American's Next Cycle

America's Next Cycle:

The Wold Cup is over for the Americans and there's a lot of criticism towards the team for their performance. I would like to remind everyone that we weren't predicted to even get out of the group of death, yet we did, and we did it playing without the one player we couldn't afford to lose. Yes, Jozy Altidore was the one player that the Americans revolved around, not Dempsey, and not Bradley like the media would have you believe. Altidore was the key to the American's success in holding up the play and allowing the wide players to get on the flanks. As soon as he went down, we were doomed to lack of possession and limited opportunities. Bedoya and Zusi were deployed as wide guys, but they had huge responsibility on the defensive end of the ball. In order for them to be productive on the attacking side of the game, we had to have someone with the ability to hold the ball up top, and stretch the defense when necessary. That's where Jozy comes in, he's the only player on the roster who can do this effectively against any team in the world. Without him, Bradley couldn't find the point man (Dempsey, playing out of position) and then his second option out wide wasn't there either, because they were still in their defensive positions.

Dempsey was not the solution, nor was anyone else on the roster. The team was forced to defend and hope to catch the opposition on the counter. So why did we play so well against Portugal? It was largely due to the fact that Ronaldo, and Nani don't defend. Once we won the ball we were able to easily find the wide players, because the two aforementioned Portuguese players would not track back. Once we established some possession in their half we were able to find Dempsey through the gaps that were created by the threat of open wide players.

The Germans, Belgians, and Ghanians defended the flanks, and thus we were forced to settle for possession in our own defensive third, or counter when ever possible. We could've gone more attacking minded and thrown out a 4-4-2. We would have been put in 1v1 situations on the defensive side of the game, and more than likely allowed more goals against than we put in the opposite net.

The Americans did very well with what we had, and the good news is the talent pool is getting better. American players are now entering the professional game at a younger age, and the MLS is starting to become a real league for developing talent. The Academies in place are starting to produce top level talent and the next cycle for the US is promising. Here is a list of players I think we'll see called into camp within the next two years.

GK:
Sean Johnson, Bill Hamid, Cody Cropper, Zac McMath, and of course Brad Guzan

Defenders:
Omobi Okugo, Chris Klute, Sheanon Williams, Kofi Sarkodi, Will Packwood, Ike Opara, Kevin Ellis, Erik Palmer-Brown, Connor Lade, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzales, Timmy Chandler, DeAndre Yedlin, Shane O'Neil, Alfredo Morales, and John Brooks   

Midfielder:
Mix Diskerud, Joshua Gatt, Joseph Gyau, Michael Bradley, Will Trapp, Harrison Shipp, Darlington Nagbe, Gyasi Zardes, Jose Villarreal, Luis Gil, Benji Joya, Jose Daniel Cuevas, Perry Kitchen, Julian Green, Junior Flores, Danny Garcia, Alejandro Guido, Dillon Serna, Dillon Powers, Gedion Zelalem, and Brek Shea

Forwards:
Jozy Altidore, Terrance Boyd, Erik Hurtado, Aron Johanssen, Teal Bunbury, Juan Agudelo, Jack McInerney, Will Bruin, Mario Lopez, Rubin Rubio, Ben Spencer, and Shawn Parker

Of course there are many others out there that may or may not emerge from the depths of our reach, but these are just a few players that I can see making a name for themselves. I still have a special place in my heart for Freddy Adu, and if he can get on with Bob Bradley he might finally come of age.