Who would have thought the Homeless World Cup was played at the Home Depot Center Saturday night?
Oops, that was just U.S. budding star Sacha Kljestan with a raggedy mane looking more like he was stuck in a 1970s time loop with the Dharma Initiative than 2009 at the Home Depot Center in a 3-2 win over Sweden.
Let's dig right into this one. First off in my preview, I assumed Kljestan might not play simply because he was coming back from Scotland after a week of training with Celtic, therefore Bob Bradley wouldn't throw him out there in a semi-meaningless match if he had jet lag. It would appear that the week in Glasgow, or at least rubbing shoulders with Shunsuke Nakamura for a fleeting while paid off for the Seton Hall striker.
I don't recall in the last decade a U.S. player scoring from that far away (35+ yards) on a direct free kick. The only candidate is probably Clint Mathis, anyway. (Yes, the goal might have been massively aided by Sweden Johan Dahlin, who was more out of his element that a lost child roaming into a movie.)
It's unrealistic to expect Kljestan to ever crack a ball that true again, but it ought to put him in the mix with Freddy Adu as the No. 1 set piece taker. (Sorry, Landon.)
The big question after Kljestan's hat trick is where exactly he fits into the 2009 U.S. equation. Can he be effective playing on the ride side of midfield or in a more central/holding role with the 'A Team'? Or does Saturday's performance put Kljestan in line to captain/lead the 'B Team'?
This boils down to a couple factors. First, are we overreacting to three goals (one penalty) against a half-speed Sweden 'F Team'? Second, will U.S. coach Bob Bradley ever have the guts to break up the trio of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley and give a guy like Kljestan a chance in the first XI?
More realistically, Kljestan -- if Saturday's showing counts for anything -- deserves a shot to line up next to Michael Bradley in the center of the midfield in the newish 4-5-1 formation Bob Bradley has featured as of late. He did make an impact all over the field on top of the goals. Can Kljestan, though, be an effective link between the defense and offense? Considering the other options are the likes or Ricardo Clark (who was actually pretty decent Saturday night) and Pablo Mastroeni, Kljestan ought to get a look, though that look won't be against Mexico next month.
A lot of his future could tie into if he does move to Celtic, which must have enjoyed last night's showing. If he moves to the SPL, he might not crack the starting lineup immediately (Celtic has a yuge first team.) Would Bradley call him into the team if, like Adu, Altidore, etc., is riding the pine in Europe? Of course, will Kljestan get a lot better with another campaign with Chivas USA?
Other that Kljestan firmly announcing his breakout, not too much else can be culled from the Sweden match.
Most disappointingly neither Charlie Davies or Kenny Cooper furthered their cause as a starting forward. Cooper had the best chance to score, late, when he broke in on the goal but brought the ball too far outside, allowing the Sweden keeper to block it. These two certainly moved toward the Gold Cup team than the Confederations Cup squad. (Speaking of which, did anyone else's heart drop when FSC's Max Bretos erroneously reported in the first half that USSF boss Sunil Gulati said they'd send their better players to the Gold Cup. Yikes. Thankfully that was corrected in the second half, with the Confederations Cup getting top billing.)
Semi-surprisingly Brian Ching was probably the best U.S. player last night. The big Hawaiian was all other the field and his bringing down of Danny Califf's longball, setting up Kljestan's third goal, was the highlight of the night. The only problem with Ching, is two-fold -- do we really want our forward playing that much defense? and can Ching actually hit the target? For one night at least Ching did his best poor-man's Brian McBride impression, albeit without the goals.
The young U.S. backs were okay. On the left, Jonathan Bornstein got forward to send in crossing, which need much more improved accuracy. The Bornstein v. Heath Pearce battle ought to be an epic, right on par with Ali v. Frazier. Marvel Wynne, on the right, needs to become more of a soccer player. He's super fast, but other than that leaves a lot to be desired. Against a good team he'd be exposed and picked apart. Sweden's second goal came when Alexander Farnerud had acres of space to serve a cross in from the left.
Quick hitters -- Troy Perkins did nothing much to distinguish himself in the backup goalie roulette. It was a tough angle, but he might have been able to stop the second goal off the head of Mikael Dahlberg. As long as Tim Howard stays healthy, goalie isn't a pressing concern. ... I think we'll see a decent amount of John Thorrington this year. He's a professional. He won't bring a ton to the table, but he won't take away from it and can play multiple positions. ... Danny 'Buckcherry' Califf was your captain last night and was decent enough, I guess. Could he be counted on to start should Bradley ever move Carlos Bocanegra to left back? The rest of the US defense (Michael Parkhurst and Ugo Ihemelu were forgettable.) ... Robbie Rogers was okay and seems like a certain Gold Cupper. On the other hand, I've seen enough of Chris Rolfe. It's just not going to happen for him. Sorry.. ... Good to see that Eddie Gaven is a little less strung out. It's good to see he could take a break from recording the new Muse album and come on as a second half sub. ... Why didn't the USSF give away tickets to the HDC, just to make it look better on t.v.?
Final thoughts -- Did we learn very much? Not really. The two players that have played with the full national team the most -- Ching and Kljestan -- performed the best. The rest of the players showed they could be used in a pinch for 2010 CONCACAF qualifiers and the Gold Cup. Nobody was truly awful, so that's nice. Too much can't be read into this, either, since Sweden was pretty miserable until the final 30 minutes of the match.
Overall the U.S. did seem pretty lively and confident on the ball, though the lack of finishing from Cooper or Davies was a let down.
Then again, at least Kljestan emerged as a viable player in the starting XI. My only quibble, next time you skip back in time, Sacha, grab me a Dharma jumpsuit from Pierre Chang.
