Confed Cup Wrap-Up

I don't have much in the tank today, so I'll be leveraging the comments section to go along with some hastily constructed original content:

At 12:10 PM, chip said...

I can't believe that I'm still seeing people doubt whether Michael Bradley should start for the USMNT. As far as I'm concerned, MB's starting position should be in no more doubt than Lando's or Howard's at this point. Speaking of Donovan...the guy get's crapped on a lot by even American soccer fans- hat's off to him. What a tournament. He was one of the best 4 or 5 players on the field for any team the entire tournament. He's world class. Possibly only him and Tim Howard can claim that currently, MLS or no. Is there one more chance for him to go to Europe after this display? Surely that window will be closed forever for him very soon.

Jozy will be there soon, he just needs a season or two of playing consistently against top flight defenders. I'd still like to see him find the ball a bit more than wait for it but at 19 it's still possible that he will be the first real American offensive star in Europe. It's by no means a given, but it's still possible in a way I no longer think is possible for Adu for example. I've been looking high and wide, but nobody has been able to provide any explanation for why it is Xerez didn't play him this season, but that move (something I would have thought would have ticked Villareal off enough to recall him) was bad for the US WC hopes. Maybe one year of seasoning will be enough for him. But I have a feeling he won't be a world class striker until the 2014 Cup.

The backline is looking really solid now for the WC though with Gooch, DeMeritt, Spector and either Dolo or Bocanegra (who loooked rusty- or is it old?) I love Hejduk, but isn't he like 37 already?

Responding to the last paragraph, the back line was interesting because we had four guys who could be considered natural central defenders. This gave us a phenomenal aerial presence defensively. Although we did allow a header for Brazil's 3rd goal, we really dominated the box over the last two games and easily repelled a lot of crosses. The lack of fear from crosses had some tactical benefits. We partially gave away the flanks and defended narrowly, which was a major factor in blunting Spain's attack. I've always supported the idea of physical superiority so I like the idea of a huge back line (by huge I mean taller than 6 feet). I was very optimistic any time a ball was in the air on corner kicks and free kicks offensively and defensively. We can't outplay the good teams on the ground, so we might as well capitalize on the things we're good at...like being big.

In the final analysis, I feel like our major weakness was depth. Italy was able to bring on Rossi and Toti and it changed the game. Brazil added Dani Alves and Elano. Our starting 11 was good, but there wasn't much to choose from on the bench. This problem was compounded by Bradley's suspension and the fact that Altidore and Feilhaber can't play 90 minutes right now -- they were mandatory subs in the final. If we had one legit player on the bench, specifically Bradley or a defensive midfielder like Maurice Edu, I feel like we could've held off Brazil.

I'm a huge Jozy fan and he contributed a lot in the tournament, but his first touch is dreadful. It has to improve a lot for him to excel. That's the only legitimate reason I can see for his lack of playing time, although I have to admit that I'm not exactly an expert on the inner workings at Xerez.

Since watching qualifying this year, I've been of the opinion that Bradley is the most likely American to get signficant minutes with a really big club in Europe. I don't think our true attacking players are at that level, but I could see an athletic, tenacious guy like Bradley slotting in with some of the big teams, even if it's only in a part time role.

Regarding Europe, hopefully the Americans are figuring out that the most important thing is to go to a team where they're going to get lots of playing time. It's worth sacrificing prestige for minutes. For Donovan, I'd love to see him go to a mid-table team in Spain. It's a good league for him and the best thing for the USA team would be for him to be one of the most important attacking players on his team. He really was fantastic in the tournament and it looks like we've finally found the right spot for him on the field (and it wasn't easy).

Biggest takeaway from this tournament is that we seem to have found a system/formation/identity that maximizes our talent. It wasn't easy and it wasn't obvious, but we've got it now. Formally it would be listed as a 4-4-2, but really it's more like a 4-1-1-2-2 with one deep central midfielder, one box to box central midfielder, two attacking outside midfielders and two strikers. We also have a nice automatic sub of taking off a tired striker and moving Dempsey up top. If we get Jermaine Jones into camp and Edu gets back, we've actually got some depth in the middle of the park. Donovan and Dempsey are locked into the starting outside roles, but we still need more from the strikers. Altidore and Davies were both decent, but there's room for improvement there.

Regarding the tournament itself, I was never sure what to make of it as a competition until I saw the Brazilians celebrating after the game. Throughout the course of the event, I couldn't tell if it would be a big deal to win it. In retrospect, if Brazil considers it a big deal, then it's a big deal. I wasn't really bummed out about the loss until I saw those guys whooping it up and realized that it could've been our guys. It's going to be a long time until we have a chance to win a tournament other than Gold Cup. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable to watch and I feel better about the prospects of the team than I have in a long time.