The State of US Soccer

SPORTING GOODS

It was about one year ago that the US bowed out of the 2006 World Cup with a disappointing and frustrating loss to Ghana. The highlight of the US run (or lack thereof) had been the gritty 1-1 tie against Italy, who ultimately went on to win the entire thing. The lowlight was the seeming lack of desire for anyone on the squad to actually put the ball on goal.

Well, a year has passed, and in that time the US has replaced its coach Bruce Arena with Bill Bradley, and has witnessed the international retirements of some key players (Brian McBride, Eddie Pope, and Claudio Reyna). This has given the squad the opportunity for a fresh mindset as well as the opportunity to introduce some fresh faces. And Bill Bradley has done just that, mixing in a lot of youngsters (and honestly a lot of guys I had never heard of) with the aging but not aged “stars” of the US team, like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Gooch.

So how has it gone so far?

Very well, as Bill Bradley worked to get the interim dropped from his title, the team went 4-0-1 in friendlies, although all of the games were at home. That warmed the team up for The Gold Cup, the CONCACAF championship, which also took place in the US. The team, again relying heavily on a mixture of youth (particularly in midfield) and experience (in central defense and up front), was the only team among 12 to win all of its group play games. 2006 World Cup qualifiers Mexico, Costa Rica, and TNT were unable to do the same.

That led to the knock-out stage, where the US won each game 2-1, including a great come from behind victory against Mexico, its bitter archrival and one of the better teams in the world. You probably didn’t know this happened, as from what I saw it got about 15 seconds on ESPN News and wasn’t even really discussed on ESPN.com the next day. But it was still a big deal. If the World Cup is the NCAA tournament, then the Gold Cup is the Mountain West conference tournament. It’s not the Big East, but it’s not the NEC either.

A few troubling issues have emerged over the past 16 months that will need to be corrected before the next World Cup:

-Lack of a top-tier striker has been magnified by timidity around the goal by nearly everyone on the team
-Left and right fullbacks show flashes of skill, but never inspire confidence
-Gooch can’t go a game without getting at least a yellow card
-When up, the US can’t put games away. They let Canada and Panama back in those games, and Beasley missed an open-net point blank shot that would have been the nail in the coffin against Mexico.

And a few promising signs have come about in 2007’s 10-0-1 start:

-Landon Donovan seems to have his swagger back. After a lame World Cup, the highlight of the Gold Cup was hitting a game tying penalty kick against Mexico. It wasn’t just that he scored, it was that he did so with a perfect strike to the far right corner, against an on-fire goaltender who had seconds earlier been blowing him kisses to rattle him. And it was a pressure packed situation (missing probably meant losing the Gold Cup) in front of a 90% Mexican crowd (even though they were in Chicago).
-Bill Bradley seems to know exactly when to make substitutions, and seems to make very intelligent personnel decisions. Arena would do a lot of things that I just didn’t get. I seem to be able to accurately predict all of Bradley’s moves. I’m no soccer genius, but at least his moves seem to make sense.
-The young midfielders (3 of them) show a lot of promise.
-More people seem willing to shoot!

So, where does that leave us?

We’ve got some promising young talent, and continue to be the dominant force in CONCACAF, which suggests that we should be a threat to make it to the quarterfinals in 2010. 2006 World Cup was a wake up call, however, and the team does need to continue to improve to make that threat a reality. Unfortunately, Donovan remains our best player. I like Donovan a lot, and realize he has many critics. I think the problem is that he is the US’s best player. He is very good for what he is, but he isn’t world-class and never will be. If we had more players of his talent level, or, better yet, 1 or 2 players who are better than that, he would be even more reliable. Right now, he is a very good point guard without a big man who can score down low.

And what’s next?
The US has been focused on winning the Gold Cup, and mission accomplished. Now, the team is in Copa America for the first time, joining Mexico to take on South America. That’s right, Brazil, Argentina, etc. With the focus on the Gold Cup, Bradley is taking a relatively inexperienced team down there where they will no doubt be thrashed, starting with Argentina tonight (on the Spanish channel if you are interested).

Which is why I wanted to get this post finished off today. If you hear something about the US getting slaughtered, bear in mind that they are without their best players and just finished off a great tournament run. US soccer continues to build, and we’ve got some reasons to be excited and begin to forget about the summer of 2006.