What is the USA's style of play?

I think a number of fans, or at least a sub-set of them, are a bit fanatical about finding a style of play. That we need to play a certain way, that we need to make soccer a reflection of our country. For Brazil, Holland, England, Germany, Italy- I think it is the case that they have their own style.

For the US, I don't think it is, nor do I think it needs to be. If anything, our style should be winning with a diverse lineup. We are generally more fit than skilled, harder working than technically adept, and we can play keeper pretty well. If you want to call that a style, then it's our style. Really though, having a style doesn't "mean" anything. Uruguay has a style. They are the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers of Soccer. But they haven't won in years. So, win first, develop a mythical soccer "style" second.

 

I find that countries long known for playing a certain way are starting to add other ways of playing to their game. I think that can be good or bad depending how much practice time they put in each style.

Personally, down the road I think our game will change in this way also. We will take the best of other countries stypes and make them are own, and discard what we don't like or what we are not suited to do. Like playing mostly crosses when the opponents are all back, and are much bigger then we are like we do when mcBride is in the game. That's not mcbrides fault it is Arena's fault.

I think we will be able to counter. We are starting to do that now with all the speed are players have now comming in with. But you can't counter if the first few passes are back or east west. Players that look to do that all the time will kill your chances for a counter like Reyna does at an
offensive mid. If a player like Convey makes it as a starter at offensive mid then we can counter like crazy.

We can bunker and counter against some teams or go to when we have a lead. Don't be so fast to knock this way of playing. It can work especially if we go to it from a position of strenth (we have the lead) and have space and real finishers leading it.

I think if we can't counter on a given play we can have a possession game.

We have a short passing game, but it needs a lot more work.

Besides speed are smaller players are quick. We can play a more south American stlye inside the area combination game with a ton of practice, and a new coach or trainers that have experience teaching that game to those kind of players.

Other question are a National team manager willing to take the time need to expand our game? Especially when our professional coaches at the club level do not train to play this way. So the only time the team will ever play this way is when they are with the National team.

Question is are the coaches satisfied with our game? Later on we will play better because we have I think quicker, faster, better touch players comming up.

Then when people start to say if it ain't broke don't fix it. Will the coaches say that is the time to break it and make the team better by adding to our game.

So time will tell.

 

I remember in the early 90's the US would just kick it down field and hope someone could run on to it..lol. They played like a U-9 team back then.

 

nothing wrong with that! i play Mergwerta league in wales, its the highest standard for my age (17 yrs old) at the moment. To be honest, some countries DONT HAVE A CLUE about the game, compared to the UK. i went to Austria, representing my country, and, they were shocking. I seriously thought we were playing the blind school or something!

 

all i know is that everyone is scared to take shots lol. they want to kiss the keeper. I think our mentality is too weak, run like hell and get stuck in, we act like we don't have any talent for going 1v1 up top

 

LOL, guy from wales, im from Birmingham in england and its so true, about the long ball. After u leave the premiership and go into the nationwide league, thats all they do , pump it up field for a big man to flick it on. and i guess, if u do it properly, it is just as effected if not as pleasing on the eye.

 

I think we are a hybrid of styles, much like our nation. We can be very direct or combine in tight spaces. I think the style is ever changing under Bruce Arena. He has done a great job of juggling the lineup and trying to get a variety of players some meaningful time. Consistancy will be the key down the stretch. If we consistantly show good form, a style will start to be more pronounced.

One thing I will agree on is our inability to strike a ball on frame from outside the penalty area. Clint Mathis is the only one who will do so with any regularity... Landon Donovan on occasion as well. There are times we want to combine with players in the box when we had the chance to take the shot earlier, and there are times we can take people on 1v1 and decide to combine instead.

 

A professor I had in college actually wrote a very interesting paper about how each country's style of play mirrors their particular culture. Example: England - very hard working, blue-collar; Germany - efficient, get the job done; Holland - somewhat arrogant, care more about pleasing than winning.

I think the US is the same. They have a hybrid of different styles, which is very similar to the whole "melting pot" idea of our country.

 

US style

Currently I think the US is trying to find itself. I agree in saying the US can't shoot from the top of the box, then again they have difficulty inside the box. They have difficulty creating from the midfield and rely on their counter attack too much. Additionally, they are too small up front and get killed in the air.

 

My first post!!

The US's style reminds me of the Patriots or the Panthers in the NFL. Not alot of flash but a whole lotta gruntwork from all players. They focus on a solid defense, and let the opportunities come with the flow of the game.

While it may be fundamentally sound to a degree, the fact of the matter is that our national team lacks the "killer-badass-mojo-I'm-gonna-take-you one-on-one-and-beat-you" attitude.

And they need it. they have the speed with Convey, Donovan and Beasley to make it happen. they have a target man in McBride to knock them in. They just seem to play laterally and in reverse when they have opportunities to press forward and take the defense on. It was infuriating for me seeing a great defensive effort vs Holland (sans Hejduk!), go to waste with a timid offense.

