General

Setting the Table for Brazil-USA II

Jun 26, 2009, 8:01 PM UTC

Is the Confederations Cup “major”? I don’t know, but if itâ†µis the US National Team finds itself in its first-ever final of a major FIFAâ†µtournament. USA versus Brazil, part the second, goes down at 2 PMâ†µSunday on ESPN. Last time these two met, just over a week ago,â†µBrazil caved in the USA’s head. This time... well, let’s set theâ†µtable: â†µâ†µFormation issues. When not deprived of criticalâ†µplayers due to red cards, the USA has deployed of late a 4-4-2 usingâ†µRicardo Clark as a dedicated destroyer in the middle with Michaelâ†µBradley as a secondary destroyer who can also get forward to goodâ†µeffect. This has been a revelation: when Bradley plays with anotherâ†µd-mid, it becomes clear just how he scored 17 goals in a single yearâ†µwith Heerenveen. He’s freed up to make challenges high in the midfield,â†µsome of which he wins and some of which turn into excellentâ†µcounter-attacking chances. The most recent example of this -- forgive theâ†µpoor quality, but this is the only clip that shows Bradley doing theâ†µdirty work:â†µ

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â†µâ†µAnd it was Clark winning a header that allowed Landon Donovan toâ†µspring Bradley on the run down the middle that eventually created theâ†µUSA’s second goalâ†µagainst Egypt. Dempsey and Donovan play on the wings, sort of, butâ†µtuck inside often; left or right doesn’t really matter, and the two willâ†µswitch if they feel it gives them a tactical advantage. â†µ

â†µâ†µOkay, great, but one problem: Bradley’s debatable (read:â†µpreposterous) red card against Spain leaves him suspended. His obviousâ†µreplacement is Benny Feilhaber, who’s started once in the tournament andâ†µbeen effective as the first midfield substitute at other times. Butâ†µFeilhaber is no Bradley. He’s got better vision and can pick out runsâ†µmuch more effectively; he’s not much good at crushing opposition attacksâ†µand/or ankles. Against a CONCACAF foe the US could probably get awayâ†µwith a 4-4-2 with only one defensive-minded center midfielder, but thisâ†µis Brazil. Not so much. â†µ

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â†µThe elder Bradley's other option is to pull Charlie Davies off theâ†µfield in favor of another midfielder and run a 4-5-1. However, thatâ†µmidfielder would have to be Jose Torres, who hasn't seen the field sinceâ†µhe was yanked at halftime of the Costa Rica match, or Sacha Kljestan,â†µwho had a debacle of a game against Brazil. (Freddy Adu exists, yes, butâ†µis less defensively able than Feilhaber; putting him on for Davies isâ†µbasically running a 4-4-2.)â†µ

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â†µNeither option is ideal. â†µ

â†µâ†µBrazil issues. But, yeah, I think I’d go with theâ†µoption that leans more towards the bunker. Brazil is Brazil, but this isâ†µnot a vintage joga bonito side. They’re actually sort of like a Warren Buffett’s USA: big, physical, athletic, and highly dependent onâ†µset pieces and counter-attacks to score. Five of Brazil’s 11 goalsâ†µin the tourney have come through set pieces and at least three of theâ†µremaining six were pure counters. They just haven’t scored much whenâ†µfacing down an in-position defense.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe USA, meanwhile, has two hulking centerbacks on an absolute tear.â†µA replay of the Spain gameplan -- give ‘em the wings and rely on Onyewu’sâ†µhead -- is in order, except to do that you need to yank that second strikerâ†µoff the field.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe debate here is between going toe-to-toe with one of the world’sâ†µbest and doing the tournament thing to getâ†µa result. I’m with the result; if you end up chasing the game you canâ†µjust bring in Davies and open it up a bit. â†µ

â†µâ†µWhat is love success? The Unitedâ†µStates has gone from lost and reeling to its highest point since theâ†µ2002 Germany game over the course of two games. This is what statisticalâ†µtypes refer to as a “small sample size,” and byâ†µ“small,” they mean “infinitesimal.” The Brazil gameâ†µpromises to swing manic-depressive USA soccer fans one way or the other.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Nats don’t have to win. Obviously a win of any sort is immense.â†µPenalties, three Brazil red cards, a goal of such spectacular ineptnessâ†µit’s worthy of a Uruguayan goaltender... whatever. Win is For The Win. But evenâ†µholding Brazil to a narrow victory, a la South Africa, would represent aâ†µmajor step forward from the miserable bludgeoning they suffered in theâ†µgroup stage. Taken together with the results against Egypt and Spain, theâ†µUS would leave the Confederations Cup feeling confident about getting aâ†µresult in Azteca and looking forward to the possibility of escaping theâ†µgroup stages of the World Cup.â†µ

â†µâ†µGetting pounded again, however, would leave the USA back where theyâ†µstarted this tournament: largely incapable of coping with the world’sâ†µtop sides. The Spain win would be nice but akin to the ‘98 Gold Cup winâ†µover Brazil: an obvious outlier. â†µ

â†µâ†µWhat happens? Predictions are stupid, but probablyâ†µ1-0 Brazil; if that’s a 87th-minute free kick after a relatively evenâ†µgame I’m happy. If it’s due to Tim Howard TIMMMAYing away a dozenâ†µclose-range blasts... eh, not so happy. But even being here is a thrill.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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