U.S. Men’s National Team v. Ecuador at Red Bulls Stadium, Harrison, NJ, 10.11.11

Poor Tim Ream. Prior to last night, he most recently played for the U.S. national team on June 11. In that game, against Panama, he whiffed while trying to clear a ball from his own end and was whistled for a careless foul. The error led to a penalty kick that helped Panama secure a 2-1 victory in the group stages of the Gold Cup. It also earned Ream a spot on the U.S. bench.

Eight national team games later, Ream finally got the call again. Jurgen Klinsmann inserted him into the Ecuador match last night in the 72^nd minute, the team deadlocked in scoreless tie. Ream hadn’t been on the field for ten minutes before a man he was marking beat him to a crossed ball at the six and hammered home the only shot that Ecuador managed to get on target all night. The U.S. went on to lose 1-0.

Ream has made similar gaffes for his Red Bulls team this year; those have been well documented and I won’t go into them. He looked objectively weak on Ecuador’s goal, basically getting pushed out of the way by Jaime Ayoví. It was a glaring mistake and it cost the U.S. a game against a remarkably evenly matched opponent. Still, it’s too early to throw Ream onto the national team scrapheap. As I mentioned in my last post, the U.S. back line made numerous mistakes against Honduras, mistakes that were far more egregious than Ream’s last night, since at times Honduras players were left completely unmarked near the goal. But Honduras didn’t have the quality to finish, so of course those mistakes were quickly forgotten, whereas this morning I’m sure many soccer fans across the country are calling for Ream’s banishment from the national team, if not the country.

Ream won’t get many more chances to redeem himself—especially with players like the L.A. Galaxy’s Omar Gonzalez, FC Dallas’s George John, and the New England Revolution’s A.J. Soares waiting in the wings—but I for one will be pulling for him to do so. He’s good on the ball, he’s still young, he has a good attitude, and just last year Thierry Henry said that Ream is “a great player with a bright future.” (For Klinsmann’s take on Ream after last night’s game, check out this article in Goal.com, in which Klinsmann says, “[Ream] is one of the very promising center-backs in this country. . . . He deserves to be on this squad and he has an extreme will to learn. He’s a constant asker who wants to know how to get to the next level.”)

Forgetting about Ream and the loss for a moment, the U.S. defense played exceptionally well last night, especially in the first half. Timmy Chandler and Steve Cherundolo had good performances, in particular Chandler, who tirelessly pressed forward all game long and had no lapses on the defensive end. His work with Brek Shea on the left sideline continues to impress and to inspire hope for the future. Cherundolo was skinned a few times by Ecuador’s speedy attackers, but he worked well with other defenders, and as a unit the back line always recovered. (Cherundolo did have an unusually bad night with the dead balls, however, including poor deliveries on free kicks in the 11^th and 19^th minutes.)

In my opinion Oguchi Onyewu, who played instead of Michael Orozco Fiscal alongside captain Carlos Bocanegra in the center last night, was the man of the match. He consistently broke up Ecuador’s attack and occasionally effectively ran with the ball and pressed forward, especially near the end of the game with the U.S. fighting to equalize. (The ESPN cameras caught a shot of Klinsmann in the final minutes yelling, “Gooch! Gooch!” and frantically waving his big center back forward.) In the 75^th minute, Onyewu even made an impressive turn and shot, working with DeMarcus Beasley with his back to the goal. Onyewu’s partner in the center, Bocanegra, also played virtually mistake-free last night until Ream came on for him.

 In short, Klinsmann may have finally hit on a unit to build around with that back line of Chandler, Cherundolo, Onyewu, and Bocanegra. In this crucial respect, the game against Ecuador was by far the most promising game for the U.S. since Klinsmann took over.

It seems redundant to point out that Brek Shea again looked strong. He was pulled after the first half, though certainly due to his accumulated minutes played in recent months and Klinsmann’s desire to evaluate other players, not because of poor play. Shea had the ball at his feet a lot during his 45 minutes, and he seems to be getting even better with his passing accuracy and touch on the ball. He was part of a brilliant-looking exchange of one-touch passes in the 28^th minute, working with Chandler and Clint Dempsey before passing to Maurice Edu, who unfortunately couldn’t manage to get any power behind the final touch, a shot struck without conviction to the Ecuadoran keeper. Shea had other moments as well, including a powerful strike in the 5^th minute that just missed the target.

Others looked promising, including Dempsey, Danny Williams, and Jozy Altidore. Dempsey, unfortunately, virtually disappeared for most of the second half. I nearly forgot he was on the field until the final minutes of the game, when he again made his presence known. It’s hard to know if Dempsey’s lack of touches in the second half was a result of misfortune, his own relatively diminished efforts, or the fact that four U.S. players were substituted at the start of the second half, a break in continuity that may have thrown Dempsey off. Given Dempsey’s recent stunningly good form, I lean towards the latter explanation.

At some point—likely next spring, just before the U.S. begins its World Cup qualifying matches—the U.S. will of course have to stop evaluating and start playing its best players, that is, playing a consistent lineup that is trying to win games. Last night’s loss was frustrating, especially the U.S.’s inability to create good shots on goal and (of course) to actually score. But Klinsmann is still evaluating, not having reached the stage in which scoring and winning are paramount. Obviously, he wants to score and to win, even in these friendlies. But no coach whose primary goal is to win would start four new players in the second half—not after his team had done so well in the first.

Kudos to Klinsmann for continuing to try new players like Williams, and for giving old players like Onyewu and Beasley a chance to redeem themselves. The fact is, last night’s loss—in which the U.S. controlled the first half against a very good South American team and apparently struck upon an excellent starting back line—is far greater cause for optimism than the shaky victory over a relatively weak Honduras side a few nights earlier.