You are in holland, You have nothing to lose. Go out there and press, and see what can happen. instead they play timid. Something has to change. NOW!

 

We've changed a lot over the years. In World Cup qualifying, when we had a very suspect back line, we usually played a slow, patient passing game, which was useful in keeping teams from scoring on us. When we had most of our good midfielders and forwards injured, we tried all-out attack against Honduras, which backfired on us, and bunkered against Costa Rica with even worse results, but we qualified anyway when our top players returned to the lineup for the Jamaica match.

In the Gold Cup, we relied heavily on speed and on Donovan and Beasley taking on players one-on-one. When the World Cup came around, we played four very different styles in five matches. Overwhelm a slow Portugal defense with all of our fastest players, high-pressure defense and counterattack against South Korea, bunker and counterattack against Mexico, possession against both Poland and Germany. (Yes, we lost both of those matches. But the Poland match hinged largely on Donovan's early disallowed goal, and Poland scoring while at least three US players were caught upfield protesting the decision. And the fact that we still aren't very good at breaking down an opponent that puts nine men in the box. We played a strong match against Germany even in defeat.)

 

Ditto. Without JOB and CR, we struggle to really put together any attacking play against decent sides. I saw the recent friendly against Denmark's B side and we dominated the game on the strength of DMB and LD's runs, but against good European teams we get overrun in midfield. Despite his over-reliance on the long-ball to McBride, I think you have to give credit to Arena for recognizing the opposition we're up against and changing tactics accordingly. That's why I think with the personnel we have now, it's more important that we have the right tactics against the right opponent, rather than a specific style of play. Some years down the road, can we dream "total football?" I think you also have to give Arena credit for overhauling the mess that was the Nats under Sampson - they really did play like an under-9 team.

 

I think this depends alot on who the us has as a model and what kind of players they have at hand. In this case England and more physical then skilled players. A fully developed Us style of play will be something very close to the English game. Right now its more of a defensive counter transition. Those who say the Us can play a possesion game are out of it.It doesnt depend on the coach ,they just dont have the players for it.

 

I think the key phrase here is what kind of players we have at hand. I understand that teams like Holland, Italy, etc have a specific style of play that has been taught to players for many years. The US has no style of play. We're the muts of International Soccer. I think if anything you have to talk about what style we presently have because I know it's going to evolve.

I think right now we're a "blue collar" team. We don't have the techinical skill to be a possession team. We counter-attack utilizing a quick transition. We don't create a great deal of opportunities right now. The balls we do play have a low percentage of success but the few times they are successful, we capitalize. That's why we cross balls to McBride when someone is in his jockstrap. Because it only takes one connection. We try to be more fit, stronger and faster than other teams and grind out games.

However, with the emergence of players like Donovan, Beasley, Convey and Adu (hopefully) the US won't be able to be a physical team. These guys are oompa loompa's and Arena is Willy Wonka. My point is that you can see that our style will evolve out of necessity. For the better? I don't know yet.

Johnny Almonds has spoken.

 

What's our style?

In a word ... suburban.

 

I couldn't agree with this statement more. Soccer styles in most countries have been defined over many years or in some cases a direct reflection of the countries social make up. The Italians and other European have developed their game style and adopted it, for better or for worse. Look at the very talented Nigerian squad that fell apart in the '98 World Cup. How many African teams fit that mold right now? Regadless of Sierra Leone's success.

The U.S. will define its style over the next few decades. After Bruce, we will have other coaches who will leave their impression on all of us. In the end the US's melting pot style will solidify.

 

we plays three kind of styles, as we had seen during the 2002 WC. 1). Bunker and counter attack( as we played Mexico ). 2).Possesion style ( as we played Germany) and 3). semi bunker and counter attack ( as we played Portugal & S.Korea), the coach seems very tactical and the players really listen to and do what he wants.

 

I remember that too, but I remember it from last July at the Confederations Cup.

The US style of play is to ugly things up as much as possible and win by a goal or get a draw

 

Run a shitload, and accomplish nothing.

 

I think we are still developing our own style. I also do not think it is a bad thing that we are not "locked in" to a particular style of play. I believe Bruce Arena has assessed the opponent and and the players he has had available and most often found the best attack.

The melting pot theory is very interesting. My son has been playing travel soccer for 7 years and has been trained by coaches from Jamaica, Grenada, Egypt, London, Sheffield, Iran and the good old USA. He played for one club that highly bought into the Dutch system and was heavy on the Coerver training. He is currently, now that we have relocated to SO Cal playing for a Mexican coach on a mostly Mexican team. I think the US will eventually develop our own style that will be a mix, of all of the best the world has to offer "the melting pot theory". As we mature as a soccer nation this style will develop.