Four Years Experience Required" You know those want ads. So much of the time the most interesting jobs have that tag: "Experience Required". Problem is, how do you get the experience without having the job? Yesterday I think we saw a perfect example of this. We saw Bruce Arena leading the troops into a high profile Euro matchup against a nervous and highly motivated German side. In Germany. If the ever was a non-WC game that screamed, "Bring the best players you got Bruce or you'll get your ass handed to you!" this was the game. You have to think Arena knew this when he scheduled the game. He probably didn't know the urgency the Germans had for winning, but since they didn't go through WCQing and they had a young team it was easy to imagine that this would be a big test for both teams. Arena scheduled it knowing that few of the non-German based Euro players would play. Still MLS had some experienced players that he could rely on: Donovan and Hedjuk, Mastroeni, and Pope especially. Add the German guys, Keller, Cherundolo, and Berhalter to the mix and Arena figured that he had a strong core to sprinkle in a couple of inexperienced but promising players to this level. So a month before the game Arena was looking at a starting lineup of: ------------------Keller Cherundolo--Berhalter--Pope----Hedjuk ----------------Mastroeni Dempsey----------------------Convey ---------------Donovan --------Johnson------Wolff Even now, that's not a bad lineup, one that isn't that far from what will get thrown out in June. The defenders are seasoned, the attackers less so but promising. Plus having LD provides some cohesion to the attack. Ideally the inexperienced guys, Convey, Dempsey, Johnson most prominent, would "learn the ropes" of what a WC level game would be like. The Poland game was a step in this direction; the Germany game would be the second step. Then bad things began to happen. Luck is always more apart of these games then we care to admit and it came into play here for Bruce, all in the form of bad luck. Three of the players in the lineup above all went down with injuries of a physical or emotional nature. To me the biggest since blow was LD getting hurt as there was no one obvious who would control the midfield offensively and influence the flow of the game. But the injuries hurt in another way, two related ways, actually. First, in place of Donovan, Hedjuk, and Pope, Arena had to insert three players who had no experience in such a high level game. Of those three, only Gibbs had experience in Euro play that was at a higher level than MLS. Sure, it was a golden opportunity for Conrad and Ching and Gibbs, but as Conrad said pre-game, "This is the biggest game of my life." It's great that Jimmy could appreciate the magnitude of the game, but it also showed how nervous he was. Second, the fact that Gibbs was gonna play out of position with Wolff playing a new spot as well, the team all of a sudden had mostly inexperienced, uncomfortable, question marks dominating it's lineup. The optimists here (and I'm one of them) hoped to se a real test of these new guys to this level of competition. There was hope that the team could come together and rise to the occasion. (After all what was the alternative?) First half The game started with the defenders showing nerves. Berhalter, especially showed nerves. Berhalter and Conrad had never played together, had barely ever been on the squad at the same time even. It took a couple of minutes to get the pressure off the goal. When we did that, immediately the biggest play of the game IMO happened: As soon as Wolff released Johnson free on the right steaming towards goal (great play from an experienced player who knew fast one-touches would be required in this game) he was chopped down and kicked in the head thereby removing one of only two players who could create opportunities for others (the other being the inexperienced at this level Convey). As the half went along however the play evened out with neither team dominating and fewer real chances happening towards the end of the half. Overall this was a good thing for the US. Mastroeni who had to be the glue of the defense was shutting down 1) the middle of the field from the German attack and 2) shutting down Ballack who as the half went along made me think more and more of Carlos Ruiz with his gamesmanship in trying to influence the ref. Other good things were happening for the Nats. Asamoah, who had loads of room on our left initially and was with his teammates outmuscling Convey (who just looked smaller when he had to dig in) was targeted by Gibbs and shut down as well. Eventually he drifted ineffectually to the middle then was subbed out in the second half. Convey was doing good things when attacking. Johnson was lively, even Ching had a moment. But there were disturbing trends too in the first half. Two in particular: 1) With Wolff down no one was helping Convey to create. Johnson was active making runs, but that's not the same as creating. I think this aggravated Convey's defensive shortcomings as, like in basketball, I can't see someone who's got a lot of offensive responsibilities playing consistent defense. It just takes too much effort IMO. And Arena when he subbed in Klein for Convey didn't move Bobby to Wolff's