USMNT vs. Belgium Thoughts

The United States Men's National Team lost 4-2 last night to Belgium in an international friendly in Cleveland, the first of a series of  five matches that include two friendlies and two World Cup Qualifiers. To sum it up we were completely outplayed by a much better team with much better players; Belgium brought their A-team (minus Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel) and their quality definitely showed against a USMNT side fielding several B- and C-team players. Here are some thoughts on what I saw last night:

• Below was Klinsmann's starting XI, players in parentheses were substitutes. Guzan came in for Howard at halftime; EJ came in for Altidore at the break and moved wide when Boyd came in for Davis in the second half; Evans came in for Zusi in the second half; Holden came in for Kljestan at around the 80th minute.

• Tim Howard was good in the first half, he made a some good saves and came off his line to thwart a couple dangerous attacking moves by Belgium. He'll feel hard done by the first goal as he made a great play in coming off his line to block Lukaku's initial attempt only to see his defense snoozing and let Kevin Mirallas walk right up to the rebound and chip it home (beautifully, I might add). Overall an alright performance, not anything special but certainly not bad. Nice to see him back with the National Team after missing the last round of qualifiers with a back injury.
• Brad Guzan also had a decent performance when he was in during the second half, made a couple good saves here and there. Unfortunately for him the floodgates opened during the second half and he was subject to three point blank, uncontested shots on goal which he couldn't keep out of the net. All three weren't his fault as the first was a gaffe from Gonzalez, the second was the result of failing to clear a corner and the third was a simple lobbed pass over the top of the entire backline that put Benteke through. Don't worry that Guzan let in three goals in one half, he is still a great keeper and will be fine going forward. He's still as good as Howard.
• Speaking of the Benteke goal, was he not offside? There was never a clear replay of it but it looked like he might have been. Oh well.
• I'll try to be nice and call this game a "learning experience" for Omar. He was caught snoozing during the first goal and didn't react in time to get in the way of Mirallas's chip. As a defender, whenever you see someone breach your line, aren't you supposed to sprint back for the rebound if the keeper manages to block the shot? Can anyone explain to me why he, Cameron, and Goodson all just stood there and watched the play unfold? Anyways, he also giftwrapped Belgium's second goal by playing a horrendous touch in the box trying to dribble out of pressure instead of just simply clearing the ball. Not really sure what his thought process was right there. Other than those couple boneheaded plays he was ok, he showed his aerial dominance yet again on several occasions. Let's just remember that this was Omar's 7th cap and we were playing  a friendly against one of the most talented teams in the world. He's still one of the USMNT's best centerbacks, whether you agree or not. Tell me who's better at this point. Onyewu? Tim Ream? Orozco? Bocanegra? I don't think so. He'll be fine and should be starting next year in Brazil if we qualify.
• I won't be so nice to Clarence Goodson because I don't like him as a player. I'm sorry but the only good performance I can remember of him in a USA shirt in the last few years was the qualifier against Costa Rica earlier this year, where he was only effective because the snow slowed the opposition and forced  them to try going over the top which played into his aerial strength. He's slow, doesn't read the game particularly well, and can have slow reactions, like the Mirallas goal where he should have been sprinting back to the net to provide cover while Howard was out. I wish Klinsmann would just move on and start trying out other options.
• The more I see of Matt Besler, the more I like him. He had an outstanding tackle on Benteke in the box where he came from behind and poked it away. At first it looked like it might have been a penalty but the replay proved it was the right call and a great tackle. He's pretty quick for a centerback and makes for a nice partner with Omar. I'll go ahead and say that the Gonzalez-Besler pairing is by far the best option we have right now in central defense, their chemistry is undeniable and they complement each other nicely with their pace and aerial ability. These two are who I want to see starting these upcoming WCQ's.
• In contrast to Matt Besler, the more I see of Geoff Cameron at right back, the more I don't like him. In fact, I absolutely hate him at right back. Tonight he was also guilty of falling asleep on the first goal as he let Mirallas walk right by him to get to the rebound. He doesn't get forward to help out in the attack at all and just seems to generally struggle with completing passes on the sideline. I really hope we see Michael Parkhurst get some playing time in the coming games.
• Damarcus Beasley had one of the better performances on the night out of everyone and looks pretty comfortable at the left back position. He let Benteke sneak in behind him on the last goal (that might have been offside) but otherwise was solid. He held his own against Mirallas and Lukaku on the sideline and had a couple nice runs going forward. He's been playing well enough for Klinsmann to consider moving Fabian Johnson up to left mid, which would be a fantastic move in my opinion. This would allow for Beasley and Fabian to interchange positions throughout the run of play, providing problems for defenses not knowing how to handle continuous overlapping. As you may or may not know, I am a Valencia fan. From 2009-2012, they employed this strategy on the left side with Jérémy Mathieu and Jordi Alba to great success. Mathieu would start games at left back with Alba at left mid but they would switch places several times throughout the flow of games. This is something Klinsmann should heavily consider with Beasley and Johnson.
• Moving on to the midfield, it was painfully obvious how much Michael Bradley was missed. Kljestan was meh. He can't pull strings and orchestrate games the way Bradley can. Kljestan along with Jermaine Jones didn't offer too much creativity or possession for that matter in the center of the pitch. In fact, Clint Dempsey dropped all the way back in front of the back line from his center forward spot several times to collect the ball and try to make something happen because Jones and Kljestan weren't offering any creativity. Stu came in for Kljestan but didn't have much time to really exert any influence. Perhaps a Kljestan-Holden combo would have been better suited for more possession? Jermaine did well tracking back and had a few nice passes here and there but was only decent for the most part.
• I don't care about his left foot, Brad Davis should not be playing for the USMNT.
• Neither should Brad Evans.

