To borrow shamelessly from Jonathan Wilson's new book "The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches", I thought it'd be fun to try to tell the story of the 2010 cycle in five games. Clearly, I have not let go of this past World Cup. The goal here is not to recap the best wins or worst losses, but to try and select the five games that revealed the most about our team these past four years. 1. US 3 - Ecuador 0 March 2007 The Dawn of Landon Donovan and Bob Bradley. After a B-team friendly win over Denmark and another 2-0 Mexico win where we scored two against the run of play, this was the game I believe moved Bradley from interim to full-time coach. More importantly, with his outstanding hat-trick, this was the game where Donovan made me believe he was over the 2006 World Cup. Also notable for a few other reasons: the introduction of Benny Feilhaber and the flirtation with him at the base of the diamond and Donovan at the point; Michael Bradley changing the tone of the game and shape of the team as a second half sub; Brian Ching showing his value as a target striker. 2. Spain 1 - US 0 June 2008 The second of the three high-profile friendlies, sandwiched by England away and Argentina at home, featured an opponent that would win the Euro 2008 tournament later that month. I view this game as a key transition point that showed us we weren't yet good enough as a team. Guys like Eddie Lewis, Eddie Johnson, and Josh Wolff had fewer appearances after this game. Additionally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Freddy Adu enigma. His first-half slalom run offered a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been, his second-half sub a showcase of what was to come. This game also showed just how important finishing was to our style of play (if we only have a few chances, we better convert), and was one of the first games (if not the first?) to feature a Bradley-Edu central mid pairing. 3. Costa Rica 3 - US 1 June 2009 Arguably the lowest point of the cycle, and my vote for the biggest trainwreck given the stage of World Cup qualifying. This was the most confusing starting 11 in one of the most difficult situations: Wynne and Beasley as outside backs (neither of whom saw much time there again); Torres, Bradley, and Mastroeni as a 3-man midfield; Altidore as a wing with Donovan as the #9. This game amplified two characteristics that plagued the team: an inability to play well outside a 4-4-2, and giving up goals early in the game. This also served as the great litmus test of the value of Torres to the team, and the dilemma of a good player who doesn't necessarily fit with a style of play. 4. US 2 - Spain 0 June 2009 One of the greatest victories in US history also served as a template for how we'd go for results against top teams. It starts at the back, with Howard playing well and Onyewu/DeMerit cleaning up everything in the air. We'd rely upon tremendous workrate from our four midfielders (with the two central mids sitting deeper), and look to counter through Dempsey, Donovan, and Bradley running deeper. Finally, Davies-Altidore provided an outstanding striker tandem for the counter-attack, both equipped with the best combination of pace, strength, and combination play we've seen from a US striker tandem. This game demonstrated that both of those guys could be a handful for any centerbacks, and in particular, replacing Davies' pace became the white whale for Bradley a year later. This match also served as a guide for the Swiss in Spain's only other loss in a 4-year time period, and highlighted the predatory and positioning excellence of Dempsey's goal-scoring. 5. US 1 - Algeria 0 June 2010 I also believe that one can't tell the story of the US team without mentioning its spirit and perseverance. A different team that lacked in resolve would have had reasonable excuses for not advancing in two legit goals disallowed. We dominated the run of play, and though we were lucky to have an Algerian shot hit the crossbar, we were equally unlucky - or lacked composure - in front of goal. Then, in stoppage time, we prevail, appropriately enough on a counter-attacking goal that demonstrated the pace and stamina of the US team. It was a tremendous moment, and certainly one of the happiest in my 20 years of US fandom.
Ecuador was 3-1. I would have picked the 2007 Gold Cup Final instead of that game. The Slovenia game was probably a bit more tactically interesting than the Algeria game, since it showed the effectiveness we would have playing 4-5-1 in the next two games. Overall, though, you made good choices.
