USA - Portugal tie in thrilling game

The US Men's Soccer Team played to a 2-2 draw today against Portugal, falling just short of advancing to the next round of the World Cup. The US still has a chance to advance (a very good chance, in fact), but that will be decided Thursday.

How did the US stack up today? A few thoughts.

• Geoff Cameron struggled today. His mistake in the fifth minute sent the US down early, and his marking in the 95th minute let a last minute goal through. USA's defense has long been scrutinized, looking poor (though showing improvement) during the pre-Cup friendlies. Against Ghana, they looked better, but still are clearly a weak spot on the team. Germany, with an even stronger offense than we've yet seen, will try our defense.
• Hooray for water breaks! The timing may have been a bit odd, coming with just a handful a minutes before the half, but was a smart and safe move by the referee and FIFA. More of these, please.
• Michael Bradley was much improved, but still doesn't seem like he's found his full potential. The General, as he is known, connected well with Dempsey and was far more active in the middle, as the US clearly dominated the middle of the pitch. But he missed a wide open shot on goal (unlucky, really), and turned the ball over in the 95th minute that led to Portugal's last second equalizer. Here's to hoping that improvement continues this week.
• The US needs to work on how to hold onto a lead. I'm not clear if it's Klinsmann's direction or the nature of the players, but turtle-ing up doesn't work for us. Mexico came back from 2-0 to tie 2-2. Ghana equalized last week. Portugal equalized today. The US looks dangerous when it's in control, when it owns the midfield, and when it's in possession. But when it lets the foot off the gas, it gets itself in trouble. Yes, it was a hot and demanding game, Portugal knew it needed a point to stay in, and the US was celebrating an apparent victory, but this issue runs deeper than this game. Play the full ninety, not just until we lead.

The US team faces Germany on Thursday, 6/26 at 12pm ET, 9am PST. We'll be watching!

3 thoughts about | 2 USA - Ghana 1 |

The USA played their first 2014 Fifa World Cup match today against their historical rival Ghana. After Ghana knocked us out of the last two world cups, coach Jürgen Klinsmann remarked that we could see a third time lucky. He got his wish (as did I), and the USA walked away with three points.

The USA started the game in stunning fashion, with Captain Clint Dempsey scoring 29 seconds into the game. For much of the rest of the game, though, the USA played rope-a-dope, and was fortunate to walk away with the win.

Three thoughts about the performance:

·         Graham Zusi showed that he can be the kind of substitution that turns a game around. The US suffered much of the first and second half without meaningful possession of the ball. Watchers at the bar I was at groaned at the USA’s inability to keep possession and get a simple pass off. The offense was productive, but the midfield struggled to feed them the ball. That changed with Zusi subbed in for Bedoya. Though Ghana scored shortly thereafter, the US started seeing more possession, including possession in Ghana’s back third. Zusi’s golden foot was also behind the corner kick that John Brooks headed in for the win.

·         The US still looks uncomfortable in the diamond midfield. The diamond midfield is a new layout Klinsmann has been trying to adopt, in which the four midfielders are aligned in a diamond, in this case with Michael Bradley at the top and Kyle Beckerman at the rear, with Jermaine Jones on the left and Alejandro Bedoya on the right. The diamond, when operating properly, should feed Bradley the ball, for him to feed the strikers. In much of today’s game, the midfield couldn’t maintain possession, especially through the middle where the diamond often finds itself centered. Ghana did well to shut it down. Additional, in defensive posture, the US switched to a 4-4-2, with the 4 midfielders staying in line together instead of in a diamond. It’s natural to adopt different layouts for offense and defense, but overall suggests that the diamond isn’t quite working for USA yet.

·         The loss of Jozy Altidore will hurt the USA going forward. US Soccer tweeted that Altidore suffered a “sprained left hamstring” and did not mention how long he would be out. This viewer doubts Altidore will be healthy before the knockout stages, if then. Strikers aside from Dempsey will need to step up their game if the US hopes to have a shot against Portugal on Sunday 6/22 and Germany on Thursday 6/26.