What We Learned

Photo Credit. AP Photo/ Paul Thomas

The FIFA Confederations Cup was meant to be a warm-up for next summer’s World Cup.

The competition, the venue, and the team that was sent was all put together to allow for select nations to get an idea of where they stand and what they need to do in order to be successful in South Africa one year from now.

The United States learned quite a bit over the past few weeks. Here is a look at some of the things that the Americans can take out of the Confederations Cup.

The U.S. can compete with the world’s best

Some of the team’s games have not been pretty. However, this Confederations Cup really forced them to step up to the competition and step up they did, eventually.

They beat Spain, the No. 1 ranked team in the world, 2-0 to reach the finals and then they pushed Brazil to the limits, even though they lost 3-2.

These outings were quite impressive and proved that the U.S. can stand toe-to-toe with any soccer power in the world.

It is imperative though that the team came out with a sense of urgency and with a chip on their shoulder. Without those things, they cannot compete.

In recent outings against Costa Rica and the first match against Brazil, the Americans were undisciplined, lagging, uninspired, and complacent, and they got pounded because of it.

When they play with heart, when they fight, when they scrap for loose balls, when they show that they want to be out on the field and they want to win—come hell or high water—they pull out some great performances.

That’s a team that the whole country can get behind.

Tim Howard is one of the world’s best goalkeepers

Howard proved that he is in the elite class of keepers in the world.

Sure, some of the scores were a bit high; 3-1 loss to Italy, 3-0 and 3-2 losses against Brazil, and in the shutout against Egypt backup Brad Guzan was in net. However, watching the games you would see how valuable Howard is.

Howard has incredibly quick reflexes, great poise, and good decision making skills. These traits, combined with his athleticism, allow him to make marvelous saves.

Had Tim Howard not been in net for the Americans, especially in the match against Spain and the final against Brazil, you can bet the scores would have been very lopsided and the country would be nowhere near as proud of this team as they are today.

You can thank Tim Howard for that.



The team is still young and immature

Thirteen players from the 23-man Confederations Cup roster are 25-years-of-age or younger, and only seven have over 25 Caps.

Their immaturity and their inexperience at the international level still surfaces.

Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, and Ricardo Clark were all given red cards for late and reckless challenges. While the color of the cards were questionable, they were still unnecessary and lazy tackles.

Jozy Altidore was given a yellow card for taking off his jersey after scoring against Spain. While it is true his emotions were running high, taking off one’s jersey is explicitly against the rules and it is a silly way to get a card.

Card accumulation and a potential second yellow card in the game could have had Altidore suspended and the team shorthanded. You need to control yourself better than that.

They are young, and they will learn, but the learning curve has to be faster and they cannot make foolish mistakes that will cost the team.

If players are going to transfer to clubs overseas, they need to go where they will play

In order to be a competitive team, players need to be competing at a high level on a regular basis. Practicing with top flight teams is not enough.

Take a look at the Confederations Cup roster. Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, and Heath Pearce have trouble even making the bench at their respective clubs, let alone playing in games.

These guys will not get better if they do not play. Plain and simple.

What we didn’t learn:

Anything about Freddy Adu



My boy Tom DeRiggi wrote to me, “Freddy Adu= what we learned= he can cheer on the people actually playing with the best of them."

We have no idea what kind of player he is, how effective he can be. He really has not been tested at a high level.

He struggled to get off the bench in the beginning of his time with D.C. United. In a (shortened) season with Real Salt Lake, he made only 11 appearances.

He has played in only 11 games for Benifica, and barely gets any time with AS Monaco. He also has only been on the field for the senior national team 13 times, and didn’t see the pitch at all this tournament.

Many were excited he made the roster, but without seeing him play, he still remains a question mark.

Is he more dangerous offensively than Benny Feilhaber?

Can he complement Michael Bradley?

Does he defend adequately enough? Is central midfield the proper place for him to be playing, or should we utilize him on the wing or as a striker?

No one knows these answers.

Hopefully the Gold Cup will shed some light on Adu’s game.

Other musings:

Landon Donovan needs to learn when to pull the trigger. He had a number of chances to shoot during different games, but didn’t.

He’s the captain and needs to take the initiative. PK’s are nice, but you cannot depend on getting them all the time.

Clint Dempsey still has some magic while in a U.S. uniform. He disappeared in the beginning of the tournament but really stepped up against Egypt, Spain, and Brazil to renew the country’s faith in him.