spot as the a-mid; he was kept as a left winger. This hurt the offense IMO as you can't have it both ways. 2) The US kept fouling 20-40 yards from it's goal. Even the TV guys noted that this can't continue if a clean sheet was hoped for. To me seeing a team do this indicates nervousness, tension. I don't know about you, but any Germany push towards goal was anxiety producing. That they didn't score in the first half to me showed more of their inabilities than our abilities. The rest of the half, the US did get away with it... Second half ...until right away in the second half. You can break down the first goal but the truth is ya can't keep giving up free kicks that close to goal in high level international play. Shit. But the good thing was the team didn't give up at this point. They were still competitive. That lasted until the game was moving towards the 70th minute when the other fundamental problem with the team happened: it got tired. You could see it: players started reaching then stopped running if they could help it. Gibbs, Conrad, Mastroeni, Convey, Klein, and Zavagnin all got tired at once it seemed. And Arena didn't have any effective defensive minded sub outside of Olsen. Communication broke down, the extra effort in shoring up the small holes stopped and gaping ones appeared. The Germans pounced and their previous lackluster effort all of a sudden looked good as they scored and scored and scored again. A word about the Germans. The Poles were/are a better team. If we had played Poland with this squad the score could have been worse; definitely they would have scored in the first half. I saw nothing in this game that should reassure the Germans. In a way Klinnsman is trying to do what Arena did in this game every game: play with too many inexperienced players. It doesn't help that he didn't have any WCQ games to build his team, but no one will be crying for him (outside of Germany) when his team goes out fairly early even with a home field advantage. The Nats kept trying and Johnson created Cherundolo's freak goal. Clearly though the pressure and along with the lower MLS player's the fitness levels got to the inexperienced players and caused the experienced players to not be sure what to expect. The value of the game will only become apparent in time as we see a couple of these guys respond positively to the game as they realize that they can play at this level. That may seem pessimistic but ultimately all Arena needs is a couple of these guys to respond well. I think between Gibbs, Cherundolo, Johnson, and Convey we have that small handful of players who can use the game to reach the levels needed that the likes of Reyna, McBride, Donovan, and Hedjuk understand. In essence this was a pre-season game. Another preseason game happened yesterday, DCU vs Houston. In that game both DeRosario and Clark picked up red cards in the first half. The teams then agreed to allow Houston to play at full strength in the second half, because, as DCU said afterwards, playing 11x9 isn't a learning experience. Arena didn't have enough of a team to play past minute 70 and so the learning experience for both teams was limited. But still there were those 70 minutes and that's what we should look at in evaluating both teams.
excellent post's like this thread-starter make me wonder if ursula (this Skip character) is actually either Glenn Myernick or Curt Onalfo in disguise.
Next time, ursula, please put a hint of "news" or "analysis" in the thread title. Otherwise, your threads are in danger of being shipped out of N&A.
Bruce has repeatedly put as much emphasis on the mental part of the game as well as the physical. One example was the last WCQ game vs Costa Rica in which several of the players were in unfamiliar positions. So what probably made him maddest about yesterday is not that players were outplayed by Germany (OK maybe Klein was), but that we lost due to mental mistakes and miscues.
Love the post, but I'm not sure I buy the fitness excuse. The MLS guys had a month long camp and 5 friendlies (there were 8 MLS guys who played against Poland) before this game to shake off the off-season rust. No, it's not the same as playing weekly in a competitive league, but it was enough to make us look like world beaters against Japan and Guatemala. Now, the fitness combined with mental fatigue...now we're talking. The six minutes of doom reminded me of the home WCQ v. Costa Rica from last year. Last year in Utah, we were clearly the better team for the half, but only an amazing performance by Keller during a 15 min flurry at the start of the second half preserved the lead. At the international level, players can't take a play off, and yesterday showed it's something we still struggle with at the highest level. I fully agree with the original premise that injuries forced Arena's hand into a no-win situation. In fact, Arena said playing this game was a mistake: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=362574&cc=5901 Now I'm even more disappointed in our remaining friendlies. We won't have an opportunity like this again before the Cup.
Great post, ursula. Dempsey not being there to have that experience is going to hurt him and the team. Except for Mastro, which is a pretty key exception, given what happened.
