As our readers and listeners to the American Soccer Show are aware, I have advocated the use of a 4-5-1 formation for the US Olympic side. I see no reason to change the setup now, but perhaps a change or two should be made to the lineup. The change I’d make is to place Benny Feilhaber who played well for Hamburg what seems like many moons ago and is likely more familiar with how to handle himself in a match against top class European competition should get the start in place of Sacha Kljestan, who depending on the Sunday’s results could be returned into the starting XI for the final group game.
Another possibility is to push Kljestan out wide and place Stuart Holden on the left side while sitting Robbie Rogers. I personally feel Rogers had an underrated match on Thursday and do not advocate his benching even though I wasn’t sure he should have even made the eighteen man squad. Rogers did tend to neglect his defensive responsibilities against Japan but his ability to find space and hold the ball against pressure on out wide was very impressive.
Here is my lineup
————————-Guzan——————————-
Wynne———–Edu——————–Parkhurst——-Orozco–
————————-Bradley——————————
Holden——————-Feilhaber———————Rogers—
————————-Adu———————————
————————-McBride——————————
