.

Torres:  Responsible for taking over the match for the U.S. in the second half.   Where Clark looked lost in the first half, Torres took complete charge of the midfield in the second.  Torres gets my vote as man of the match.   Bradley will be crazy not to include him in the starting XI next Saturday.

Cherundolo:  Came on for Spector.  Played okay.


Holden:  Came on for Altidore.   Took over Donovan's outside midfield spot and Donovan moved up to a striker position.  Added a nice spark.  Holden has played really well the last 2 matches..

Bornstein:  Brutal.   Was completely outmatched.

The US Goals

Robbie Findley's ball was beautifully weighted to Donovan who made the perfect cross.  Altidore was fortunate enough to be in the right spot to simply redirect the ball towards goal.

The 2nd goal was made from a great ball from Donovan as well.  Dempsey did well to let the ball simply drop from his body and stayed with the ball long enough to get a poke underneath the Turkish GK.

Center Midfield

Taking a look at the final 23 would lead you to believe that the Midfield would be the most solid area of the roster.   The performance of Clark and Michael Bradley made me reconsider this initial thought on the midfield.  Clark should not get another start as Torres has now taken his spot.

This was the worst game I've seen Michael Bradley play.   He could not get in the rhythm of the match.    If he doesn't spend part of the Australia game on the bench, I will begin to question Bob's ability to separate the role of coach and father.

Outside Midfield

I don't like hiding your best player (Donovan) as an outside midfielder.   When he gets frustrated that the ball is not being brought out wide to him, he pinches into the middle.   Feilhaber and Donovan failed to stretch the field horizontally.   This created a lot of space on the flanks for Turkey to counterattack.

At one point Feilhaber and Donovan switched sides of the field.   I'm assuming the coaching staff simply wanted to see how the worked with the defenders on each side.  This really didn't produce any notable changes

Feilhaber could have been mistaken for a Turkish player with the way he crossed a ball dangerously into his own box early in the game.   One of the poorer outings I've seen for Benny.

My Starting XI for Australia Match

GK - Tim Howard

D - Goodson     D - Demerit    D - Bocanegra    D- Spector

M - Holden    M - Edu    M - Torres    M - Dempsey

DF - Donovan  

F - Buddle

Substitution Options:  D - Cherundolo and/or Onyewu;  M - Bradley and/or Feilhaber;  F - Gomez and/or Altidore,  

If appropriate, it would also nice to see Hahnemann (GK) get some time.   Guzan has not been consistent and the #2 spot is up in the air at this point.