Is Jonathan Spector ready to turn things around?

Let's face it - it's hard not to get swept up in the euphoria of Jonathan Spector's impressive brace against former club Manchester United and performance against Sunderland(despite the loss).

Spector is not just playing well, but he's playing in some ways that we've never seen him do before. When Spector was at right back, there weren't too many "moves" that he pulled to be remembered. Yet he gracefully pirouetted his way past two Sunderland players before trotting another 25 yards or more to the top of the box to flash his shot just wide and did so without much thought.

Many ask exactly what has Spector playing so well. It seemed before that he was on a bit of a droop in confidence and was knocked out of the starting right back spot for the United States by veteran Steve Cherundolo( to be fair, Cherundolo is an excellent player who had an excellent World Cup). Plenty of players have slumps that are caused by a lack of confidence just to turn things around. Sacha Kljestan was a similarly hot player for the United States before back-to-back disappointing performances against Mexico and El Salvador in World Cup Qualifying.

While Spector wasn't mentally in great shape, I don't see that as his main obstacle. Spector, for me, was never really a true right back. Yes, he's had good performances such as against Spain, Egypt, or even Brazil for a half, but I think the tactics behind those sides may have favored him. Spain's game has never been focused around getting crosses into the box, and they actually suffered from a lack of width in this summer's loss to Switzerland, who were content to stay narrow the same way the United States did in their own victory against La Furia Roja. The only natural width Spain really had in either of the aforementioned games was from marauding right back Sergio Ramos, who gave Carlos Bocanegra, the USA's left back that day, a bit of a run for his money at times. Brazil clearly changed their tactics at half-time to go after the American fullbacks, and Kaka getting the beating of Jonathan Spector led directly to a goal. Egypt also rarely made a conscious effort to run at either Spector or Bornstein on the day.

The main point is that Spector may be great for passing sides that like to narrow teams up and find space between lines, he tends to get beaten frequently against sides with pacy wingers that like to run at the fullbacks.

A central midfield role not only masks Spector's weaknesses, but maximizes almost all of his strengths. He's always shown pinpoint passing, positional sense, bite, comfort on the ball, touch, and fairly good vision in some way shape or form, so, in a way, the fact that he played better as a central midfielder than a fullback doesn't shock me at all.

The simple fact is Spector, against most-sides, is better suited for a central or defensive midfield role, so don't be surprised if he remains in West Ham's lineup.

Sorry for the absence

Haha. There isn' much else to say here. High school ain't easy by any stretch of the imagination. I'll be back posting consistently in the near future.

My U.S. World Cup Roster for April

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey

Midfielders: Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Ricardo Clark, DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan



The Orebro midfielder didn't look out of place one bit against Honduras or Holland, which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself for a 22 year-old who has, all together, only played a little over and hour on the field in a U.S. Jersey( Bedoya turns 23 this April).



As far as the forwards go, it would take an injury setback to keep Charlie Davies off the roster, and seeing as how he's progressing extremely well, I'd say he's on. If he can't secure playing time or form for Sochaux then that might be a concern, but considering the comments by his manager saying he'll use him when he's available, I'd say Davies will get at least one chance to impress, which was about all he needed in the Confederations Cup. Herculez Gomez has been in good form( 10 goals in 14 games) for Puebla and if he keeps it up, Brian Ching, who is injured, might not have a spot on this team. Conor Casey is another option who is vying for the backup target forward spot, but, apart from his heroics against Honduras, Casey has been pretty average.


As far as the lineup goes, I would imagine this to be the safest bet:

------------------------Dempsey-----Altidore-------------------

Donovan------------------Edu-------Bradley-------------Holden

Bocanegra-------------DeMerit-----Onyewu-------------Spector

-------------------------------Howard---------------------------

I wouldn't bet against Holden getting back in time, but I wouldn't count on him getting fit and in form before the England game. Edu has been getting time and playing well for Rangers, so I would start him over Ricardo Clark.

