USMNT vs Chile: Nice Goals by Brek Shea and Jozy Altidore, But Defensive Issues Remain Glaring

Hey … did you know the United States Men’s National Soccer Team played a game on Wednesday? Honest to blog it’s true. Unfortunately the team coughed up a 1-0 and later a 2-1 lead and lost away 3-2 to the Chile “B” team lacking the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal. So that’s five straight games for Jurgen Klinsmann’s team without a win, dating back to a 1-0 victory vs. the Czech Republic in September.

Anyways, it’s not all doom-and-gloom. Reading all that much into a January friendly in the first year of a new World Cup cycle doesn’t amount to all that much. Four years ago, the U.S. drew with Chile 1-1 in Carson, Calif. in a match that featured the likes of Jeff Larentowicz and Marvell Wynne. That said, Mix Diskerud, Brek Shea and Nick Rimando played in both games–but that’s more of a quirky coincidence than anything else. Of course, four years later, much more of the “core” of the National Team is based in MLS than Europe, so Wednesday’s team wasn’t quite as “B” level as January friendlies of yesteryear.

Remember the World Cup? Remember all the videos of people chanting “I believe that we will win”? Back in the summer I wrote a piece about supporting the U.S. team after the World Cup concluded. The term “hype train” was used. Point is, it’s one thing to get wrapped up when ESPN is airing the World Cup and everyone is wearing red, white and blue bandanas on a warm late-June day. It takes a different level of devotion to tune in for a meaningless January friendly on a Wednesday evening/afternoon on Fox Sports 1, with the next World Cup not even yet a blip on the horizon.

If you did tune in, final score aside it was a fun, entertaining game to watch if only because the microphones inside the Estadio El Teniente could clearly pick up Klinsmann hollering instructions to his players and occasionally sparring in Spanish with the match officials. (And the dozens of U.S. fans loudly cheering U-S-A throughout the game.) For an “off” year on the international calendar, 2015 is going to be fairly decent for the USMNT with friendlies on the horizon with Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands along with the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.

So you might want to find your ticket and get back on that train.

Nine Exceedingly Scattered Thoughts on a January Friendly:

* Brek Shea, back into the fold from the wilderness, scored probably the best goal he’ll ever score for the U.S. early on, latching onto a pass from Matt Besler and blasting it in from a sheer angle on the left. Fittingly, it happened when probably about 150 people were watching in America.  Shea, now back in MLS with Orlando City following arguably the worst European experience by a prominent USMNT player in recent memory, remains a Klinsmann favorite, so he’ll keep getting chances. The problem with Shea is that we’ve seen he’s pretty useful — in spots — in CONCACAF competitions but anything else it’s a total rollercoaster.

* Speaking of rollercoasters, the team tried a 3-5-2 formation for the first time with Jermaine Jones deployed as a center defender, flanked by Matt Besler and Steve Birnbaum. 90 minutes of a friendly is hardly enough time to judge a formation, but Jones instincts remains those of a box-to-box midfielder, which left holes for Chile to exploit.

* On the 3-5-2 … the good is that it allows DeAndre Yedlin to utilize his speed, tracking up and down right flank. On the downside, it breaks up the Michael Bradley/Jones combo in the middle of the field which has proven mostly effective. Also, given that at the moment, Jozy Altidore is the only viable first-choice striker, there isn’t a need for a formation that starts two, unless you move Clint Dempsey closer to the opposing goal and try Diskerud or Lee Nguyen as the attacking playmaker behind the forwards?

The U.S. plays Panama, Denmark and Switzerland before a game vs. Mexico in San Antonio on April 15, after those games we’ll have a better sample size to judge the 3-5-2 or whatever formation Klinsmann wants to use. A formation that allows the U.S. to slow the game down and hold possession for spells would be nice, so the team isn’t always chasing … but haven’t we heard that before?

* Altidore scored with a composed finish, but for me that goal was all about that crafty little pass by Diskerud. Maybe, long-term, Toronto FC isn’t the best place for Altidore to further his career but getting the hell out of Sunderland appears to be the right decision.

* Wednesday’s defeat was the first time the U.S. lost with Nick Rimando in goal. The team had been 10-0-2 with the veteran Real Salt Lake player who is now 35.

* Mark Gonzalez, whom Liverpool fans will certainly remember, played the game of his life, (apparently) and scored the final two goals. This first goal by Gonzalez was a quality finish from a sheer angle:

The second? That’s a lot of ball-watching by the U.S. on the rebound.

Once again the team faded in the second half, which is a disturbing trend.

* Personally, I’m strangely excited — in a Larry David sense of the word — about the coming MLS season … assuming their isn’t a work stoppage if the players and league can’t hammer out a CBA. I don’t want to get into a lengthy debate about USMNT players in MLS or Europe, but more domestic-based players should help the team cohesion, logistically. Beyond that, with now 20 teams in the league the U.S. player pool continues to increase, should Klinsmann give MLS guys a fair shake.

* The biggiest piece of USMNT news this week is that Gedion Zelalem, despite acquiring U.S. citizenship, is not yet cleared by FIFA to play for the U.S. The USSF says it can get an exception, but it bears watching.

* Bottom line, 2015 for the USMNT is about two things: qualifying the U-23 team for the Rio Olympics in 2016 and winning the Gold Cup, which punches a ticket to the 2017 Confederations Cup. If you want a crack at making an appearance for the team in 2015, hopefully you play center back.