<p><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/11/jurgen-e1416444012148.jpg"></a></p><figure class="image"><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/11/jurgen-e1416444012148.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-122265" src="https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/full/WST_20141121_CMS_122260_jurgen-600x451_50bfaa6f.webp&amp;width=600&amp;height=451" alt="Juergen Klinsmann" width="600" height="451"></a></figure><p></p>
<p>Usually in football when your recent form is two draws and two losses, questions start to be asked of the manager in question. But with the current US National Team, surprisingly that’s not the case. In a sport that is usually so trigger happy, <a href="worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2014/10/25/jurgen-klinsmann-continues-to-challenge-american-soccer-both-on-and-off-the-field/">Jurgen Klinsmann</a> has skated while his team has suffered. Now this isn’t the same sort of situation that Mexico faced during the 2013 Hex, but the seeds of past problems are beginning to sow their roots again. How can Klinsmann and this US National Team avoid the same Second Cycle Syndrome that stymied Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley? First, problems must be acknowledged.</p>
<p>Alexi Lalas’ quote about the 2014 World Cup team summarized the group as a “better version of ourselves”. What he meant was the team played the same style it had popularized over the years, but a more technical version of it. Now, Klinsmann wants the US to play an expansive style and build from the back, rather than soak up and counter all the time. He has tried to implement that style while also maintaining some of the things that have worked in the past and sort of what worked in the World Cup. However, the problems that were papered over in Brazil are now showing themselves in London and Dublin.</p>
<p>Tactically, the team is set up naively. There is too much emphasis on the fullbacks to get width which leaves them exposed on the counter, while also not offering them support from wingers because the 4-1-3-2 formation that Klinsmann favors is far too narrow. The formation also puts immense pressure on the No. 6, in recent examples Kyle Beckerman, to clean up the many fires caused by the many faults of the formation while also putting unnecessary pressure on the center backs (one of whom doesn’t play CB for his club), and also the goalkeeper, which is why Tim Howard had to be so heroic against Belgium. That wasn’t necessarily a good Belgium team he was keeping out – he was more putting out the fires caused by his own team’s mistakes.</p>
<p>Klinsmann also sees players in roles where they do not belong. Michael Bradley isn’t, never has been, and never will be No. 10. He is a ball-carrier in midfield – a man to link up defense and attack and one who can do so brilliantly. He isn’t a pure No. 10 either because that negates his offensive instincts. But he is too good defensively to leave alone in a role that stymies his defensive instincts. When he was the tip of the diamond in a 4-4-2, the formation was unbalanced and lacked a defensive spine since Bradley’s defensive marshalling role was cut out.</p>
<p>This new experiment of Jermaine Jones at centerback is also wrong. He cannot play that role because he roams as he would do in midfield, which leaves his center back partner and full back woefully exposed on counter-attacks. Geoff Cameron is a serviceable right-back, but his lack of playing time at center back limits what he can do in that position on short notice. Relying too much on an out of form Jozy Altidore when the formation dictates that he doesn’t not have much cover behind hm is another insane decision that makes no sense, and still doesn’t. The USMNT should not be reliant on Altidore changing clubs in order to find his form again so that the team can find its form again. Even further down the line when players like Alfredo Morales, Mix Diskerud and others are examined, their roles aren’t quite right as well, and it seems like they are being shoehorned into roles that they don’t fit in for the purposes of a system that doesn’t work.</p>
<p>Klinsmann also does not want to admit to mistakes. Even his Mexican counterpart Miguel Herrera did as much after Mexico’s loss to Belarus by admitting his team underestimated them. He refuses to admit that call-ups such as Bobby Wood, Miguel Ibarra, Jordan Morris, and even Chris Wondolowski don’t make sense, or that he got his tactics wrong both against a superior Colombia outfit and an inferior (albeit not by much) Irish one. Sure his hand was forced due to injuries and <a href="worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/category/leagues-major-league-soccer/">MLS</a> playoff commitments, but that doesn’t mean he can’t work around them. A manager without a decent plan B is a failing one. He has finally brought in players like Greg Garza that deserved calls long ago, but his ignorance of other players cries of failings that normally would go beyond him, but since he is the technical director that falls at his feet as well.</p>
<p>The USMNT cannot go on and assume life in CONCACAF will go as it did during 2013 – that was an anomaly. Mexico is already looking revived and refreshed, and with Carlos Vela in fine form they might well be the best team in the region. Costa Rica is better than anyone ever thought before, and with a new manager might be able to throw some new things at both of the power centers. Honduras, Jamaica, Trinidad, and even Canada cannot be underestimated either. If the US dallies on the assumption that they can coast back to a World Cup, they are gravely mistaken.</p>
<p>This is not the time to panic. These problems can be fixed by expanding the player pool, which is why the upcoming January camp is so important, while also seeing Klinsmann look at himself as a manager and decide what path the US should go down in the future. At the moment, he is stuck between the past and a Bavarian future, and he hasn’t fully made up his mind on which road is better yet, so the result is a watery mess of both that has failed everyone.</p>
<p>Sure there is a generation gap in talent and that has something to do with the problems, but a good manager can fix those and make his team better for it. This cycle is too important to US Soccer as a whole to mess around for too long, because when the Hex comes around the US will be exposed and torn asunder.</p>
<p>The early symptoms of Second Cycle Syndrome are beginning to appear. They can be cured, only if the manager is willing to cure them himself.</p>
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USMNT Must Avoid A Letdown After Their Promising World Cup