A lineup I'd like to see? Something like this:

--------------------------------Altidore-------------------------------


Davies-------------------------Dempsey---------------------Donovan


-------------------------Edu--------------Bradley--------------------



Bocanegra---------------DeMerit-----Onyewu-------------Cherundolo



--------------------------------Howard-------------------------------



I think this lineup is conducive to the style that the USA plays. It gives the Yanks some pace and skill on the flanks with Donovan and Davies and encourages counterattacks, like the legendary one against Brazil. Dempsey is put in a position to create and get close to goal, two things he has proven to be very dangerous at. Morever, he doesn't have quite as much defensive responsibility
as he did on the right/left in a 4-4-2. Instead, they're given to Davies, who actually has the work rate to complete them, not to mention the pace to get back into the attack quickly enough when the USA does win the ball. I know that this formation moves Davies away from Altidore, but if you look at most of the USA's best goals at the Confederations Cup, Davies isn't anywhere near Altidore. On the first goal against Spain, Davies brings down a pass from Michael Bradley out wide on the left for Clint Dempsey, who touches it back to Davies, who in turn plays it for Dempsey, who.... well, you know the rest. On the first goal against Brazil, Dempsey and Davies switched places before Spector whipped in the cross, putting Clint in the center, and Davies on the right. On the second goal against Brazil, Davies is out wide on the left and leading the counter attack with Donovan. My point is that the USA my have played a 4-4-2 in the Confederations Cup, but it looked like a 4-2-3-1 at times, and those times seemed to come when the USA scored. Coincidence? I would think not. Even in the El Salvador game, Davies would drift to the right and left and take players on, like his lane-change stepover he did on the left flank before feeding Dempsey for a missed chance. In the Honduras game, Davies fed Donovan, who had to take the playmaker role since Dempsey was injured, who played through Casey for a goal. Now, don't get me wrong. Clearly Altidore and Davies play well together and are good at breaking down defenses, but I don't really expect Davies to just sit on the flank if he wasn't going to do the same thing at the striker position. Davies, Donovan, Dempsey and Altidore would swivel spots all the time during the Confederations Cup and Qualifying. Dempsey started on the right flank against Spain, but had switched with Donovan after a corner kick and thats why he was on the left for the goal. What I'm saying is that this is the most frequent shape the USA should take in it's matches because it fits their style. Of course, if my thoughts on the front four of Altidore, Davies, Donovan and Dempsey floating around the midfield and attacking third are correct, then it really doesn't matter what formation we put them in because they'll just keep rotating until somebody can find a sweet spot in the defense to exploit and a way to exploit it, i.e. Sergio Ramos against Spain, Gomaa against Egypt.

France struggled in the World Cup in the group stage just like the USA. , but a change in style to a 4-2-3-1 with Zidane as the playmaker, Henry as the lone striker, Ribery and Malouda on the flanks, Vieira and Makelele as the central midfielders, and placing David Trezeguet on the bench, trashing the 4-4-2. The change worked; the French beat Spain(3-1), Portugal(1-0), and Brazil(1-0) on the way to the final, and, in my opinion, they probably would have won if it weren't for a famous shiny head. The French played a pretty similar style to the USA, in that they don't focus on possession, are a very direct team and use a team effort to press the opposition, win possession which is where Vieira and Makelele come in handy, and then get the ball into it's dangerous attacking players whichever way is possible( a defense splitting pass, a long ball, build up through the midfield, corner kicks, crosses from full backs) . Two goals against Spain(Ribery, Zidane) were created through interceptions in the midfield. What I'm saying is that the USA's style managed to work against Spain TWICE and got the national teams who used them to a FIFA Tournament final. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. Davies is back in full training so this is very much possible.

In general, the USA seems to be stronger than it has been in a while, and will continue to strengthen themselves as players like Charlie Davies, Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey, and Stuart Holden continue to work themselves back from the injury list. The real question is whether they can translate individual strength into the team strength that took them to the Confederations Cup final.

