U.S. Men’s National Team v. Korea Republic, Carson, California 2.1.14

I nominate this game as the most meaningless of the U.S. men’s national team’s 2014 World Cup cycle. It exists as an island on the team’s schedule, appearing more than two months after their last match and over a month before their next. It involved a singular U.S. roster comprised of regulars like Landon Donovan and Graham Zusi and players who almost certainly won’t be on the World Cup finals roster this summer, like Eric Alexander and Luis Gil. All but two U.S. players worked in MLS last season, and all but one will play in MLS next year. MLS players are of course at the tail end of their preseason, meaning that this group could hardly be in worse technical form and game shape than it is now. They did train together and play in some closed-door scrimmages against other teams in Brazil in the weeks before the game, but that’s hardly sufficient for knocking off the rust that comes under such circumstances.

That said, players who still have an outside shot of making the finals roster this summer may have helped or hurt their chances yesterday. Of those, forward Chris Wondolowski must be feeling the most pleased. He scored the game’s only two goals before being taken out in the 62^nd minute by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who said afterwards: “Seeing Wondo start the year 2014 with two goals was awesome.”

Unsurprisingly, Wondolowski’s goals were not things of beauty. They were poacher’s goals, the kinds of “right place, right time” goals he’s become associated with. This perception may only be partially accurate, but even if it is accurate, it’s no slight on him. I doubt there’s a defender in MLS who relishes marking the strong, savvy, and hard-working forward. Wondolowski has scored 54 goals in MLS over the past three seasons, more than any other player. After the Korea game, he defended his opportunistic style, but also graciously called out his teammates: “I take pride in myself and try to study the game so I can find myself in the right place. Especially when you have great teammates like Landon Donovan, Graham Zusi and Brad Davis, it makes my job a lot easier. Credit to those guys as well.” He’s a player many of us find easy to root for, and after yesterday’s match (and a goal against Brazil’s São Paulo FC in one of those closed-door scrimmages mentioned earlier), we just may get to cheer for him in Brazil this summer.

U.S. goalkeeper Nick Rimando, another likeable, on-the-bubble player, also helped his cause against Korea. He read the game well, snuffing out two dangerous late-game crosses, one in the 81^st minute and one on the final kick of injury time. There’s no question that Korea attackers let Rimando and U.S. defenders off the hook time and again with poor finishes, but even still I can’t imagine another player will supplant Rimando as the U.S.’s third goalkeeper (after Tim Howard and Brad Guzan) this summer.

Speaking of likeable players, U.S. right back Brad Evans will probably be on this year’s 2014 World Cup finals roster. Whatever Evans’s Q Score, the fact that he appears to be a lock for Brazil continues to perplex me, even given the U.S.’s dearth of experienced, talented players at that position. His game against Korea contained yet more evidence that he lacks the quickness and recovery speed to stay with even average international strikers, let alone attackers from Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, whom the U.S. will face in group play in Brazil.

In the 35^th minute against Korea, Evans was beaten badly by Min-Woo Kim, who muscled Evans off the ball, drove past him to the end line and put a cross into the six that easily could have led to a score were it not for Matt Besler’s sliding clearance. It was not Evans’s only suspect moment. He did get forward on occasion, but on his most dangerous attacking run, he decided not to pass to a wide-open Mix Diskerud at the top of the box in favor of dribbling to the end line and taking a shot from a near impossible angle. It was easily saved by Korea’s Jung Sung-Ryong.

Evans’s club teammate, the young right back DeAndre Yedlin, came on for Evans in the 74^th minute to earn his first U.S. cap. Yedlin has the speed Evans lacks, but of course he’s inexperienced so he has almost no chance of supplanting Evans on the 2014 World Cup roster. My guess is that Geoff Cameron—not on the U.S.’s January roster, as he plays his club soccer in England—will start at right back for the U.S. in Brazil, and that Evans will be his backup. Given all of Evans’s caps in this World Cup cycle, he must be a known quantity for Klinsmann by now. For that reason, I’m sorry that Klinsmann did not play Yedlin for the entire match against Korea to see how he fared, and that he didn’t call in other promising young right backs, such as the Revolution’s Andrew Farrell, for the January camp.