Gold Cup Final: U.S. and Their Complete Form

U.S. Beat Panama 1-0 

No Jurgen.  Holden falls to injury within 20 minutes of the game starting.  Donovan doesn’t seem to be on today.  Not sure if Corona is really ready to make a huge impact.  Our goalie looks timid.  These were my early stray observations on the final match of the Gold Cup Tournament.  But there was one more stray observation that trumped them all.  We are playing systematic possession soccer.  As my buddy who sat next to me for the whole game can attest.  I wasn’t once worried about the outcome of this game.  The transition had been happening during the qualifying games, and this tournament is the Bar Mitzvat of the new American soccer.  I’ve captained many teams, and have attempted in many different ways to rewire some of my peers that are intrinsically great players, that mentally have been compromised in my mind by the college game in the U.S..  I don’t think NCAA soccer has improved much, but it’s nice to see the national team (and similarly MLS) soccer has taken on the more beautiful approach, to the beautiful game. When I captain my amateur teams I always try to get everyone to play within the system.  Sure there’s game where our best players can just do whatever they want, and yet I still want them to make the open pass and make the proper runs.  Just cause you can take a ball out of the air with 3 defenders on you, doesn’t mean you should’ve received that ball. No I believe you should always play the statistically right play at any given time.  This is what the USMNT is finally doing.  With 10 minutes left in the first half, the U.S. had 75% of possession.  I know it’s Panama, and it’s not Spain or Germany, but 75% is impressive regardless.  Panama had chosen to utilize the old American form of packing in the defense (playing what looked in practice like a 4-2-4) and hoping for counters. I was interested to see how America would react to a team playing them like their newly found identity shows them to be at times, a dominant team.  I was happy to see they stuck to their system and did not get frustrated.  Again I have no delusions, this is not Barcelona or Spain, but much like both those teams, the USMNT showed the patience it takes to make such a system work.  Jurgen has proven to his side that a properly laid plan and system is much more vital than any individual performance.  The new style of play allows for streaky players on a roll to shine and utilize their hot streak, but also allows for the team as a whole to rely on it’s laurels when key players are out of sync.

This was the story for the game yesterday.  The team was not beaming with individually great performances but the U.S. showed a high level of patience from top to bottom.  A guy like Eddie Johnson fits a bit better up top in this style of play because he has the ability to keep the ball and reset it if need be, where as Jozy is dangerous, but the play ends on Jozy’s foot. He’s either scoring or missing, but rarely keeping possession.  The U.S. team would go on to keep their possession percentage up the whole game and take the much needed lead on a Brek Shea goal in the 68th minute that stemmed from a mishit by Donovan (see what I mean about Donovan being a bit out of sync); leaving Shea, the ball, and the goal wide open with no choice but to score.  They would hold on to that lead till the whistle blew and they had captured their 5th Gold Cup.  The game wasn’t as exciting as some of the high scoring affairs that they had in this tournament, but what it signified for the bigger picture of soccer in America is what was very impressive.  That’s now 12 straight wins, a domination of their regions cup from start to finish, possession totals never even sniffed out by previous generations, and the attention of the nation they’ve always represented and yet have never had their eyes glued as they do now.  Usually this amount of hype around soccer means its June the year of the World Cup.  But as I’ll keep saying till you’re sick of it, this World Cup is different. Very different in a very good way.  He’s not the only reason for the improvement, as the MLS has come a long way, but Jurgen Klinsmann in my mind is already the best U.S. soccer coach we’ve ever had, for he finally has gotten us to play the world’s sport, the way it was meant to be played.  And for those who think that removes our identity of being a hustling, strong, and aggressive team, I think you fail to realize you can be all that and still play with this style of soccer.  Just ask the Germans, statistically the best international team in the modern era.

About Matt Cargile

Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.

• Mail
|
• Web
|
• Twitter
|
• More Posts (92)

Comments