Klejstian is garbage. He should never make a USMNT roster again. We missed Bradley. Donovan is class. He proved his worth time and time again in this tourney. I still don't understand why he gets so much flack from US soccer fans. That distribution and touch and finish on the second goal yesterday was world class. I hope I never see the US playing a 4-5-1 again. You need two forwards to compete with the rest of the world. I hope this tournament solidifies our starting XI. I think we really benefitted from having these guys out there establishing confidence and chemistry rather than the revolving door lineups that Bob Bradley had been putting out there in recent memory. Back 4 = Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra. In the midfield I want to see Donovan, Bradley and Dempsey. Clark is okay as a holding mid, but I hope we give a look to this kid Jermaine Jones from Schalke in Germany who wants to play for us starting in August. Up top, I like the look of Altidore and Davies and I think we can establish them as a solid strike partnership up through the 2010 WC. I just hope Bradley doesn't mess around with the lineup too much and cause these guys to put too much pressure on themselves when they actually get in there. -Pop
that's ridiculous. just because harkes kept saying it during the broadcast doesn't make it true. the US played the 4-5-1 once in this tournament and it was the first game against brazil, but that was basically doomed from the start with beasley spewing passes everywhere put to US players. a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 absolutely can and does work against the best teams in the world if executed properly. germany(during the knockout stages after an unimpressive group stage in a different formation) used a 4-2-3-1 to reach the finals of euro 2008.
The US team, with the available talent, cannot afford to put so many players behind the ball and invite pressure. We don't have the touch and pace to counterattack on a regular basis. Most of those other teams that play with one forward have the midfield players who can quickly switch to attack and either pass the ball to a streaking player with the perfect weight and pace or can take defenders on one-on-one and bring his teammates into attack. I'm not arguing about the tactic of a 4-5-1 in general. I'm arguing that it doesn't work with the talent pool we have. If we had midfielders like Ronaldo or Gerrard or Kaka or Fabregas, perhaps. But we don't. So we need to space the field appropriately.
i think the US absolutely has the proper talent pool for a 4-2-3-1. there are several one dimensional holding midfielders who would do well in the defensive spots(edu, clark, pablo) but aren't going to be as successful as a true center mid with attacking responsibilities. there are also some attacking mids who are weak defensively(dempsey, adu, torres) who would be better served playing in the more forward positions where their defensive responsibilities are less. and it also fits with the weak pool of forwards(altidore, davies, and ching being the only ones worthy of seeing the field). the US hasn't really played that formation at all, but i think it fits very well. they actually did use it some in the olympics and it was successful(basically just the netherlands game which turned in the US's favor as soon as they switched to it in i think around the 20th minute mark after dropping down a goal before storming back to take the lead and conceding the equalizer when the wall jumped over a 90th minute free kick).
