Despite his team playing valiantly at times, the new coach of the U.S. national team is once again thinking of what might have been.
The first half was good, the second saw just one crucial breakdown doom what would have been a respectable result. It just hasn't been going the Yanks or Klinsmann's way, but that isn't what will concern him the most as the New Year approaches.
Come Jan. 1, Klinsmann is no longer the new face. His honeymoon period with the job is officially over and the idea that he is still shaking off the remnants of the Bob Bradley area is dead. With the start of 2012, the team officially belongs to the German if it doesn't already. Pressure to manage results and not just show fans that Americans are capable of playing decent soccer is going to mount and at this point, the coach has a problem on his hands.
If last night's contest showed us anything, it's that we still lack the ability to finish. Granted, Landon Donovan was missing from the lineup, but that may not be the last time such an event occurs. In those times where your star players are injured or need a rest, someone has to step up and be counted as the guy. Against Honduras, it was Clint Dempsey slapping a wonder strike with his left foot that did it, but can the Texan really be expected to step up every game and pop in a world class goal?
The U.S. has a stable of young, capable strikers who are still cutting their teeth at the club level, but the fact that very few of the team's goals in 2011 were created or scored by those players is concerning. While Jozy Altidore is playing better soccer than we've seen from him in the last three years, he still lacks the finishing touch or ability to turn and take a quick shot. That is something that will hopefully come with time, but while we wait, it seems Demspey and Donovan are the Americans' only consistent hope for scoring goals.
Agaist Ecuador, Klinsmann went with an almost identical lineup to what he deployed against Honduras over the weekend. The only change came in the back where Oguchi Onyewu made a return to the starting lineup next to Carlos Bocanegra. As it turned out, Gooch was one of the brightest spots of the night. He not only provided a solid physical presence in central defense, he carried the ball forward and was able to distribute and join the attack. Seeing him grace the right wing with a cut back before toeing the ball into space for Dempsey to run onto it and shoot in the second half was a rare sight, but an encouraging one as U.S. players are beginning to show less concern for being anchored to a position and more passion in their committment to score goals.
But Onyewu wasn't the only player to shine on an otherwise grim evening. In the first half, Brek Shea and Timothy Chandler showed what they can do if they work together on the left side of the attack, creating several chances and overlapping well. Maurice Edu playing in front of Kyle Beckerman instead of alongside him was a more productive setup, although ineffective. Dempsey and Altidore show that together, teams have something to fear from the U.S. attack and with continued development from new boy Danny Williams, it's possible that Edu could simply be running behind a four headed monster that stretches from wing to wing at the front of the American formation.
The question is, who is going to be removed? When Landon Donovan returns to the lineup, he returns to a starting role. Klinsmann may favor youth, but he isn't going to leave the leading scorer in U.S. soccer history out of the team so that he can bring a youngster along. The fact is, the Klinsmann campaign has provided U.S. soccer with a lot of things; credibility in their desire to win, an offensive flair, more of a pass and move philosophy, etc. What it hasn't brought is goals and victories that U.S. fans so desperately covet. Are they coming? Most likely, but for now the faith of the fans is being tested.
Perhaps the answer is easier than a straight swap, however. Kyle Beckerman's inclusion in this team is certainly the highlight of his national team career, but how long lived will his stay in the lineup be? While the Real Salt Lake midfielder offers a good defensive presence and can pass the ball well at short distances, does he really offer the class you'd hope to see out of a team looking to compete with the big boys of South America and Europe. The answer is no, and while Klinsmann may very much like Beckerman's character and work ethic, he knows that he is ways away from being able to run with the great central midfielders of the international game.
Of course, Donovan isn't going to be a straight swap like Michael Bradley was coming on for Maurice Edu last night. Donovan is an attacker and has to be fit into the machine, but in order to do it without sacraficing the promising talent that is taking over the wings of the U.S. attack, he'll have to put him in the center where Edu played last night and move the Rangers man back to where Beckerman was. That is, if Klinsmann plans to play the diamond shape in midfield with his best lineup. It's a formation that proved effective in the first half of last night's contest and would provide an interesting way for the coach to put his two best players in the spine of the formation, one playing behind the other.
One thing that we can take from these last two games is that Brek Shea's place in the national team fold is held down at the moment. If the coach plans on putting either Donovan or Dempsey on the wing, it'll have to be the right side to leave Shea in place. But, as previously stated, Klinsmann likes young players and Saturday's debutant Williams showed that he has the pace, ball handling skills and mind for the game. It would be surprising to see him out of the lineup any time soon and with Altidore showing massive progress in his overall game, it really leaves only two spaces for the star duo of Dempsey and Donovan to play if Klinsmann is going to fit them all on the field.
In defense, Timothy Chandler and Onyewu played the entire game and both earned himself another look with solid performances. Steve Cherundolo is showing little signs of aging, but Jonathon Spector will need to do more to show that he is capable of replacing the 32-year old. Tim Ream's horrible presence of mind on the Ecuadorian goal combined with his performance's in the Gold Cup this summer really haven't endeared him to a lot of U.S. fans, but because he is only 24-years old, he gets pass as being developed into the center back of the future. Whether or not he learns from the growing pains we've seen him experience in 2011, we'll have to wait and see.
The game also unearthed another problem for Klinsmann. The issue of depth is yet to be addressed. Deploying Damarcus Beasley on the left doesn not bode well for the long term future of team's set up, and the question of options becomes clear. Who are the best starting eleven and do we have five players to make a decent bench? Truthfully, the answer to this question is not far from presenting itself, but we still haven't seen a lineup good enough to play for 90 minutes, and we still don't know who the coach favors for the long haul. It's going to be interesting to see the team learn to play together once the coach has narrowed down an 18-man lineup that he likes and wants to turn into the next World Cup side, but right now, he's just going to have to pray for some goals.

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