U.S. Men’s National Team v. Mexico, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, 3.26.13

Any sports fan has his or her hobbyhorses, and my own current sports fixation is this: I’m convinced DaMarcus Beasley is a transformative figure when he plays left back for the U.S. men’s national team. I mentioned in my last post that I thought Beasley was man of the match against Costa Rica. Of course any individual performance can be a fluke, especially when it takes place on a field covered with four inches of snow. But just four days after the Costa Rica match, against mighty Mexico in Azteca Stadium, Beasley turned in another remarkable 90 minutes at left back, helping the largely callow U.S. back line deliver another clean sheet. One stellar game may be a fluke, but two stellar games in a row initiate a pattern.

Beasley’s USMNT odyssey at left back may continue for at least another few World Cup qualifiers. In an interview with ESPN after the Mexico match, coach Jurgen Klinsmann was asked to talk about the play of center back Omar Gonzalez, who turned in his own memorable performance on defense. Klinsmann spent more time, however, talking about Beasley: “Outstanding, the back line, outstanding. Matt Besler, Omar. How Beas[ley] played the left-back role, it just seems like his whole life he played that role.”

Klinsmann hit on something with that comment. What makes Beasley so fun to watch, and no doubt coach, is not so much his well known physical quickness as his ability to read and react to the game. In that way, he reminds me of his longtime USMNT teammate Landon Donovan. Both are fast and skilled, but crucially they have high soccer IQs. Beasley is adept at anticipating where opponents and teammates will run or pass, putting himself into a position to take advantage of any given situation.

Sometimes his ability to anticipate is obvious, as in the 50^th minute against Mexico. Beasley calmly stole the ball from Javier Aquino in the penalty box then, seconds later after a Maurice Edu giveaway, he sprinted back into the box, deftly intercepted a cross back to Aquino by heading the ball into the ground, and used his left foot to swipe the ball out of bounds. It was a remarkable physical and mental display that somehow failed to generate comment from ESPN announcers Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman.

There are times when Beasley’s ability to read the game is more subtle. In the 24^th minute, for example, Mexico’s Andrés Guardado sent a sideline-to-sideline pass to a teammate on the U.S. left flank. As the ball sailed through the air towards the Mexico winger and Beasley, you could envision the gears turning in Beasley’s mind. He feinted very slightly as though he were about to head the ball up field, then held his forward motion so that the ball bounced between him and the attacker and out of bounds. The result: a U.S. throw-in and a thwarted Mexico attack.

There are plenty of other things to say about Beasley’s game against Mexico, including a yellow card and a couple of occasions when he got beat inside the box. But the fact remains that Mexico tested him again and again—if I had to guess I’d say he was on or around the ball more than anyone else in this game—but he never made a mental error, he never stopped running, and he and his back line didn’t allow a goal.

That’s enough for now. This goalless draw was notable for other reasons besides Beasley, including the fact that it keeps the U.S. near the top of a tough qualifying group. The result also does something to chip away at the U.S.’s abysmal record at Azteca, which now stands at 1-23-2, though it should be noted that in the last two games there the U.S. is 1-0-1.

More subjectively, there was something about last night’s game that reminded this USMNT fan of old times. I hope it doesn’t sound small-minded to say so, but it was kind of nice to watch a group of outfield players that had no hired guns from the remote-feeling Bundesliga. As Major League Soccer’s website noted, the U.S. side that took on Mexico was a team “completely made up of players born-and-bred in MLS (all 14 players who took the field were made in MLS). Players who perhaps are more in tune with the American soccer identity because of their history in the sport in the United States.” The U.S. players showed occasional quality, but what stood out was their collective effort, one in which nearly everyone hustled from beginning to end in the smog and high altitude of Mexico City. It was exciting and heartening to watch.