Considering that United States head coach Bob Bradley had few of his top players available to him for Wednesday's friendly versus South Africa, the match very well could have turned into a throwaway. What it turned into was a 1-0 win over Bafana Bafana, a coming out party for a few young players, a step forward for a couple competing for spots with the national team even at full strength and most of all, confirmation that the United States has a deeper pool of talent than they have had in a long time, especially with younger players. The match does not make the U.S. favorites to win the 2011 Gold Cup (that would be Mexico) and some of the young players who did very well did it in one match and are hardly proven commodities now, but the match did go about as well as could have been expected.
Stock Up, USMNT vs. South Africa: Who Shined In Cape Town?
Several young players took their first opportunity with the full US National Team and ran with it, putting in a good shift, while head coach Bob Bradley deserves credit too for a largely positive performance in the United States’ 1-0 win over South Africa.
If you go back 20 years, 10 years or even five years, the United States could not throw a team of youngsters, solid MLS players and fringe first-teamers together and beat anyone’s top team, let alone doing it with just a few days of training together under their belts. The U.S. does not have the depth of the best teams in the world and it is still something that the national team needs to improve if they are to compete with the world’s best. But they have made major strides and the play of some players on Wednesday was confirmation of the solid play they can get from those who likely will never sniff an international appearance with the full team. Even more impressive is the age of some of the players. For the first time, the U.S. can trot out several players without much international experience and short on years as a professional player and still put together a quality performance as they reap the rewards of a growing youth development program that fosters players outside of the Bradenton Academy.
A match that could have been a bore instead turned more entertaining and insightful than last month’s scoreless draw with Colombia that featured the United States’ best players. So, what did we learn from it? It’s hard to judge the team as a whole because everyone was so unfamiliar with each other, but we can take a look at individual performances so let’s take a look at whose stock went up in Cape Town.
Stock Up
Forward Substitutes- Juan Agudelo netted the winner for the U.S. and earned plenty of praise for not just scoring in his first international match, but becoming the youngest American to ever score in a match at just 17 years old. After seeing his name tossed about as a promising American striker for the last few years, U.S. fans got their first real look at Agudelo when he played a key role in the U.S. youth team winning the Milk Cup earlier this year and the buzz around Agudelo grew. A product of the New York Red Bulls youth system, Agudelo finally got his first start in the MLS Cup Playoffs of all places and impressive performances in both legs of New York's two-leg loss added to the buzz. Of all the players called up for the South Africa friendly, Agudelo might have had the most hype around him. For at least one night he made all his supporters proud, showing a deft touch, calm in from of goal and a better soccer IQ than you would expect. The hype for Agudelo is going to build as he heads to January camp with the U.S. and into next season with the Red Bulls, likely to unattainable levels, but there's no doubt that Agudelo is among the more talented U.S. strikers in some time.
It's hard to fault anyone for focusing on Agudelo after the 30 strong minutes he put in as a substitute, but it has overshadowed the play of the other young U.S. striker who came on as a sub, Teal Bunbury. A dual-citizen who played for the Canadian youth teams, Bunbury accepted a call up to the U.S. and in his first cap showed some of the skills that made him the fourth overall pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. At 6-foot-2, Bunbury has the size to play physically and he has more than enough speed, but he showed advanced technical ability against South Africa. That was never more evident than when he had a ball played to him with his back toward goal, used his thigh on the first touch to open up his left foot, turned and had a shot at goal. The shot didn't trouble the keeper much, but for a youngster to show that technical ability is sure to please those who have grown used to American strikers who are bruising or speedy and that is it.
Brad Guzan- Hanging out on the bench for Aston Villa must be doing him some good because Guzan put in one of his best performances ever despite having spent most of the last two season's as Brad Friedel's back up for the English Premier League club. Suffice it to say, it's unlikely that Guzan will be spending too much more time on the bench because with his continued growth, Guzan is likely to fetch interest from several other clubs, either for a loan or buy. That and his performance on Wednesday is good news for U.S. fans who worried about the goalkeeping options behind regular starter Tim Howard, but must now have some comfort in Guzan.
Guzan's first test of the match came when a through ball played to an offside South African did not result in the assistant's flag going up. It could have been an unjust goal for Bafana Bafana, but Guzan came off of his line decisively, made himself big to make things difficult on the would-be goal scorer and then made the save. He came off of his line again later in the match to make another strong save and while those two saves will stand out in observers' minds, it is the way Guzan organized his back line that was most impressive. Wearing the captain's armband, Guzan took a defense filled with inexperienced players, most notably central defender Tim Ream who got his first cap, who hadn't trained together much and kept them relatively organized, which is no easy feat.
Mikkel Diskerud- Agudelo's finish on the game-winning goal was fantastic, but it has made many forget the tremendous work that Diskerud did to set Agudelo up. After Agudelo played the ball in to Diskerud, he calmly collected it and inside the box took three perfect touches. The first touch he used to bring the ball in and away from an onrushing defender. The next touch dragged the ball back and popped it up a little bit to buy himself space and time for Agudelo's run. The final touch was right to Agudelo for the goal. At just 20 years old and getting his first cap as an 79th minute substitute, Diskerud showed poise in the box and skill on the ball that maybe only one other American, Clint Dempsey, is capable of.
That wasn’t Diskerud’s only good moment of the match, but in limited time, he wasn’t going to get a ton of touches. Capable of playing both inside and outside in the midfield, Diskerud was deployed outside on the left by Bradley and with the U.S. looking for additional wing options, Diskerud could parlay a strong match in South Africa into a strong January camp and find himself in the running for a roster spot at next summer’s Gold Cup. With six goals from the midfield this season for Stabaek of the Norwegian League, Diskerud’s career arrow is definitely pointing up and he’s now made the transition to the international game as well with a flurry of poise and skill.
Bob Bradley- A lot of people criticize Bradley and USSF President Sunil Gulati for re-hiring Bradley for another four years. I mean, this is still the same manager who inexplicably started Ricardo Clark against Ghana in his last match in South Africa at the World Cup, but the head coach deserves credit for a job well done in Cape Town. First, Bradley brought in a host of young and inexperienced players, giving several players a look who would normally have to wait until January camp. Then, he gave some of those young players extended run with Ream earning a start, Bunbury getting 45 minutes and Eric Lichaj going the full 90.
Bradley took a team that had spent minimal time together and got them to buy into an organized and sound game plan, executing it very well. Guys like Alejandro Bedoya and Lichaj defended very well and Diskerud, who is hardly a defensive stalwart, was committed to tracking back. Credit on one night to Bradley for bringing the team together and getting them to buy in, resulting in a very positive match for the team.