Photo credit: sbnation.com

• Graham Zusi was alright, he did well tracking back and had a few good ideas going forward. Had a nice delivery off a corner to Dempsey at the far post who headed it back across goal to Cameron for the first goal. Zusi has actually become one of the better USMNT players in my opinion, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he is not a naturally wide player. It has become painfully clear that the USMNT has a shortage of true wingers and using Zusi and Davis to fill those spots isn't going to cut it. Donovan needs to come back ASAP. I want to see more of Landon Donovan, Brek Shea, Josh Gatt, Fabian Johnson, even Alejandro Bedoya out wide. Eddie Johnson does pretty well when he's deployed out left but I like him more up top. We are in desperate need of true width and pace to storm down the flanks in our attacks. 
• Jozy Altidore had another forgettable game in a USA shirt under Klinsmann. Everyone always harps on him for not scoring or not working hard enough but the fact of the matter is that he never gets any service. Did you notice how many times he got the ball out on the flanks? He had to constantly drift out wide because that was the only place he could ever receive the ball. We struggle to move the ball up through the middle of the pitch to our strikers so this is what he has to resort to. Terrence Boyd was invisible when he came on in the second half, I only remember him touching the ball two or three times.
• I appreciate what EJ brings to the team whenever he's in the game - he's willing to put his head down and run at defenders. He brings energy and pace to the table, something we don't have much of. He did alright when he came in for Davis, whipping in a couple nice crosses and trying to take defenders on. He's probably our best wing option at the moment for these qualifiers, bar a healthy Fabian Johnson. 

Overall we need to remember that this was only a friendly, and  Belgium is a better team than us and they fielded their best team against our depleted team. I'm glad that we are facing this kind of competition though because it gives us a chance to see what direction we're headed and what needs to be worked on. My biggest concern for these upcoming qualifiers is our lack of wingers. If we're going to be playing Brad Davis and Graham Zusi out wide, with no fullbacks providing much support on the overlap, it's going to be a struggle to break down defenses that flood the middle of the pitch in recognition of our lack of width. Again, this was only a friendly and doesn't count for anything. The real test will come on June 7th when we play our next World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica.