Post-Game Reaction: USA 2, Portugal 2

30 Seconds To Glory

The United States entered this game with the strategy of playing for the tie, which is very rarely a good idea because it means having the ball in your defensive end for most of the game. Klinsmann, in the absence of Jozy Altidore due to injury, chose to play a 4-5-1 with two defensive midfielders and just Clint Dempsey playing up top. The game plan, however, quickly needed to be adjusted when the U.S. got off to a nightmare start to the game, a horribly botched clearance by Geoff Cameron led to a gift of a goal six yards out by Portugal’s Nani in the 5th minute, and now had to look to score and get the game back level. The U.S. did a great job maintaining their composure after going down early and actually outplayed Portugal for almost the entire game. Jermaine Jones tied the game in the 64th minute after a picture perfect strike from almost 30 yards left Portugal goalkeeper Beto merely a flat-footed spectator. In the 81st minute Dempsey converted on an easy tap in off his stomach from a cross courtesy of Graham Zusi and the U.S., needing a win to guarantee a spot in the Round of 16, looked like they were on their way to a victory. However, when you are facing Ballon d’Or award winner Cristiano Ronaldo you cannot afford to celebrate until the final whistle blows, which is exactly what led to the game-tying goal for Portugal. With the last play of the game the United States seemingly fell asleep and Ronaldo sent in a beautiful cross that was headed home by a cutting Varela, who was undeterred on his way to the ball. Portugal’s slim hopes were kept alive in this World Cup and the Americans were denied a guaranteed spot in the knockout stage.

The Erratic Play of Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley

As the lone striker up front, Dempsey was impressive in the first half but completely disappeared in the second. If it were not for Dempsey’s goal in the 81st minute, you could have guessed that the forward did not even come out of the locker room after halftime. He rarely, if ever, touched the ball and seemed to be walking around more than looking to find open space to get the ball. His goal to take the lead late was more of a result of him being in the right place at the right time than the creative skills he demonstrated during his first goal of the tournament against Ghana. With scoring options limited because of Altidore’s injury, Dempsey needs to make his presence known more often.

Michael Bradley played a solid first half against Portugal as well, distributing the ball to the flanks and creating well with Dempsey on a number of occasions. However, in the second half we saw a Bradley way too similar to the one displayed in the U.S.’s first World Cup game. A very lackadaisical Bradley caused the U.S. to lose momentum and possession courtesy of lazy passes and poor decision making, errors that a player of his caliber should not be committing. On a counterattack opportunity for the United States Bradley had the ball about 30 yards out from Portugal’s goal with numbers in favor of the Americans and an option on either side of him. Bradley wound up holding the ball for too long and then made an extremely lethargic pass to his right, behind his intended target, that was easily intercepted by a Portuguese defender.

Later on, with the States still needing a goal to tie the game, Bradley was given a gift-wrapped opportunity right in front of an open net. A through ball by Zusi on the right side sent Fabian Johnson to the end line, which caused Beto to run off his goal line in order to try and beat Johnson to the spot of the ball. Johnson reached it first and laid the ball off to Bradley on the ground six yards out and right in the middle of the field. Bradley, who went for accuracy instead of power, got neither and the shot, which was kicked right in the middle for the goal, was deflected off of the goal line by defender Ricardo Costa’s knee. Bradley’s shot could have gone any number of ways and he still could have scored, but he shot the ball right in the middle of the goal, the one place a defender was standing and waiting to make the save. Instead of aiming for anywhere near the corners of the goal, Bradley went down the center and as a result the U.S. was denied the easiest goal it could have asked for.

Lastly, five minutes of stoppage time were given at the end of the 90 minutes. With 94:23 showing on the clock and the U.S. up a goal, Bradley received the ball in his offensive end, close to midfield, and was way too easily pushed off the ball by Éder of Portugal. Bradley showed little interest in trying to fight to get the ball back or in hustling to play defense and as a result, the ball was pushed forward to Ronaldo which led to the game-tying goal with 94:33 on the clock. This was all too similar to the previous game against Ghana when Bradley gave the ball away and allowed for the opponents to get one final opportunity to score instead of pushing it to the corner flag in order to burn the final seconds of the game out. The only difference is that this time, it came back to bite him and the rest of the United States.

I really cannot explain Bradley’s play thus far in the World Cup other than lacking in enthusiasm. He has shown little interest in getting the ball to the right people and more interest in trying to show off and getting style points. I said it after the game against Ghana and I will say it again, the offense needs to begin with Bradley making the smart passes from the middle of the field, but he has lacked any form of passing intelligence for the majority of the tournament so far.

Continued Issues on Either End

Altidore’s injury left scoring options limited against Portugal and the 4-5-1 scheme that Klinsmann installed for this game did not make it easy to get players forward. There were way too many times that the United States had a goal scoring opportunity but there were only two or three U.S. players in the box compared to six or seven Portugal defenders. I called out Dempsey on his play in the second half, but in fairness to him, he did not seem to have much help in the middle for most of the game.