Jay DeMerit and Jonathan Spector did a great job during the tournament and could really complete a defensive line that had some questions.

And how many times did we hear “Sacha Kljestan is a player without confidence right now”? Too many.

I’m all for getting a guy’s confidence back, but if he is not believing in his ability and it is affecting his performance on the field, why is he subbed into the tournament’s final, against superpower Brazil, in a 2-1/2-2 game (he got off the bench when it was 2-1, but didn’t come in until after Brazil scored the equalizer)?

Overall, the tournament can be viewed as a success.

The team learned a lot over the course of these five games about themselves. They also were able to get familiar with the country and the stadiums, which is only an added bonus next year (provided they do indeed qualify).

The focus shifts onto the Gold Cup now, and hopefully the team can continue to improve and perform at a high level.

Photo Credits.
Howard and Benny Feilhaber: AP Photo/ Martin Meissner
Adu: AP Photo/ Elane Thompson

Anything Is Possible

Photo Credit. Vladimir Rys/ Bongarts/ Getty Images

It's unbelievable what just happened.

The United States had the odds stacked against them today.

Advancing to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup was such a huge improbability that all anyone wanted today was a game they could be proud of, unlike the squad's 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Brazil.

Advancing to the semi-finals seemed so out of reach that Bob Bradley decided to give starting goalkeeper Tim Howard a breather and start backup Brad Guzan to get some key experience.

They needed to beat Egypt by three goals, which seemed impossible given that they scored only one goal in the past two games, and that one goal was from a penalty kick.

In addition to winning by three, Brazil needed to beat Italy by three, another improbability given the talent Italy has on its roster, not to mention being the defending World Cup champions.

Yet all of this was improbable, not impossible.

Brazil surprisingly took a 3-0 lead into halftime against Italy, with the help of an own goal. The Americans needed to take advantage of the opportunity given to them.

Starting Charlie Davies alongside Jozy Altidore paid immediate dividends for the U.S. team.

Davies' speed was problematic for the Egyptian defense all game, as he was able to get behind the defense and be on the receiving end of slicing through balls as well as opening up the field for the team's other playmakers.

It was Davies' hustle that started the U.S. attack, sticking with a loose ball inside the six-yard box and knocking it in for the 1-0 lead in the 21 minute.

His heart and hard play rubbed off on the rest of the squad.

The Americans were a much more aggressive team today than they have been in quite some time. They created more chances for themselves, continually pressed the defense, and finished their chances.

They were also much more disciplined in today's match.

For starters, they did not allow a goal in the first ten minutes.

Allowing a goal so early can really crush a team's spirit, while conversely giving momentum to the scoring squad.

Also, no one earned a red card.

Playing a man down really hurts a team. More space is opened up for the other team to attack through.

Going hand in hand with better discipline was that the midfielders did a much better job today getting back on defense.

Previously, midfielders were either not getting back at all, leaving the defense and goalkeeper to dry on breakaways, or they were getting back late and forcing poor challenges, which led to fouls, free kicks, and red cards.

Now the U.S. has pulled off the improbable. Sure they got a little lucky, with major help from Brazil, but they did their job. The Americans seized the moment and played a very good game.

Each player was productive on the field today.

Guzan made some beautiful saves; Jay DeMerit stepped up big again filling in for Carlos Bocanegra; Jonathan Bornstein and Jonathan Spector continued to play well as outside fullbacks; and Ricardo Clark may have learned from his mistakes as he did not commit any reckless challenges.

Clint Dempsey looked to be the lone U.S. player to struggle and not contribute much, but he became the hero when he headed home the third goal of the match in the 71 minute, the goal that put the Yanks in the semis.

The most important thing to take away from today's match was the heart the team showed and played with today.

The team played with a sense of urgency. They attacked with purpose and defended tenaciously. They came out today to play with pride and wound up completing an unbelievable turnaround to escape group play.

It is not time to forget about the horrific play in the previous games of the tournament as well as less than stellar efforts in recent World Cup qualifying.

It is not time to celebrate either, because Wednesday the U.S. will stand toe-to-toe with Spain, the number one ranked team in the world.

However, the players need to remember this feeling. Remember how it felt to win today and to overcome such great lengths to get in the next round.

They need to remember they got this result by playing smart, disciplined, and with heart.

If they remember that, who knows what can happen against Spain.

As the Americans proved today, anything is possible.

