Revolution at Philadelphia Union, 10.6.12

In today’s mlssoccer.com, Jonah Freedman makes the case for five former U.S. men’s national team regulars who he thinks could help the team now. Benny Feilhaber is the fifth player on the list, and Freedman claims that Feilhaber “creates chances at a better rate than nearly anyone currently in the US pool.”

I don’t know what statistical evidence Freedman is drawing on to make his claims, but presumably it’s derived from MLS’s Opta Chalkboard. In any case, Freedman did not mention the fact that Feilhaber has recently struggled to get playing time for one of the league’s worst teams, nor did he mention that Feilhaber has played 2,057 minutes this season and still has just one goal and two assists over that stretch.

There are of course other ways to judge a player besides studying electronic “chalkboards” and goals and assists statistics. One must have only a passing knowledge of the game to agree with Freedman that Benny Feilhaber has, by MLS standards, great skill. It’s a pleasure to watch Feilhaber with the ball at his feet. And he combines that skill with an admirable work rate and willingness to play defense. In the 32^nd minute of last Saturday’s game against Philadelphia, for example, he worked hard at midfield to help his team win the ball, running around and even sliding in his attempts to pressure the opposition. When New England did gain possession, striker Jerry Bengtson played the ball back to Feilhaber, and Feilhaber went to work, using a subtle touch with the underside of his cleats to stop the ball and roll it forward before he proceeded to slalom through a trio of Union defenders. He then cut the ball back and played a pass to Clyde Simms. The little buildup eventually led to a rather weak cross into the box, but it was a chance nonetheless and it likely wouldn’t have occurred without Feilhaber’s skill and tenacity.

So in some important ways, Feilhaber is clearly a cut above most players in MLS. His relatively high salary attests to that fact. At $400,000 per year, Feilhaber’s contract is currently worth more than twice that of any other Revolution player. But for my money, Feilhaber’s injured midfield mate Lee Nguyen was New England’s MVP this year, and Nguyen’s skill on the ball and soccer IQ rival that of Feilhaber’s. As long as we’re mentioning salaries and statistics, Nguyen makes almost ten times less than Feilhaber, with an annual base salary of just $44,000. Before Nguyen went down with a season-ending shoulder injury, he played 2,386 minutes and had five goals and two assists, all better than or equal to Feilhaber’s numbers. Statistically, you could make an even stronger case for another injured Revolution player as this year’s team MVP. Saer Sene scored eleven goals before he tore an ACL on September 1. In short, Feilhaber may have great qualities, but he’s failed to meaningfully assert himself this season, even on a bad team.

There is something to be said for the idea that Feilhaber is the type of player who needs good players around him in order to truly shine. This can be said of all soccer players, of course, though it is truer for some players than others. Former New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph, for example, could control the midfield, win balls, and outmuscle opponents no matter who he was playing alongside. But Feilhaber is a creator, the type of player who routinely tries to squeeze through balls past crowded defenses, and that kind of player needs teammates who make intelligent, timely runs.

Having said that, a great player also needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of his teammates and play passes accordingly. It should be said that apart from a bad pass very early on in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia, Feilhaber protected the ball well and in general played well. But he has committed far too many unforced giveaways in other games this season, and I believe that’s why he eventually lost his starting job, before injuries began to accumulate for New England and he got it back.

What is more disappointing than the giveaways this season, however, is Feilhaber’s occasional on-field outbursts. Given his salary, his experience, and his considerable talent, he is far from a steadying presence in New England’s midfield. He is a strong competitor, but he sometimes has trouble channeling his emotions in useful ways. Some Revolution fans will remember that last July against Philadelphia, Union veteran Carlos Ruiz baited Feilhaber into a second yellow card midway through the second half. Feilhaber compounded his error by shouting and shoving opposing players before being sent off. It was an unfortunate display that hurt his team in that game and, because of the automatic suspension, the next.

Feilhaber again failed to master his emotions against Philadelphia last Saturday. He frequently berated the referee in the second half over calls and non-calls. He eventually, and predictably, received a yellow card, for a foul on Antoine Hoppenot in the 86^th minute. Feilhaber immediately resumed his bickering and it was clear from his naked rage that he was in danger of getting a second yellow. Sure enough, just a couple of minutes later he was sent off for an away-from-the-ball foul in the midfield circle. Feilhaber punctuated the foul with a boisterous and close-range “eff you” to the ref.

