Post-Game Reaction: USA 0, Germany 1

Life After The Group of Death

Very few people, myself included, expected to see the United States survive the Group of Death, but they remain standing and continue on to the knockout round. The U.S./Germany game is a difficult one to break down because both teams were essentially playing for the tie. Neither team really seemed to want to push too far up for fear of giving up a goal on the counterattack. However, Germany did have a lot of chances in the first half to really make the U.S. sweat, but the Germans had a lot of trouble finding the back of the net. Most of the same problems the U.S. have had in this World Cup did stick out against Germany one again, but there were a couple of bright spots.

Big Change on Defense

Geoff Cameron made just two mistakes in the game against Portugal but both directly led to the two goals the U.S. gave up, a whiffed clearance attempt at the very beginning of the game and a missed marking assignment (which was not entirely his fault) at the very end of the game. As a result, Cameron was benched against Germany and replaced by Omar Gonzalez. Gonzalez had little trouble stepping into a starting role against one of the best teams in the world. Many times, right in front of goal, Gonzalez made last second clearances, getting his body on the ball just before a German attacker could. Gonzalez earned his starting spot, showing high defensive IQ and aggressiveness.

Germany, however, had plenty of opportunities to score, getting the ball into the box a lot but just unable to take that last step and finish. I truly believe that Germany was playing held back for most of the game and if this had been the first game of the World Cup for both teams, Germany would have been winning at least 3-0 at halftime.

Bright Spots In The Midfield (But Still Not Bradley)

I am tired of focusing on the poor play of Michael Bradley. He had one very good over the top pass in this game down the middle of the field that was just out of reach of Jermaine Jones, who would have been 1-on-1 with German goalie Manuel Neuer. That pass was overshadowed by Bradley’s complete inability to even control the ball with his foot. More than once during this game, what should have been a simple trap of the ball turned into a terrible mistake. It seems like he has forgotten the basics of soccer, showing incompetence to trap the ball on his foot like any soccer player should be able to do.

But moving on to the positives, the defensive midfielders, Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman, showed up on both sides of the ball. Both had a great ability to disrupt Germany’s offensive flow with interceptions and well timed fouls. Jones even pushed up the field and was a better offensive distributer and threat than Bradley. After missing the 2010 World Cup due to injury, Jones has taken full advantage of his time in the spotlight. Once known as a hotheaded yellow card waiting to happen, he has become a smarter player while maintaining his intensity. With Bradley playing like a shell of himself these last three games, Jones has taken control of the midfield and, despite his “defensive” positioning, has shown an intelligent propensity to push up.

Emptiness Up Top

Jozy Altidore suffered a lot of criticism for his scoring droughts both with the United States and his club team, Sunderland, but if we have learned anything in Altidore’s absence it is that the U.S. is completely lost on offense without him. The United States had possession of the ball an abysmal 37% of the time against Germany and did not get a single good opportunity on target until the 94th minute (save  Zusi’s shot in the first half that probably would have been stopped by Neuer anyway had it been on target). There seems to be a reluctance to add another forward up top to team up with Dempsey, but if the Yanks want any chance of scoring in the knockout round they have to play more offensively. You are not going to be able to keep up with the best teams in the world by playing too tentatively and having the ball in your defensive half of the field for what must have been at least three-quarters of the game.

What’s Next

The Americans may have lost to Germany, but thanks to a 2-1 Portugal win over Ghana, the United States advances to the Round of 16 on goal differential where they will play Group H winner Belgium. Belgium is a team stacked with great players who you never would have guessed were from Belgium and who play on great English Premier League club teams (Jan Vertonghen, Tottenham; Marouane Fellaini, Manchester United; Mousa Dembélé, Tottenham; Kevin Mirallas, Everton; Eden Hazard, Chelsea; Adnan Januzaj, Manchester United; Nacer Chadli, Tottenham).

The U.S. and Belgium played each other at the end of May 2013, when Belgium came out on top 4-2. Since then, Belgium has not blown anyone out of the water in any competitive international matches. During World Cup Qualifying, against teams that wound up not qualifying for the World Cup, they beat Serbia 2-1, beat Scotland 2-0, and tied Whales 1-1. Belgium has great players on their team but together they are relatively untested. In their three World Cup group matches, Belgium played in a very easy group consisting of Algeria, Russia, and South Korea but did not win any of their games by more than one goal.

Belgium is talented, but they are beatable. If the United States tries to sit back and play for penalty kicks, they will lose. The Americans need to attack and commit enough players up front for the team to be a scoring threat. Having Dempsey sit alone up top between four Belgian defenders is not going to put goals on the scoreboard. If the U.S. can continue to play from the middle to the overlapping wings and then to the box they can take advantage of a back line for Belgium that does not have experience playing in critical international games.