Yeah. I don't think I ended the post in a great way. I was at work and had to wind it down quickly. But as you say the fitness combined with mental fatigue was the key. Another game in the past where it bit us in the butt was the 01 WCQ in DC against Honduras where we were reduced to Stewart at a-mid and other guys not used to the intensity. Also, contrary to what Arena say I don't think this Germany game a mistake. For those players they now realize that, as you say, they can't take a play or a minute off at this level. How else were they to find that out? I'm sure the likes of Johnson or Conrad are a lot wiser for the experience even if they are feeling down right now. It would be good to have another game like this one, true. But if you think about it even if we had, oh, Brazil or France on our agenda those games would be most likely on a day when all the players could be called in and so very few of the guys who played today would get meaningful minutes and you only get better by playing. I do see Arena's point though about building up to be successful. Sometimes those plans get messed up. Still I think we'll be better down the line.
Great thread-starter. I think FIFA needed to set up more international friendly dates leading up to the world cup, and as you mentioned, we might have been able to get a result if it were not for all the injuries.
Right. I'm glad we played yesterday, too, but ideally, he would have tested 3 or 4 players...for example, in your original lineup, it would have been Convey, Dempsey, and Johnson. I agree that it's all about creating an opportunity for success. For example, in the past, I've read Arena and teammates mention one of Berhalter's main skills is communication. Arena was probably counting on a Pope/Berhalter backline to give Berhalter some familiarity against a difficult opponent. And I'm guessing/hoping that a Ching/Wolff/Johnson front line wasn't his original first choice. No worries about the work thing...I'm convinced that plagues 80% of my posts too
did we really play that well in the first 70 minutes, though? We had good plays in the first half, but I'm not convinced that we played acceptably. We seemed frantic, and as Ursula said, it seemed like every opportunity from the Germans was threatening, and the failure to convert was a sign oftheir shortcomings. We had streaks of possession, but our possession seemed to be going in reverse too often. The thing that still seems so lacking with us is the speed of thought. For euro players, first touch, decision and play seem like one motion. That seems to be where the US team falls short. One of the things I've been most about convey is his improvement in this area. He gets the ball, charges forward and thinks on the run. That's the big thing with European-based players. It takes games to get these guys up to speed, and I'm not sure we're going to get those for these players. Which makes me think we might have a much shorter bench in 2006 than 2002. Generally, a very good post, though.
Good idea, but won't happen with the condensed league schedules in Europe. You can't have normal club seasons and a WC in the same year AND multiple friendlies-- players legs will start to fall off. When would the damage become evident-- at the last event, the WC Finals. FIFA knows it is in their interest to keep the players as fresh as possible.
Ursula -- thanks for making the effort to write up such a good post. NOTE TO EVERYONE ELSE: You don't need to 'quote' the entire post to say 'good post'.
I think generally, the USA played very well in the 1st 70 miutes considering that BY FAR their 3 worse players were Berhalter, Conrad and KZ (all 3 of which I pray only see the games in Germany as spectators). That's your DM and 2 CD folks and Germany couldn't score off the run of play for 70 minutes. Guys like Mastro, Gibbs and Dolo were pulling double-duty. I agree with Ursula that this game showed a lot more of the limitations Germany has than any real weaknesses in our squad. I have a real tough time thinking that if my 3 worse performers were replaced by Gooch, Pope (or Boca) and Claudio that this wouldn't have been a much longer night for Kinsmann and co. Add Demsey and LD to the mix and you're looking at a very different scenario. If there ever was a 4-1 loss that can be looked at with a "glass half-full" approach, you saw it last night! If Germany thinks this is vindication for the Italy debacle a couple of weeks ago, they are sorely misguided. What Germany did to us from minute 70-75, Italy did to them in the 1st 15 minutes of their game and which Italy used as a training session for the next 75 minutes. Germany didn't get a sniff at Italy's goal all game, whereas we were a Kahn miracle away from a 1-1 match in the 65 minute!
Quite frankly, it's writing like this which is the best soccer writing in America. Strange and kind of sad that our finest soccer journalists are amateurs who do it for love.
Years ago we had a local fishing writer in the sports section of the local paper. The editor didn't think fishing and hunting warranted a full time reporter, so he made him cover high school soccer among other things. The guy was a fine outdoor writer, but didn't know squat about other sports. He quit.He wasn't replaced. Why didn't they have a baseball or football writer cover soccer? Why pick on the fishing guy? Cause the editor really didn't think soccer was a sport, I'll venture. This was years before bass fishing was considered a real sport ( it still isn't )
Not just them either as all Euro leagues are winding up and the Champions league too. Springtime is just not a good time for many international dates. We are lucky that Reading is so far ahead.