U.S. Men’s National Team v. Azerbaijan, San Francisco, 5.27.14

This World Cup preparation friendly was notable as the first U.S. match of the post-Landon Donovan era. Some would say the drabness of game—which unfolded on a cold, windy field at doomed Candlestick Park—stood as testament, or as a contrast, to the exhilarating technical quality and intelligence that Donovan brought to the U.S. side. Others—like coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s son Jonathan, who last week sent an all-caps tweet reveling in Donovan’s omission from the World Cup squad—are delighted by the downfall of “Landycakes.” I’m in the former camp, as I made clear in the very first post of this three-year-old blog, in my most recent post, and in others.

There are of course arguments to be made for and against Donovan’s omission from the final 2014 U.S. roster. It’s not hard to find them on the Internet, on podcasts, and on TV broadcasts. I will not repeat those arguments here, nor rewrite previous posts on Donovan’s merits as a player. I’ll only add that I suspect nine out of ten national team coaches in Klinsmann’s situation would have included Donovan on the final U.S. roster. Unfortunately for Donovan and his appreciators, only Klinsmann’s opinion mattered. I find it galling that Donovan won’t be in Brazil to represent the U.S. in a couple of weeks, and his absence will diminish my enjoyment of watching the team. But as pop psychologists say, it’s time to move on.

And so: The U.S. came out flat last Tuesday night against a side ranked 85^th in the world by FIFA and playing twelve time zones from home. The reliable Michael Bradley had a sloppy, turnover-filled game that included a giveaway back-pass to Omar Gonzalez early in the second half. A better team almost certainly would have punished the U.S. for that one. Bradley wasn’t alone in looking out of sorts. One of the U.S.’s most consistent defenders, Matt Besler, had a similar turnover early in the first half that led to a rare Azerbaijan shot. Jermaine Jones, playing just above the back four in the center of the midfield, was also erratic, sending a head-scratching ball directly into the Azerbaijan backline in the 16^th minute, playing a similar ball through most of the field to the Azerbaijan keeper in the 26^th, and—showing his versatility—sending yet another long ball forward and out of bounds in the 41^st.

Fortunately for the U.S., Azerbaijan players showed an even more stunning inability to get out of their own way than their opponents. As competition goes, I’d put Azerbaijan (at least on this night) at or below nearly every team the U.S. faced in last summer’s Gold Cup. And the friendly had something of the feel of one of those 2013 Gold Cup games, minus the flair and confidence showed by the U.S. players last year. Azerbaijan’s defensive tactics and general lack of quality on the night invited U.S. fullbacks to make attacking runs all game long. Fabian Johnson looked good on a few of those, especially on his dazzling dribbling run in traffic in the 56^th minute. But, really, does it matter? The U.S. will not be facing the likes of Azerbaijan, Belize or Cuba in two weeks’ time, and U.S. fullbacks will not be spending most of the match in the U.S. attacking third. This game was hardly meaningful preparation for the likes of Group G.

While the U.S. failed to score in the run of play, they did score twice off set pieces. Again, though, any optimism generated by those goals should be tempered. I can’t recall having seen a corner kick more apathetically defended than the one that produced the U.S.’s second goal. Substitute Aron Johannsson had a free run near post and was wide open when he connected on Brad Davis’s cross. Azerbaijan defenders looked like practice players who’d been instructed to stand still just this once so the attackers could work on the direction and timing of their runs. Again, that kind of thing won’t happen in Brazil. The U.S. actually had to work a bit for their first goal, which came off another dead-ball into the box by Davis and was ultimately finished by another substitute, Mix Diskerud, who crashed a rebounded shot.

Supporters of Klinsmann’s final roster selection will note that the three players directly involved in the U.S. goals—Davis, Johannsson and Diskerud—all were fighting with Donovan for a roster spot as forward and/or attacking midfielder. And those players not only scored or bagged assists on set pieces last Tuesday, they were generally effective in the run of play. A fourth player who helped usher Donovan into national team retirement—the 18-year-old German-American winger Julian Green, who plays fourth-division soccer in Germany and has played a total of 30 minutes in a U.S. shirt—did not get off the bench.