After another annoying draw, some thoughts. \
US looked really bad in the second half. The first half they were getting it forward and generating chances. Second half those chances were much fewer. Defensively they left a lot to be desired, Jones put in 90 minutes of hard work, but he made a lot of mistakes and that's part of the learning process. Ream is not close to the starting CBs in terms of talent. He looks like he could be better than say Clarence Goodson.
Positives to take away. First I really like Jurgen's coaching strategies. With it looking more and more like Bradley and Diskerud will be the CM pairing in Russia, forcing Bradley to play forward and Diskerud to play back is strengthening both of them helping them learn to play together so come Russia it's not a diamond where Bradley, our best distributor, is barely infront of the back 4. I think the key is how Klinsmann view's Bradley's talent, he sees him as more Paul Scholes, less Pirlo. Other positives, Jozy was great, but the US needs to get him the ball more. He had 2 touches in the 18, one pass that wasn't quite on the money, and his goal. That cannot happen. Diskerud was excellent. He was making a statement game. He needs to get stronger so he can go hard 90 minutes, not 60. Bedoya is the best effort guy the US has. Greg Garza is an interesting mix. He faded in the second half. He looked a total natural ranging forward. He was strong in defense. He got caught forward a bit too often. But he should learn that.
It's early in the cycle, but lookinga t the US depth right now
GK - Howard if he wants to play, awesome. Guzan is more than capable replacement, he's not Howard awesome but he would start on many national teams. Rimando is an MLS fixture, he doesn't have the ability to play on the big stages though, He'll be important for depth, but he's got no future in the US, his heart is big but he's way too small to play against top sides. We thankfully have some young interesting prospects as well, Cody Cropper being my favorite, but Johnson and Hamid are powerful.
Fullback - Lots of depth here, Chandler, Johnson, Garza, Yedlin, and older guys like Beasley and Evans. High levels of competition will be good. Don't see much in the very young kids right now, but the current crop is young enough for at least 2 WC runs so someone whould be along by then.
Centerbacks - Solid depth, need more top end talent. Besler, Gonzalez, Brooks, Cameron, Ream, Orozco, Jones. Lots of questions here, especially if Besler, Gonzalez or Brooks lose an edge or get hurt.
Central mids - Lots of depth here with some talent and a lot of questions. Bradley, Diskerud, Morales, Corona, Hyndman, Edu, WIlliams, Gil, Packwood. I'm gonna stop there but Zusi and Bedoya are mids as well often. Lots of young talent here and veteran ability, but lots of issues as well. Bradley and Diskerud look excellent, Morales and Corona have ability and are young, Hyndman, Gil and Packwood are all very young and could potentially have other positions. The potential of those 3 are excellent and they could push Bradley and Diskerud or force Klinsmann to hav ea different positioning.
Wide mids - This is where things are pretty thing, great top end prospects, but lots of issues. Green, Gyau, Bedoya, Zusi, Shea. Green, Gyau and Shea have insane talent, but there could be issues there as only Green is a true top talent, Gyau is raw, shea is raw, issue is with Shea is he's older and raw.
Forwards - Lots of talent and depth here, Jozy, Johannson, Adudelo, Boyd, Wood, Rubin. Everyone in this group is under 25. The issue here is finding the right combination andmaking it work. Jozy is a target man, Boyd is a target man, Johannson is a linkup pairing type. Not 100% sure about Wood and Rubin as I haven't been following them closely yet.