Instead of Costa Rica, I would put in El Salvador away. CR was a bit of an outlier -- the odd 4-3-3, the unusual squad selection choices, the turf, etc. Getting overrun at Saprissa is almost a given now, like the one goal loss in Azteca or the two goal win in Columbus. El Salvador was, for me, the signature match of qualifying (Honduras home is #2), and almost a carbon copy of the WC in some ways: giving up early goals, defensively naive, terrible spacing, playing hard from behind with speed and tenacity, reliance on luck and grit to pull out a late loss. ES reminded me of Slovenia, Ghana and Algeria. Edit: corrected that it was ES not Guatemala (thanks to Marko 72)
Are you referring to El Salvador away? The Guatemala away game (the first of the semi round) was simply an exercise in surviving an ugly game (remember that flying headbutt to take out Eddie Lewis, though I forgot who was the perpetrator?), with Bocanegra heading home on a corner kick to grind out a 1-0 result in a match with very few chances for either side.
Good call on Ecuador...wish I could edit the post! I certainly had the Gold Cup Final in contention. It seemed weird to write a 4-year representative recap without Mexico, but what seemed to transpire in that game - free-flowing soccer from both, outstanding goal-keeping, rivals pushing each other to new heights - didn't really play out through the rest of the cycle. Each side won as expected at home during qualifying, and the 2-2 friendly draw was most notable for Altidore's goal (well, and Dempsey having one wrongly disallowed ) If we had a list of best wins, it would be Top 5.
Yeah, the Salvador game. A game in which the Salvies were taken lightly. Check the results vs the Mexis in Cuscatlan. No walk in the park for anybody. The hardest game for me to watch because I was born in Salvador. Came when I was six. Became a fan of the NATS during the Olympics 84' and proud when Hugo Perez joined the team in 88'. You'll find other Salvie-Americans being torn as well.
I would have USA 3 Egypt 0 on this list. After getting absolutely thrashed in our first two games of the confederation cup, we played perhaps our best game of the entire cycle and dismantled Egypt by 3 goals, resulting in our unlikely advancement from the group. Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Davies were all fantastic, and I think this was the game that turned around the entire cycle, even more so than the spain game. Really, this may have been one of the best games I've ever seen the US play.
I went with Costa Rica because it was the start of a cycle that almost cost Bradley his job, and I think it demonstrated the clash between Bradley's tactical knowledge base and how it was implemented on the US team. This illuminating Grant Wahl interview reveals more: Bradley sees the Champions League final late May 2007, and it features two teams playing with attacking fullbacks, three central midfielders that include a defensive player, a holding distributor, and a more ambitious forward central mid, and wide guys playing central forward (Ronaldo more so than Messi that day.) The trend is clear: top teams are moving away from the 4-4-2. And how do we lineup? Wynne and Beasley as two athletic, attacking fullbacks with incredible speed. We start Mastroeni (defender), Torres (distributor), and Bradley (forward-thinking midfielder.) And we push Donovan from the wing to the middle. We recover at home to beat Honduras 2-1 with the 4-4-2, but against Italy and Brazil, it was back to variations (4-3-2-1 followed by what I guess was a 4-2-3-1.) And a miraculous win - with tons of help from Brazil - enables us to play Spain, beat them, and find a tactical formation that suited our talent very well. Costa Rica started that whole chain of events where not only was the Bradley tenure on the brink, but I think we also showed that tactical naivety label isn't completely unjustified.
I think the things we did best in the Egypt game - never give up, get a scrappy goal, get the shut out - we also did in the Algeria game when the stakes were higher.
I agree. Should be #1. Heck, if we had lost that game, Bradley's chances of getting fired were probably at least 50-50. A 3-1 type thrashing would have bumped that up to 75-25.