Winning Isn't Everything

AP Photo/ Rebecca Blackwell

It's a shame.

Non-soccer fans in the States and American critics will look at the U.S.'s 3-1 loss to Italy in the opening match of the Confederation Cup and view it as a major setback. They will think that the U.S. showed that it still cannot compete with soccer's elite.

However that was not the case.

It's unfortunate because the final score did not match the effort put together by Sam's Army. Sure, there were some poor plays, but overall the U.S. put together a good outing against a formidable opponent.

The first positive was the courage the squad displayed.

After Ricardo Clark's foolish challenge in the 33 minute earned him a red card, the team was forced to play almost an hour's worth of soccer a man down, not to mention a man down against the defending World Cup champions.

Yet the team played even more spirited after losing Clark. They were more dangerous in the attack and created more opportunities, giving themselves a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

Landon Donovan, who scored the team's lone goal on a penalty kick, really stepped up to the challenge today.

Donovan did a great job creating offense for himself and for his teammates, which has been a problem lately.

The U.S. has had trouble scoring in the flow of play. Their goals have come off of dead balls: free kicks, corner kicks, and penalty kicks.

While their only goal of the day came off a penalty, the Americans were much more dangerous. Good passes lead to great scoring opportunities in the box from Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore.

Even Sacha Kljestan's shot in the 88 minute nearly curled in.

Now that they are creating chances, they need to be hungry and finish them.

Another part of their play that was much improved was the spacing.

The U.S. was disciplined enough to keep their shape and proper spacing on the field, even when they had to defend the floating playmakers Andrea Pirlo and Mauro Camoranesi and when Clark was ejected.

Proper spacing makes it harder for defenders to cover a single area and frees up space for creative players like Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore, to make plays.

The biggest negative came from the central midfield.

We still don't know who to pair Bradley with.

Clark's red card, while debatable, was still a reckless challenge, and he has a history of doing such things. He is not a dependable player.

Benny Feilhaber was another central midfielder who got an opportunity today, but he made nothing of it. Although he was supposed to create offense he wasn't heard from at all, save for when he was stripped by Guiseppe Rossi, who then scored the equalizer.

The U.S. needs to find an effective player to pair with Bradley.

While this tournament may be just to test the team and individual players against top competition in preparation of the World Cup, the nation still needs to finish out its qualifying and having two competent center mids will be an important part of that.

Still, there is even a silver lining for that situation.

Jermaine Jones, who will change international status from German senior international to American senior international, will be able to join the team in October, and will most definitely slide in nicely with Bradley.

The U.S. will again have a tough task in its next match against Brazil, and will need at least a point to keep its chances of advancing to the next stage alive. However what is most important is to see continued improvement from this young squad, especially against quality competition.

It's a shame the outcome couldn't match the effort.

One That Got Away

AP Photo/ Manu Fernandez

When the United States men’s national soccer team gets ready to play Italy on Monday, their first opponent in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup tournament, they will have to prepare for someone that could’ve been one of them.

Giuseppe Rossi, a forward for the Azzuri, is one that got away.

Rossi, 22, was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son to Italian immigrant parents.

At 13, Rossi joined the Parma F.C. (Italy) youth team. According to his bio on his website, Rossi was nicknamed by his teammates the “American”. Although he was an American and Italian dual citizen, Rossi always wanted to be a part of the Italian national team, the country of his parents’ origin.

To prove this, Rossi suited up for the Italian youth-national teams. There was still hope for the U.S. though, as a player is not cap-tied until he plays at the U-20 level.

In July of 2003, Rossi transferred to EPL superpower Manchester United and scored in his debut with the club. He also spent time on loan with Newcastle and Parma.

Still, Rossi only made 13 appearances for the Red Devils, five in EPL play. Wanting more time with the first team, he was sold to Spanish side Villarreal and signed a six-year contract.

Rossi has scored 23 goals and registered 10 assists in league play, as well as scoring three times in the UEFA Champions League.

The U.S. still tried to sway Rossi to play for his birth-country, inviting him to U-20 world championships and a friendly against Scotland, but Rossi declined both times.

Instead, Rossi recently suited up for Italy in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He was the tournament’s top goal scorer, scoring four times, even though the team only reached the quarterfinals.

He scored his first goal with the senior side just five days ago in a friendly against Northern Ireland.

Now Rossi is headed to South Africa for the Confederations Cup with Italy and will square away against his home nation.

With the matchup, fans of the United States are only left to wonder what could have been.

