U.S. World Cup team’s form: all over the place

May 29, 2010, 10:18 PM UTC

What says “Clint Dempsey” like a relatively quiet afternoon ... that leads to this game-winning goal?

I’ve worn a rut in my noggin with all this head-scratching over Saturday’s U.S. match.

I have to say I’m at a little bit of a loss over the 2-1 result.

I’m formally declaring the state of Bob Bradley’s team thusly: it’s somewhere between the worst team heading to South Africa and a team that could upend the global order and go smashing into the semifinals. Yep. Right in there somewhere.

My complete player ratings at SI.com are here. Meanwhile, to put a finer point on team whose form is all over the darn place …

The back line was an absolute mess for 45 minutes. Then they were pretty good!

Things improved remarkably with the introductions of Oguchi Onyewu and Steve Cherundolo at the break. That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering the edge in experience they hold over the pair replaced.

But in the big picture, there are still questions to answer – and time is running mighty short.

Onyewu was a rock for 45 minutes, without a foot out of place. That was encouraging. Then again, it was 45 minutes against a side that seemed to leave its best attacking movements in the locker room at halftime. So, we might know a little more about the big center back. But do we know much more?

Michael Bradley will start in the middle, but who will be his partner? Maurice Edu, Ricardo Clark, Jose Torres and Benny Feilhaber are the candidates. All have shown their plusses and minuses. Torres has maybe been the best of the bunch over two matches by a slight margin. But does anybody really feel good about seeing Torres – a wee man who looks like a bunch of garden hoses tied together – potentially manhandled by Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and the other bullyboys that might be patrolling England’s central midfield?

Robbie Findley had shown me absolutely nothing in previous appearances with the national team. Then, for about 20 minutes Saturday he was a man on fire. He cooled off a bit, but he did demonstrate the qualities that Bob Bradley obviously saw – even if so many of the rest of us didn’t. Guess that’s why he’s the boss.

This much I know: the United States under Bradley simply plays better when things begin going dark. They don’t seem to deal well with prosperity. Rather, they thrive on underdog status and adversity. They fall behind a lot – but they do hang in there, frequently punching their way out of a corner with a brave and resilient fortitude.

Honestly, at this point, I could see them taken apart by England like a $2 Chinese toy, throttled in Rustenburg in two weeks time by a 2-0 or 3-0 score. Or, I could see them weathering an early storm and seizing control of Group C with 2-1 win.

Yep, right in there somewhere.

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