I like the OP's premise and reasoning very much, and enjoyed recalling those games (even the bitter ones). But totally agree with this statement -- what an incredible victory to watch. EDIT -- now that I read the second page, I see I'm not alone
Ecuador was a great establishment of Donovan's talent this cycle, but it had little impact. The Gold Cup final was more important in the US for developing a swagger as kings of CONCACAF. My list: 1. Gold Cup final. They established a precedent for late game heroics that ran all the way through the World Cup. 2. Draw with Argentina. Spain won the Euro Cup a month later, but Argentina was #1 in the world at the time and had 70% of the fan support at Giants Stadium. The quality of play, the atmosphere, and everything surrounding the match was insane. IF Freddy Adu had become an impact player after the Spain match, it may have been more important. 3. I can't decide between the Confederations Cup matches against Egypt and Spain. Egypt gave them momentum and they announced their presence against Spain. I can't decide. 4. Bornstein's 95th minute goal for the US to defeat Costa Rica 2-2 (yes on purpose). Once again, more dramatics and the US really rallied around each other after Davies' accident. 5. The rebound heard 'round the world. It is not possible to leave this game off.
Haven't read the book but is it just positive game experiences? If not, I would place the Confed Cup 2009 final in here. What we learned and what we didn't learn in that game had a huge impact on our result in SA 2010. Most notably...we learned that we can be a very good counterattacking team. However, the success of Davies instilled a perceived need for a Davies role replacement who we don't have and ended up just going with a speedy player that couldn't match Davies' soccer acumen.
No, I think it's trying to tell the story of the 4 years, both in terms of the team, player selection, style of play, and tactical changes. The classic example is England's loss to Hungary at Wembley in 1953. Hungary won 6-3. It ended England's home unbeaten streak against continental teams, but also caused a radical shift in how people perceived player movement on the field. It also demonstrated the insular nature of English soccer compared to the evolutions elsewhere. So, with my 5 games, I'm trying to capture points in time that somehow incorporated different elements of our team over the past 4 years. The boring/straightforward cliff notes would be: Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley's emergence Bradley as the original fallback plan Our fits and starts to find a best XI Our resolve and will to fight to the end Our increasing depth, which meant the most talented players weren't necessarily the best XI There's other stuff in there, but you get the idea The pace and stamina that became hallmarks of our best results Our lack of tactical flexibility
Wasn't that the first match of Dempsey on the right, LD on the left with them switching when need be? Finding a home for those two was the key point for the cycle. If so, this was the most important match we played since it allowed for a better player to step into the lineup (say Davies, instead of forcing a lesser player or less effective player into the the LM role. One also may argue that the Honduras match in Chicago is right up there: 1. Coming off the thrashing in CR (hey, Bob tried something different) 2. Mexico was just starting to go forward (post SGE) 3. Due to the Confederations Cup schedule quirk, we were putting out 6 or 7 players that just played three days earlier in San Jose in hot humid weather and got run into the ground. Honduras was fully rested, as they weren't going to play their second match until the following Wednesday. 4. A quick goal (again) had us on our heal- Mastro was poor in the first half and was replaced by a spectacular Feilhaber, who was making his first appearance with the NT in over a year. 5. Besides earlier in El Salvador, we showed an ability to come back, which is something that our teams had not shown in the past.
These 5 games are a very nice representative group, and I understand the concept the OP wanted. Another underrated but crucial game for me this cycle was the March 2008 3-0 win at Poland early in 2008. This was the first game that Donovan really played the left midfield attacking role we have come to value later in the cycle. Beasley wasn't fit for that match, so Donovan stepped into a somewhat different role than usual for the US. Donovan didn't score against Poland, but he dominated from this different role, should have scored a break-away chance in the 2nd half, and served up two of our set-piece scores. Before the Poland game, and even for a while after that game, Donovan still played the second striker role. He was generally effective as a second striker, because he is a terrific player. But to me the Poland game marked the beginning of Donovan's best role with the US, the engine of the team from an attacking left midfield position -- dominating through assists, the occasional goal, mobility, and a tremendous work rate. The Poland game was only a friendly. It had weak aspects such as the nearly invisible EJ+Ching striker pairing, and BS had long discussions afterwards about the US's inability to score from the run-of-play. But I believe it also was the first time the US used the now familiar midfield of: Donovan---Clark--Bradley---Dempsey Some folks forget this game, but I cannot.
But we abandoned this after one match. Once we played the Egypt match, we have lined up in that formation every match since.