USMNT Must Avoid A Letdown After Their Promising World Cup - World Soccer Talk

<p><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/11/JermaineJonesUSMNT1-PortugalWorldCup2014-ISIPhotos-e1415341519898.jpg"></a></p><figure class="image"><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/11/JermaineJonesUSMNT1-PortugalWorldCup2014-ISIPhotos-e1415341519898.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-120886" src="https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/full/WST_20141107_CMS_120884_JermaineJonesUSMNT1-PortugalWorldCup2014-ISIPhotos-600x400_47007d82.webp&amp;width=600&amp;height=400" alt="Jermaine Jones" width="600" height="400"></a></figure><p></p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest break out star for the USA coming out of the 2014 World Cup was Jermaine Jones. The German-American midfielder played exceptionally well in Brazil and overnight became one of the more popular soccer stars in America. Jones capitalized on his World Cup performance and new found popularity by signing a multi-million dollar contract with the New England Revolution of <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/category/leagues-major-league-soccer/">MLS</a>. Now a bonafide star in MLS and a highly recognized face of the US Men’s National team, is Jermaine Jones on the verge of being phased out of the US squad before the 2018 World Cup? I think after October’s friendly with Honduras in Baca Raton Florida, the answer might very well be “yes”.</p>
<p>Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann started Jones, normally a midfielder, at right center back for the contest and Jones handled the transition remarkably well. The intended hope of making the switch is to open up more opportunities for the younger midfielders, such as Mix Diskerud, while also shoring up the somewhat unstable backline with a veteran presence. By all accounts the move was a success. Diskerud was more assertive on the ball in the offensive third while also being more engaged through the midfield and Jones displayed an excellent awareness for the position.</p>
<p>The problem that I see with the move is that Jones will be 36 by the time the World Cup comes to Russia in 2018 and may already be a long shot to make the squad. The New England Revolution depend on Jones in the midfield, making a switch to the backline at the club level incredibly unlikely. Klinsmann has shown a pattern of selecting players whose role on at their clubs support his plans for them on the international level.</p>
<p>From calling out Clint Dempsey’s lack of appearances in Champions League play to his encouraging club transfers for Brek Shea to England or Maurice Edu back to MLS, Klinsmann is notoriously pushing players to use their club experience to prepare for US call-ups. So where will that leave Jones if over the next couple of years Klinsmann wants him on the backline but New England needs him in midfield?</p>
<p>By giving up his spot in the US midfield now, Jones allows Klinsmann ample opportunity to find a replacement for him. Mix Diskerud is emerging for the US squad and a position switch for DeAndre Yedlin from right back to the midfield is all but guaranteed to happen in the next year. Plus, there is still Michael Bradley to consider.</p>
<p>While Bradley did not have a stellar season for Toronto FC, it is more likely than not that he will maintain the form needed to keep his spot on the US roster. Real Salt Lake’s Luis Gil is also an emerging star that will certainly garner attention in the lead up to Russia 2018. Suddenly the midfield is getting very crowded.</p>
<p>A move back to the middle may not be possible for Jones. If playing center back becomes his only real chance of making another world cup squad, what kind of chance is that really?</p>
<p>The backline is inexperienced but not without talent. Matt Besler, Timmy Chandler, Omar Gonzalez, Michael Orozco, Tim Ream, Greg Garza, AJ De La Garza, and Geoff Cameron are all younger than Jones and each of them will be competing for a place on the World Cup roster. There is also Fabian Johnson to consider. Johnson has already shown an ability to play both midfield and defensive back. At 26, Johnson is capable of blocking Jones’ roster spot at both positions.</p>
<p>If the purpose of having Jones on the backline is to raise the level of play, by implication it would mean an improvement in the play of others as well. Therefore, if he is successful and does improve the quality of play of the rest of the defenders, will he play himself out of roster spot for the World Cup?</p>
<p>Jones, of course, is not the only one facing the prospect of aging out of roster spot. Kyle Beckerman made his first World Cup roster this past year at the age of 32. Although Beckerman played well, it is unlikely that he fits into Klinsmann’s future plans. With Landon Donovan retiring and DeMarcus Beasley, Tim Howard, and <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/07/10/watch-clint-dempseys-appearance-on-the-david-letterman-show-video/">Clint Dempsey</a> also encroaching on retirement age, it is very likely that many of biggest names in USA soccer will be absent from the next World Cup. It would seem almost a shame the breakout star from the previous World Cup would be absent as well.</p>
<p>However counter-intuitive as it may seem, it is quite possible that Jones’ superb play will be his downfall. Obviously, when it comes to the national team, Jones would not want to be selfish and switching positions will certainly be a benefit to the squad but leaving his natural position open for the emerging stars of the midfield while improving the quality of play of the younger defenders may just result in Jones becoming replaceable at two positions.</p>

Jermaine Jones could be unfortunate World Cup 2018 absentee

Jermaine Jones could be unfortunate World Cup 2018 absentee - World Soccer Talk

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USMNT Must Avoid A Letdown After Their Promising World Cup

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