The best offense this American team can produce results from outside defenders Fabian Johnson and DaMarcus Beasley continuing to make runs down the sidelines and sending crosses into the box. Both have a great ability to time their runs correctly and the midfield for the U.S. has done a great job of finding them. Throughout the World Cup and for much of their World Cup warm-up matches, the United States created their best goal scoring chances from Johnson and Beasley pushing forward. Zusi has also shown tremendous vision, with two assists and a number of great passes so far in the tournament. Zusi (and Bradley if he can get it together) feeding Johnson through balls on the right side may prove to be the most prolific scoring option for the U.S.

On the other side of the ball, the American defense bounced back well after Cameron’s horrific whiff led to an early Portugal lead. Ronaldo never got into any kind of rhythm during the game and was visibly frustrated by the aggressive defense. However, clearances and turnovers in the defensive end continue to wreak havoc on this U.S. squad and make Tim Howard’s already unenviable job just that much more difficult. Sloppy play and over dribbling allowed Portugal to get off more chances at goal than they should have gotten.

In the final minutes of the game, even with an extra center back subbed in, Omar Gonzalez came in to play alongside Matt Besler and Cameron in the middle, the porous American defense still let up a game-tying goal because of a lack of communication between the back line. Gonzalez had pushed up too far forward on the final play and Varela ran between Besler and Cameron completely untouched and seemingly unnoticed to put a point blank header into the back of the net.

Howard continues to bail this defense out time and time again with saves only one of the best goalies in the world could make. None of the goals he has given up so far in the World Cup have been his fault. All three of those opponent’s scores have been scored with the opponent one-on-one with Howard andno defender in between the goalie and the ball. The play of the day for the U.S., outside of Jones’ strike, was Howard’s save at the end of the first half. After a Nani shot hit the post, a follow up by Éder was knocked over the crossbar by Howard as, falling to his right, he reached out to his left and slapped the ball with one hand out of play. Howard’s unbelievable reaction time continues to be on display as his teammates in front offer him little relief. (One great factoid game commentator Ian Darke provided was that Howard and Ronaldo were roommates when they were both on Manchester United. The future greatest player in the world and the future greatest goalie in the world rooming together? I do not know what they put in the water in their room, but please let me have a sip).

Klinsmann Continues To Be A Master At The Sub

Jurgen Klinsmann proved in yet another game that he has a tremendous grasp on who to substitute in and when to do it. Last game, subs Zusi and Brooks came on to provide the game winning assist and goal. Against Portugal this game, with three new players coming in who had not been subs against Ghana, 20-year old DeAndre Yedlin made the run with the ball down the right side that created the U.S.’s second goal to give them the lead as well as provided speed on the right side to keep up with Portugal and disrupt play. Chris Wondolowski came on and did a great job fighting for 50/50 balls and winning headers to provide the U.S. with extra time wasting opportunities. I may not be 100% behind some of the decisions Klinsmann made when he chose his 23-man roster, but I cannot deny that almost every substitution he makes has an immediate positive impact on the game.

What’s Next?

The United States enters their final group stage game against Germany, one of the favorites to win the tournament and the homeland of U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who helped lead the country as a player to the 1990 World Cup title. Both teams need just a tie to ensure they advance to the knockout round. Germany and the U.S. top Group G with four points each but Germany has the edge in goal differential. The winner of this game wins the group and will likely play Algeria, Russia, or South Korea in the next round, as opposed to Belgium who will play the group’s second place team. That means winner of the group will play an average team in the next round second place with face one of the top teams in the world. Even if the United States were to lose, they could still advance to the Round of 16 based on goal differential, depending on the result of the Ghana/Portugal game that will be played at the same time, but let’s hope it does not come to that.

Germany is coming off a shocking 2-2 tie against a much less talented Ghana team and will come out firing on all cylinders against the U.S. in hopes of putting the game away, and locking up the group, early on. Germany is an extremely talented team with arguably the deepest bench in the tournament, they have the privilege of bringing in as subs 100 cap winners Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose, who is also now tied with Brazil’s Ronaldo for the most career World Cup goals (15). The United States’ ever toughening group stage schedule culminates against a team with very few weaknesses. However, they were exposed against a speedy Ghana team always looking to push the ball up field for the counterattack. For the U.S. to salvage at least a point in this game, they will need to move the ball quickly up field and continue to use Fabian Johnson and DaMarcus Beasely out wide. That speed should open up some holes against a German defense that had trouble against a quick Ghana team. The distribution of the ball by Zusi will continue to be key and Bradley will need to step his game up and play much smarter soccer because turnovers in the midfield will only lead to problems for the United States.

The American defense will once again be tested, but this time by a much more balanced offensive attack than the one Portugal has. Forward Thomas Müller has proven to be one of the best World Cup performers in recent memory, after winning the Golden Boot and Best Young Players awards in South Africa four years ago he opened up this World Cup with a hat trick against Portugal. The German starting lineup is filled with players from some of the best club teams throughout Europe. Man marking and communication will be as important as ever for this relatively inexperienced American defense.

If the United States loses this match against Germany and either Ghana or Portugal wins, then second place in the group comes down to goal differential. If the U.S. falls behind, it is important to continue to play smart soccer and not to get discouraged because losing by one goal and losing by two could be the difference between advancing and going home.