The USMNT Gave Up a Hat Trick to Nicklas Bendtner ... Ugh

The U.S. lost 3-2 to Denmark Wednesday in a friendly in chilly, rainy Aarhus. As per usual, the results of a meaningless game will be parsed over by U.S. soccer media and fans. As a result, we’ll likely get another wave of Jurgen Klinsmann think pieces, too, since the U.S. has yet figured out how to turn itself into an international juggernaut.

The game fit the usual pattern under Klinsmann. Decent play in spurts, terrible play in spurts … all capped up by a late winner by the opponent. The sky is falling! The sky is exactly the same as it was before kickoff! How will this effect the team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia?

Yeah, hooray. More of that.

This one comes with a terrible, embarrassing caveat. The U.S. coughed up a 2-1 lead in the second half and allowed a hat trick to Nicklas Bendtner, the walking social media LOL.

Yes, this guy:

In fairness to Lord Bendtner, his third goal was fairly damn sick:

Sigh.

Deflating Stat:

Fitness levels? Too many lineup changes because of the six substitutions allowed during a friendly? Lack of concentration? Whatever the explanation, this is an awful trend for the U.S. under Klinsmann, friendlies or not. Although it’s not an easy fix, it’s something that needs to be corrected post haste.

The Hook Up:

Klinmann opted to play a 4-4-2, relying on the strike partnership of Jozy Altidore and Aron Johannsson after Clint Dempsey injured his hamstring in training. The result were goals by both strikers, including an assist from Altidore to Johannsson. Were he more selfish, Altidore could have taken the chance himself.

The goal is all about the pass from deep midfield from Michael Bradley. Sometimes friendlies tell us nothing. Sometimes they tell us something we already know. In this case, most observers realize Bradley is an effective player in the U.S. midfield so long as he’s not tasked to be a forward-lying playmaker.

How long the Altidore-Dempsey partnership lasts likely boils down to the status of Dempsey in the short term. Although he did find the net, during his brief tenure with the USMNT Johannsson hasn’t shown he’s going to contribute very much more than in-and-around the box, making him ill-suited to play in a loan striker role

Split Squad

Any performance or result in a friendly is generally massively overrated by U.S. fans, as I wrote about last month. The only lasting topic worth mulling over is Klinsmann’s roster-making decisions have created, once again, almost two different teams: the MLS-based team and the Europe-based team. Let’s assume the “core” of the U.S. team is Altidore, Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Brad Guzan and, perhaps Fabian Johnson. Brek Shea, too, apparently since he appears to be a Klinsmann favorite. The rest of team is wide open.

Here’s the U.S. upcoming schedule before the CONCACAF Gold Cup — a tournament that actually counts for something — begins in July.

• March 31 at Switzerland
• April 15 vs. Mexico
• June 5 at Netherlands
• June 10 at Germany

By end of Germany game, Klinsmann better have a group of 23 players that form a cohesive team — particularly in the ever-changing defensive line. The state of the U.S. defense is to the point where you can’t exactly mount a compelling argument that any of the dozen or so candidates to play back there should be an automatic starter. It would be nice, too, to see a game friendly or not where the U.S. plays the same defenders for the full 90 minutes.

Fortunately Lord Bendtner doesn’t play in CONCACAF.

Let us never speak of this again.