What would the sometimes stagnant U.S. offense be like if it could pair Rossi with another young American talent (and coincidentally enough, property of Villarreal),
Jozy Altidore?

If Rossi chose to play for America, would it have had any impact on other American-born players that chose to play for other countries, like Neven Subotic?

Still, these questions are moot now. Rossi is a member of the Italian national team.

All the United States can do now is make Rossi second guess his decision with a good outing on Monday.

Off to South Africa, Round One

With two more World Cup qualifying games finished over the weekend, the United States can look to its next set of matches—the Confederations Cup.

Bob Bradley has announced his 23-man squad that he will take to South Africa to compete against Italy, Brazil, and Egypt. Like the three game stretch last summer when the Americans played friendlies against England, Spain, and Argentina, the team will challenge itself and go up against some of the best competition in the world.

Here is a look at the squad by position.

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Luis Robles

Robles is certainly a surprise. He was recently called into training camp as the team prepared for the past weekend’s qualifiers. He is the latest name to compete for the third goalkeeper spot, along with Marcus Hahnemann, Matt Pickens, and Dominic Cervi.

Robles, most likely, won’t play though. Expect Howard to play every minute of the
tournament.



Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Danny Califf, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Spector, Marvell Wynne

Onyewu and Bocangera are mainstays in the center of the defense, and they have formed a good playing relationship with Howard.

After good showings in Saturday’s game against Honduras, along with poor recent performances from others, Bornstein and Spector should reprise their starting roles at left and right back, respectively.

DeMerit played well replacing Bocanegra because of injury in the Honduras game. He needs to be ready in case Bocanegra has any lingering problems.

Wynne is the surprise of this group. He had an extremely rough outing against Costa Rica, and it’s somewhat curious as to how he got himself on this roster. Depth at the outside fullback spots is weak, so Wynne could just be filling out the roster. He will have a bigger role on the Gold Cup team rather than the squad for the Confederations Cup.



Midfielders: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Kljestan, José Francisco Torres


This group brings the most questions to the table. Of the seven, only Bradley is a sure thing to start.

Who starts in the middle with him?

Right now it’s looking like either Clark or Feilhaber.

Both had good showings against Costa Rica. Working in Feilhaber’s favor is that he is a creative midfielder that is good on the ball, which can create more offense, while Clark is more defensive-minded, which is similar to the way Bradley plays.

Kljestan looked to have the other starting center midfield role when he scored a hat trick against Sweden, but failed to solidify his spot in the games afterward because of poor play for both the national team and his club team, Chivas USA.

Many U.S.A. fans are clamoring for Adu to get more playing time. He has yet to get many extended chances to show what he can do for both club and country.

Beasley looks like a man out of chances.

Injuries have caused him to lose a step of his blistering speed. He hardly ever dresses for Rangers, let alone play or sit on the bench. He was dropped from left-midfielder to left-back, which proved to be a failed and horrific experiment. Beasley’s once bright future now looks grim, and he is leaving everyone to wonder what his next move is, hoping he can find himself.

Also, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, both listed as forwards, could see time at midfield, either in the center or on the wings.




Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Charlie Davies, Dempsey, Donovan

Donovan was a no-brainer and Altidore has played well enough for the national team to merit a starting forward spot, especially with Brian Ching injured.

Much like the midfield, the question is who will start alongside Altidore?

Will it be Dempsey, one of the team’s more talented players but one who has struggled to be active in the attack on the wing lately? Or will Dempsey remain at midfield?

Davies has great speed and has put together some inspiring performances off the bench for the national team in recent qualifiers and the Olympics.

Casey is a good, physical holding forward who does a good job finding open space and playing in the air, something that is missing without Ching. He looked a bit uncomfortable in Saturday’s match, but it is understandable because he had just been put on the roster and hadn’t had much time to train with the team.

The biggest competition for starting roles will come at center midfield and forward.

The key will be where Clint Dempsey plays.

Dempsey will definitely start, but it could be at either center mid, right mid, or forward. Where he plays will determine who fills in the rest of the personnel.

The Americans kick-off their Confederations Cup run June 15 against defending World Cup champions Italy.

Photo Credits.
Tim Howard: AP Photo/ Paul Connors
Oguchi Onyewu: AP Photo/ Chris Carlson
Benny Feilhaber: AP Photo/ Nam Y. Huh
Clint Dempsey: AP Photo/ Eduardo Verdugo