U.S. Men’s National Team v. Slovenia at Stozice Stadium, Ljubljana, 11.15.11

 Prior to this 3-2 victory over Slovenia in Ljubljana, the U.S. hadn’t scored three goals in a game since June 5, 2010, when they beat Australia 3-1 in a World Cup “tune-up” match in South Africa. That was also the last time Edson Buddle scored for the U.S. national team. I don’t recall those goals against Australia (he scored a brace), but he had a beauty against Slovenia last night. He never would have gotten the chance had it not been for some terrible distribution by the Slovenia keeper, who played the ball short to his center back. Clint Dempsey closed on the poor sap and the rebound fell to Buddle, who settled the bouncing ball with his thigh and struck it hard and low. It glanced the inside of the post on its way into the back of the net.

There were other bright spots for the U.S., including a technically flawless header by Dempsey in the 41^st minute. Dempsey shed his man and ran onto a curling Michael Bradley corner kick, snapping the header down low and to the far post. Just a couple of minutes later, Jozy Altidore got into the action by taking an unstoppable shot from the penalty spot to put the U.S. up 3-1 just before the half.

Newcomer Fabian Johnson probably turned in the most promising performance by a U.S. player. He was born in Munich to an American father and a German mother, and he played for under-21 German national teams. Klinsmann’s penchant for German-born and -raised players—Timothy Chandler, Danny Williams, and Alfredo Morales were all born in Germany—seems fully justified in this case. There were many times in this match when I mistook Johnson for Dempsey (in part because the Slovenian air was choked with the kind of fog usually seen in vintage Universal horror movies). Johnson and Dempsey not only have similar body types, they possess a high level of skill on the ball and composure on the field—qualities not normally associated with U.S. soccer players. Johnson also drew fouls like Dempsey against Slovenia, which is saying something.

Johnson made his presence known early, in the first minute, when he laced a first-time volley just over the crossbar from the top of the penalty box. In the 38^th minute, he made a nice turn near midfield and narrowly missed springing a teammate with an attempted through ball. That led ESPN announcer Ian Darke to remark that Johnson has “a little touch of class about him.” Indeed he has, and four minutes later he showed it with another good turn, this time inside the penalty box. Johnson was taken down from behind, and that led to Altidore’s penalty-kick goal.

Significantly, the lone bad play of the night for Johnson that I noticed came on defense, when in the 19^th minute he got caught flat-footed on a juke by Slovenia’s Josip Iličič, who ran right by him and got off a shot. It’s significant because, while the U.S. created some excellent opportunities in the first half and managed to finally score multiple goals in one game under Klinsmann, the U.S. defense was shaky all night long. As a result, the U.S. were exceedingly lucky to get this much-clamored-for result. That statement should be supported by evidence, and there’s plenty of it:

·      2^nd minute: A Slovenia player gets behind the U.S. defense when Chandler fails to step up and trap him offside; the attacker has a clear shot at the goal but for whatever reason elects to hold the ball, and Carlos Bocanegra clears it over the end line. This leads to a corner kick and a shot on goal for Slovenia due to some shoddy marking by the U.S.

·      13^th minute: Kyle Beckerman is beaten off the dribble but the resulting shot is weak and falls directly to Tim Howard.

·      26^th minute: Tim Matavž of Slovenia equalizes when Chandler again fails to step up, allowing Matavž to run unimpeded to the goal. The back line on that play appeared scattered and helpless.

·      39^th minute: Slovenia is granted a free kick from about thirty yards out. They play the ball short, using a training-ground sequence and catching the unengaged U.S. defense flatfooted. Slovenia created a great chance here, but failed to finish.

·      46^th minute: Steve Cherundolo tries to clear a ball with his head near the six, but the ball falls to the feet of Valter Birsa, whose shot is just wide of the mark. Another great chance wasted for Slovenia.

·      48^th minute: Matavž runs through the entire U.S. defense, looking like Gale Sayers on a football field, before Bocanegra is finally able to stop him with a slide tackle just yards from the goal.

·      49^th minute: Bocanegra fails to clear the ball with conviction and it falls to Zlatan Ljubijankič, who traps the ball and shoots but, like Birsa just three minutes earlier, he fails to score.

·      60^th minute: A Slovenia corner kick is headed into the crossbar and the rebound is collected and put on goal; Howard makes a nice save to bail out the defense, but only for the moment.

·      61^st minute: The U.S. defense continues to look toothless as Matavž and Zlatan Ljubijankič execute an impressive give-and-go inside the box, the former scoring to pull Slovenia to within one goal of tying the game.

