U.S. Must Work Quickly to Correct Flaws
The celebrations had better start now because they’re going to end in a hurry once the United States reaches Japan or South Korea in May.
Coach Bruce Arena’s team ended its marathon qualifying campaign Sunday and the focus now shifts to selecting which 23 players will make the trip to the 2002 World Cup.
But does it really make any difference?
The same offensive and defensive flaws that were so sadly evident in the three-games-and-au revoir France ’98 World Cup, the four-games-and-see-ya USA ’94 tilt and the three-games-and-ciao Italy ’90 debacle are still very much in evidence.
Compared to a decade ago, the U.S. has more players capable of competing internationally, but as a team the cohesion, inventiveness, determination and hard edge are missing. Collectively, the Americans’ speed of foot and speed of thought still lag behind the top soccer nations.
The U.S. struggles to score goals. The U.S. struggles to create scoring chances. The U.S. struggles to keep other teams from both creating chances and scoring goals.
Worst of all, the U.S. lacks a killer instinct. It is content to win when it can, whereas it should be an absolute priority to crush lesser foes every time it gets the chance.
Anything less is seen as proof that Americans still don’t take soccer seriously enough and that their current No. 19 ranking in the world is nothing but a cruel joke by FIFA.
Sunday was a good example. The U.S. played poorly against Trinidad and Tobago and yet Arena’s postgame comments were about the heat and humidity, the fairness of the result, the expectation of better things ahead when missing players return.
What absolute rubbish.
If Arena expects this team to get anywhere, he needs to start yelling, and not only in private behind closed doors--if he even does that there.
He needs to say that the team was abysmal. He needs to criticize the woeful shooting, he needs to lambaste the stand-around-like-statues defense, he needs to wake up the players or he might just as well mail in the World Cup results.
Take the first point, the lack of scoring punch. Eleven goals were scored in two matches against hapless Barbados, but Arena’s players managed only 14 more in their other 14 qualifying matches.
Scoring at a goal-a-game clip is not going to cut it when the team on the other side of the ball is, say, Argentina or France or even Nigeria. It will take a lot more offense than that to get to the second round in 2002.
Judging by the number of shots sent high and wide of the net against a mediocre Trinidad and Tobago team, Arena and his assistants can do worse than spend a week or two in the next training camp doing nothing but teaching the forwards and midfielders where that eight-by-24-foot net actually is.
Not every shot needs to go in, but is it too much to ask that a decent percentage be on target? As matters stand, the U.S. forwards couldn’t hit the ground if they dropped the ball.
The eight front-runners under the microscope for 2002 are Brian McBride, Ante Razov, Josh Wolff, Jovan Kirovski, Landon Donovan, Joe-Max Moore, Clint Mathis and DaMarcus Beasley. Five, perhaps six will be going to Korea/Japan, and only two will start under Arena’s 4-4-2 formation.
Judged solely on desire and commitment, it should be Wolff and Mathis, if both can recover their excellent form of early 2001.
Creativity in midfield also is sadly lacking. John O’Brien, the Playa del Rey midfielder who starts for Dutch powerhouse Ajax Amsterdam, and Earnie Stewart, also based in the Netherlands, are rare exceptions, but they can’t carry the entire load.
All too much emphasis is placed on Claudio Reyna, but Arena is smart enough to know that Reyna’s success depends as much on the players around him as on his own abilities.
Defensively, only Jeff Agoos has come through the qualifying wars without being scarred, and even he has made his share of mistakes.
The midfield’s inability to keep possession of the ball for any length of time under pressure does not help the defense either.
The only positive note to be found is in the goalkeeping, where veterans Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel rank among the best in the world. If the U.S. gets shelled in Japan or South Korea, it won’t be because of goalkeeping errors.
Arena has six months to fix everything else. It isn’t a lot of time, especially with half his team in Europe and half in the U.S.
The schedule between now and May calls for the team to play from 11 to 14 games, beginning with a Dec. 9 road match against World Cup co-host South Korea in Seogwipu.
After that, there is the Jan. 18-Feb. 2 CONCACAF Gold Cup in Los Angeles and Miami. The U.S. is guaranteed two games and could play five if it advances to the final.
In February, the U.S. will play three-time world champion Italy, most likely in Palermo, Sicily. In March, three planned games include one on the road against three-time world champion Germany, probably in Rostock.
There will be one game in April, then three in May as part of the Nike U.S. Cup. Opponents are still to be determined, and will depend in part on the outcome of the Dec. 1 World Cup draw.
Another factor exists.
“There is still some fear around the world about traveling to the U.S. after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11,” Arena said, “so that has curtailed us a bit in trying to attract teams over here.”
The U.S. team should be as feared.
