Klinsmann is here

US Fans, Klinsmann has landed.

Expectations were kept low, and thankfully so. It was a friendly, it was his first game, and the US camp had three days of practice. As I expected, the game was fairly painful to watch. In general, I was confused about the formation, but that can’t be blamed on the coach entirely. It was a constant, nebulous shift between a 4-4-1-1 and 4-5-1 Flat, and I suspect Donovan’s midfield instincts to drop back too far caused this confusion. But this is understandable. No team can have a 100% understanding of a coach’s formation after three days.

A back four consisting of the experienced (perhaps too much so) Cherundolo and Bocanegra, supplemented by relative newcomers Castillo and Orozco were poor. Where effort was apparent, composure was lacking. A lapse of concentration lead to a situation where Michael “MarsAttacks” Bradley was somehow left to manmark Mexico’s frontman, when by all tactical rules it should have been a defender. Klinsmann expects a certain level of comfort on the ball from his defenders, having inherited the mantra of his German football upbringing. I know he will want his defenders to be able to play the ball out in their own right instead of hoofing it up in panic. This is my own conjecture, take it with whatever amount of salt, but I think he called up US’s latino contingent to play in the back four, as they represent a group that is typically trained from a younger age than their white/african-american teammates who will get serious about soccer during middle school. I don’t think that necessarily worked out, judging by Castillo and Orozco’s fumbling and bumbling, but I have good reason to believe that there is talent in the MLS that can be found to this end.

What troubled me more was the midfield. Predictable passing patterns led to Beckerman and Jermaine Jones spraying the ball out to Jose Torres and Bradley, who then didn’t do anything meaningful with it other than drop it back to Castillo or Cherundolo. A 4-5-1, which the US displayed most, by design works best through an exploitation of the middle – two destroyers having a competent trequartista (if 4-5-1 triangular), or a advanced playmaker (if 4-5-1 Flat) that can receive the ball and is comfortable with locating pass options in three direction: either wing or to the target man. What broke down yesterday was that the Jones and Beckerman, the two defensive mids, saw no such option and either passed to the wing directly or booted it up to Buddle. When the wings received the ball, which was roughly 70% of the time, they had no option but to pass it back into their own half, allowing the Mexicans to press all game.

A breath of fresh air came in the latter stages of the second half with the introductions of Break Shea, Robbie Rogers, and Juan Agudelo. While they are still dreadfully immature in decision making, Juan Agudelo much more so than Brek Shea and Robbie Rodgers, they injected energy into the US squad with their direct style. I firmly believe the US could have taken that game had there been 2 better passing decisions by Juan Agudelo, who seems to suffer from a common disease that dribbling frontmen have. It’s called not-passing-until-you-absolutely-have-no-choice-but-to-itis. Robbie Rodgers stood out to me as someone who made intelligent runs, and while he many not be as high-profile than the other two, he was surprisingly the more mature and tactically aware. It was a downright outrage when he was hauled down by Gerrardo Torrado and the referee inexplicably showed a yellow card rather than a red. In my eyes, he was the best substitute out of the three, with assisting Brek Shea as a very close second. Brek Shea did very well to make an unselfish assist, but he always leaves room for concern with his Berbatov-esque style and general lack of urgency/drive. All too familiar scenes with missed short passes and an inability to recover immediately against the right back continued to bug me.

In any case, overall it was not as bad as I thought, and it certainly was hopeless as it was last month in Pasadena. Change is perhaps what the US needs, and Jurgen Klinsmann is a coach that will strive for attacking football from his players. In six months time, more games under him, and a full squad of America’s finest, we may just see a better US team.