My thoughts on Brian Ching

Brian Ching for my taste is one of the most underrated forwards the USA has ever had and the criticism of him gets tiring after a while. This is my defense of Ching:

I would honestly take Brian Ching over Buddle, Gomez, and Casey if he were to get back from injury on time for a spot on the roster. I understand that Ching hasn't scored a lot for the USA, but he wasn't exacly paired with a great striker to help him, or any striker at all for that matter. When Bradley played Donovan and Dempsey next to Ching it was actually making Ching a lone striker, when he's a target striker, and, yes, there is a difference. A target man, normally, holds the ball up, wins aerial challenges, draws fouls, does most of the dirty work, latches onto crosses, gets the attention of the centerbacks, creates chances for others, provides the second striker with a shield to pass to and run off of. A lone striker combines the qualities of a second forward and a target man, which does not describe Ching. The question was this: If Ching was taking lumps and doing all the dirty work, and Donovan was running the USA's midfield, who was going to actually score the goals? The USA provided temporary answers to this question with things like set piece ability, long balls, and it's home crowd, but once it's competition began to become tougher in the final round of Qualifying, it became pretty clear that the USA needed someone who would strictly score goals, while fitting the teams style. Lo and behold, as soon as said goalscorer Jozy Altidore comes off the bench and onto the field in San Salvador, Brian Ching is involved in his goal, bringing down a knockdown header from Dempsey and getting the ball wide to Frankie Hejduk, who played the ball across to Altidore for a goal. Ching and Altidore then combined again, with Jozy laying off a pass for Ching that he couldn't quite direct home, as he was on his left foot. The next game, Ching and Donovan were again involved in another one of the young striker's goals, with Brian flicking on a Carlos Bocanegra longball into the path of a streaking Landon Donovan, who volleyed a pass across to a free Jozy Altidore. The fact that the USA managed to score more goals(5) consecutively in those matches without getting scored on than they had that entire round surely says something for what an Altidore-Ching combination could have led to if Brian had been healthy. People talk about Ching's lack of goals for club and country, but when he was paired with Dwayne DeRosario, one of the best attacking players in the league in 2008, he was among the top scorers. The point is that even if Ching wasn't a goalscoring machine, he either wasn't next to somebody who could help him, or he wasn't next to anyone at all.

Share all thoughts.

Edu and Torres get minutes in midweek matches

Maurice Edu moved one step closer to returning to national team status after going 90 minutes in a Rangers' 1-0 victory over St. Mirren in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. Edu stayed composed for most of the match, delivering tackles when needed, and occasionally getting into the attack. Edu even switched into the center back role for a short time. Rangers' Kris Boyd notched the winning goal just before the death to send Rangers through. Jose Francisco Torres' team suffered the opposite fate, losing 1-0 in a match to Chivas de Guadelajara. Unlike Edu, Torres went 71 minutes before coming off, filling his normal role in central midfield by creatively relaying the ball around the field and helping Pachuca keep possession.

Not all the American's got minutes however, as Stuart Holden was unable to even touch the bench of Bolton Wanderers.

U.S. El Salvador roster analysis

With the first game of 2010 behind them, a bad taste probably lingers in the mouths of most of the players who participated in the USA-Honduras match, not to mention their fans. A second chance comes against El Salvador for most of these players, who will have the help of Brian Ching and Michael Orozco. The following players are on Bob Bradley's roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Troy Perkins (D.C. United), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Zach Thornton (Chivas USA).

DEFENDERS: Kevin Alston (New England Revolution), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Orozco (Philadelphia Union), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Chris Pontius (D.C. United), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).

FORWARDS: Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake).

I could see Bradley going with this:

----------------------Findley----Ching---------------------

Davis------------------------------------------------Rogers

--------------------McCarty----Beckerman---------------

Bornstein--------------------------------------------Alston

------------------------Orozco----Marshall----------------

--------------------------------Perkins----------------------

Findley did well against Honduras considering how little he had to work with, showing his pace, tenacity, and work rate. Ching will be a good player for him to move off of and will provide good leadership for this squad. I put McCarty over Kljestan because there most likely will be no more chances for the FC Dallas midfielder to strut his stuff, at least not from the first whistle anyways. Moreover, McCarty had a better game in his short time than Kljestan did, helping the USA hold what little possession they had. He did well for FC Dallas in a deep-lying central role, so paired with Beckerman, someone who gets covers ground quickly offensively and defensively, the partnership could will really help the U.S. control the midfield. I would take Alston over Wynne because he is a possible future prospect who had a better season than Wynne did. Davis also had an excellent season in MLS and did well in little time against Honduras, keeping things simple in possession and delivering good set piece service, including the one on Clarence Goodson's goal.

My prediction? I'd say a 2-0 victory is a fair expectation and the goals will come from Beckerman and Findley with assists from McCarty and Ching.