Oops, that was just U.S. budding star Sacha Kljestan with a raggedy mane looking more like he was stuck in a 1970s time loop with the Dharma Initiative than 2009 at the Home Depot Center in a 3-2 win over Sweden.
Let's dig right into this one. First off in my preview, I assumed Kljestan might not play simply because he was coming back from Scotland after a week of training with Celtic, therefore Bob Bradley wouldn't throw him out there in a semi-meaningless match if he had jet lag. It would appear that the week in Glasgow, or at least rubbing shoulders with Shunsuke Nakamura for a fleeting while paid off for the Seton Hall striker.
I don't recall in the last decade a U.S. player scoring from that far away (35+ yards) on a direct free kick. The only candidate is probably Clint Mathis, anyway. (Yes, the goal might have been massively aided by Sweden Johan Dahlin, who was more out of his element that a lost child roaming into a movie.)
It's unrealistic to expect Kljestan to ever crack a ball that true again, but it ought to put him in the mix with Freddy Adu as the No. 1 set piece taker. (Sorry, Landon.)
The big question after Kljestan's hat trick is where exactly he fits into the 2009 U.S. equation. Can he be effective playing on the ride side of midfield or in a more central/holding role with the 'A Team'? Or does Saturday's performance put Kljestan in line to captain/lead the 'B Team'?
This boils down to a couple factors. First, are we overreacting to three goals (one penalty) against a half-speed Sweden 'F Team'? Second, will U.S. coach Bob Bradley ever have the guts to break up the trio of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley and give a guy like Kljestan a chance in the first XI?
More realistically, Kljestan -- if Saturday's showing counts for anything -- deserves a shot to line up next to Michael Bradley in the center of the midfield in the newish 4-5-1 formation Bob Bradley has featured as of late. He did make an impact all over the field on top of the goals. Can Kljestan, though, be an effective link between the defense and offense? Considering the other options are the likes or Ricardo Clark (who was actually pretty decent Saturday night) and Pablo Mastroeni, Kljestan ought to get a look, though that look won't be against Mexico next month.
A lot of his future could tie into if he does move to Celtic, which must have enjoyed last night's showing. If he moves to the SPL, he might not crack the starting lineup immediately (Celtic has a yuge first team.) Would Bradley call him into the team if, like Adu, Altidore, etc., is riding the pine in Europe? Of course, will Kljestan get a lot better with another campaign with Chivas USA?
Other that Kljestan firmly announcing his breakout, not too much else can be culled from the Sweden match.
Most disappointingly neither Charlie Davies or Kenny Cooper furthered their cause as a starting forward. Cooper had the best chance to score, late, when he broke in on the goal but brought the ball too far outside, allowing the Sweden keeper to block it. These two certainly moved toward the Gold Cup team than the Confederations Cup squad. (Speaking of which, did anyone else's heart drop when FSC's Max Bretos erroneously reported in the first half that USSF boss Sunil Gulati said they'd send their better players to the Gold Cup. Yikes. Thankfully that was corrected in the second half, with the Confederations Cup getting top billing.)
Semi-surprisingly Brian Ching was probably the best U.S. player last night. The big Hawaiian was all other the field and his bringing down of Danny Califf's longball, setting up Kljestan's third goal, was the highlight of the night. The only problem with Ching, is two-fold -- do we really want our forward playing that much defense? and can Ching actually hit the target? For one night at least Ching did his best poor-man's Brian McBride impression, albeit without the goals.
The young U.S. backs were okay. On the left, Jonathan Bornstein got forward to send in crossing, which need much more improved accuracy. The Bornstein v. Heath Pearce battle ought to be an epic, right on par with Ali v. Frazier. Marvel Wynne, on the right, needs to become more of a soccer player. He's super fast, but other than that leaves a lot to be desired. Against a good team he'd be exposed and picked apart. Sweden's second goal came when Alexander Farnerud had acres of space to serve a cross in from the left.
Quick hitters -- Troy Perkins did nothing much to distinguish himself in the backup goalie roulette. It was a tough angle, but he might have been able to stop the second goal off the head of Mikael Dahlberg. As long as Tim Howard stays healthy, goalie isn't a pressing concern. ... I think we'll see a decent amount of John Thorrington this year. He's a professional. He won't bring a ton to the table, but he won't take away from it and can play multiple positions. ... Danny 'Buckcherry' Califf was your captain last night and was decent enough, I guess. Could he be counted on to start should Bradley ever move Carlos Bocanegra to left back? The rest of the US defense (Michael Parkhurst and Ugo Ihemelu were forgettable.) ... Robbie Rogers was okay and seems like a certain Gold Cupper. On the other hand, I've seen enough of Chris Rolfe. It's just not going to happen for him. Sorry.. ... Good to see that Eddie Gaven is a little less strung out. It's good to see he could take a break from recording the new Muse album and come on as a second half sub. ... Why didn't the USSF give away tickets to the HDC, just to make it look better on t.v.?
Final thoughts -- Did we learn very much? Not really. The two players that have played with the full national team the most -- Ching and Kljestan -- performed the best. The rest of the players showed they could be used in a pinch for 2010 CONCACAF qualifiers and the Gold Cup. Nobody was truly awful, so that's nice. Too much can't be read into this, either, since Sweden was pretty miserable until the final 30 minutes of the match.
Overall the U.S. did seem pretty lively and confident on the ball, though the lack of finishing from Cooper or Davies was a let down.
Then again, at least Kljestan emerged as a viable player in the starting XI. My only quibble, next time you skip back in time, Sacha, grab me a Dharma jumpsuit from Pierre Chang.
Labels: bob bradley, Friendlies, Soccer, USMNT
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