·      67^th minute: Clarence Goodson does well to win the ball on a Slovenia break, but he then plays the ball right back to the other side, a gaffe that easily could have led to the equalizer.

I go into all of the above not to be a pedant, but to emphasize just how lucky the U.S. were to escape with their victory. The U.S. certainly created some excellent chances in the first half, but the final score can mask a pedestrian overall performance against a middling international side, a side that’s culled from a nation of a mere 2 million. The U.S. failed to create many chances in the second half, didn’t effectively kill the game, and looked poor defensively throughout.

This win ought to get the results-in-friendlies-matter types off Jurgen Klinsmann’s back for a while. But what, we should ask ourselves, if Buddle’s great goal-scoring strike—which you’ll recall glanced off the post—had been just two inches to the left? What if one of Cherundolo’s or Bocanegra’s botched clearances had been converted into goals, as they probably should have been? What if Slovenia had scored on that training-ground move? If one or more of those sequences had gone the other way, then all of those results-in-friendlies-matter types would be wringing their hands at the state of U.S. soccer. Instead they’re all smiles. It is gratifying to score three goals in a game, to win a game, even if it is only a friendly. But if the U.S. can’t defend better when playing with two forwards and pressing, as they did against Slovenia, then scoring two or three goals in a game won’t be enough—not against top-flight competition, it won’t.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. France at Stade de France, Paris, 11.11.11

Starting around the second game of Jurgen Klinsmann’s tenure as head coach of the U.S. national team, announcers and commentators began to discuss whether “results matter” in these friendlies. Unless I’m very much mistaken, in this context a “result” means whether a team wins, loses, or draws. And in almost every case, soccer authorities as reliable as Ian Darke and as illogical as some I don’t care to mention have shouted from their swivel chairs that yes, results matter!

This is absurd. The results—or if you prefer the final scores—of these friendlies do not matter in the least, any more than the final scores of NFL preseason games “matter.” As Klinsmann put it, "I don't give a crap about win records. . . . What's important is how the team develops and improves step by step, hopefully with a positive qualification, and plays an impressive World Cup in Brazil. That's our goal."

To again state what should be obvious to everyone but apparently isn’t: the final scores of these friendlies do not matter. For the U.S., final scores matter in the Gold Cup, the Olympics, World Cup qualifiers, and World Cup games. If the U.S. won (or lost) every friendly it played by fifty goals, it wouldn’t help (or hurt) them one whit in their pursuit of winning or even qualifying for the World Cup or any other tournament.

This is all very different from saying that friendlies don’t matter. As Klinsmann observed, friendlies are used to develop the team. Friendlies allow players to build a rapport and develop technical skills against top-flight competition. The games allow coaches to test out different lineups, evaluate individual talent, work on set pieces, and on and on. About the only things that don’t matter about friendlies are their final scores, which are all anyone seems to want to talk about.

Speaking of which: the final score in this one was 1-0 in favor of France. It was the fourth 1-0 loss for the U.S. in six matches under Klinsmann. The game itself was, unfortunately, not as close as that final score suggests. France probably should have scored at least another goal, probably two, and the U.S. failed to generate their own chances. Moreover, the match was fully as boring as your average NFL preseason game, by far the drabbest outing under Klinsmann. The midfield play was especially bleak. Brek Shea, Maurice Edu, and Kyle Beckerman looked lifeless to a man, and Danny Williams seemed to turn the ball over every time he found it at his feet.

On the relatively bright side, Clint Dempsey muddied his jersey en route to drawing two yellow cards and numerous other fouls. Jozy Altidore also looked strong, and should, perhaps, have drawn a penalty kick in the 20^th minute when he was taken down inside the box while making a turn. (I acknowledge it’s odd to single out two attacking players for praise in a game in which no serious chances were generated for their side.) And the U.S. defense was solid as a unit, though the woodwork helped them in the 55^th minute, Tim Howard helped them with a great save a minute later, and a carelessly inaccurate blast from close range helped them in stoppage time.

While final scores in friendlies don’t matter, individual player performances and the team’s performance do matter. The most disappointing aspect of this game was the near-total lack of creativity from the U.S. players, particularly in the final third. It undoubtedly would have helped to have had Landon Donovan (out due to the upcoming MLS championship) and Jose Torres (out with an injury) in the lineup. But one got the sense that not even Lionel Messi himself could have summoned up brilliance against France had he donned a U.S. jersey. For whatever reason or combination of reasons—the long MLS season, the travel, the full and hostile stadium, the quality of the competition, etc.—it was clear from the first kick that this was not the U.S.’s night. Klinsmann is surely hoping that this forgettable effort was an aberration and not the sorry regression it appeared to be.