Thoughts on the recent US National Team games.
This last week was an exciting week for the fans of the US National team. The US played two friendlies, one verses Poland and one verses Colombia. I would have to say the Poland game was the more exciting game of the two because there were goals being score. The outcome of the Poland game was a 2-2 draw. Right off the boot (not bat, we aren’t talking about baseball) we were able to see a player we’ve all been waiting for, Jermaine Jones. It looks like the US has finally found that missing ingredient in the midfield to mix in with Michael Bradley. Jones really helped the US control the midfield and ultimately set up a great assist to Jozy Altidore for the first goal of the game. Congrats to Jozy for the goal! I truly believe Jones is a valuable asset for the US in the next four years leading up to the World Cup. Too bad he turns 29 next month.
Stuart Holden also had a great game against Poland. he look good on most set pieces. He’s a fun player to watch but I feel he need to step up just a little more and be on his game. He is truly a player would can play both offensively and defensively. It’s going to be interesting to watch how Bob Bradley uses him.
The second game was not that great and was actually tough to sit through. The defense wasn’t on their game, as usual. We did get a sneak peak at Eric Lichaj who looks promising. For his first cap he didn’t look nervous and I’m pretty excited to see what the future holds for Lichaj. The Colombia game ended in a 0-0 draw.
Overall it was great seeing the guys out in the field again. We have a lot of work to do. Bob Bradley needs to not only look into working on the defense which we’ve always be challenged with, but also figure out what type of a formation the team will ultimately play with. We have a strong midfield and it’ll only get stronger with Donovan playing. The 4-5-1 formation is an interesting idea for this midfield heavy team, but just because we are short on true strikers doesn’t mean we should give up on them. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future with Charlie Davies or a Davies like striker which the US needs. Let’s hope for the best. Next game is verse Bafana Bafana in South Africa next month. Go Yanks!