And so Feilhaber exited yet another Revolution game without a goal or an assist. His team would go on to lose, and he would be unavailable to play in the next match. The Philadelphia TV color commentator summed up the situation haltingly but accurately: “And even with the frustration and all the injuries they have, he’s got to be a team leader on this team. And that’s got to unbelievably frustrate Jay Heaps. . . . There’s no leadership in the context of the eleven on the field. You expect more from a player with that kind of experience.”

I agree with Freedman that Feilhaber still has the tools to help the U.S. men’s national team. But Feilhaber’s lack of composure and continued lack of goals and assists last Saturday will not help his case with Jurgen Klinsmann.

Should Benny Feilhaber Play Right Back for the U.S. National Team?

U.S. men’s national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann has announced the roster for the coming World Cup qualifying matches against Jamaica on September 7 and September 11. Despite injuries to Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, Klinsmann did not summon New England Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber. At 27, Feilhaber is still young and promising, but Klinsmann seems to think less of his talents than previous USMNT coach Bob Bradley did. Feilhaber played in three of four U.S. matches in the 2010 World Cup finals, but has only appeared for the national team once over the course of 2011 and 2012. Yesterday’s roster announcement must be particularly frustrating for Feilhaber, since the roster includes such relative international newcomers as Joe Corona, Graham Zusi, and Brek Shea, all of whom play in the midfield.

Feilhaber’s omission from the current USMNT roster is in some ways unsurprising. Klinsmann has openly encouraged U.S. internationals to move from MLS to Europe, and Feilhaber has done just the opposite. After stints in Germany, England, and Denmark from 2006 to 2011, Feilhaber moved back to MLS last season. His play with the Revolution so far has been mostly solid, but hardly spectacular. This season, for example, he has played over 1,800 minutes but has only one goal and two assists to show for them. Those are notably poor numbers for a team’s highest-paid player.

The good and bad of Feilhaber were on display in Saturday’s scoreless draw against Philadelphia at Gillette Stadium. I’ll use a sequence in the 10^th minute as a representative example. Feilhaber collected a deflection near midfield and started an attack by dribbling and playing a pass towards the right sideline to Fernando Cardenas. After an exchange with right back Flo Lechner, Cardenas ultimately played the ball back to Feilhaber, who prepared to receive it with his back to the goal and his two strikers in an onside position behind him. So far so good. But rather than hold the ball and wait for Cardenas and/or Lechner to make a run, or turn and try to find his forwards, Feilhaber, under very little defensive pressure, one-timed a back heel pass through his legs and directly into the line of Philadelphia defenders. Yes, it was an attempt to be creative, but the pass was also risky and ultimately ineffective, a needless turnover that killed a promising buildup.

Despite frequently making these kinds of high-risk, low-reward passes in the final third, Feilhaber possesses many of the qualities Klinsmann professes to value, such as creativity, quickness, and an ability and willingness to apply defensive pressure all over the field. His efforts tracking back on defense have been particularly valuable to his club team over the past couple of seasons. More importantly, Feilhaber is a skillful player with an excellent understanding of the game and good vision. Despite his poor assist and goal numbers this year, Feilhaber leads New England in fouls suffered at 65, which is one measure of his skill on the ball and his savvy. Yes, he’s prone to turnovers, but he likes to play the ball on the ground and to unlock defenses through possession rather than booting the ball to the flag. As I understand it, that’s precisely the kind of player Klinsmann is looking for.

So why not try to get Feilhaber on the field? If the national team’s midfield is too crowded, there may be a spot at right back. Tim Chandler, once considered the right back of the future for the U.S., has twice turned down call-ups and appears to be out of the picture. Steve Cherundolo is an excellent player, but he’ll be 35 during the next World Cup Finals. Other good options at right back include Eric Lichaj and Steven Beitashour, neither of whom were called up for the Jamaica games. Fabian Johnson can also play right back—and did against Mexico in the U.S.’s most recent friendly—but he is more suited to playing on the left.

Playing Feilhaber at right back would allow the U.S. team to field a highly skilled player who can not only defend, but also start buildups and confidently attack opponents with the ball at his feet. The thought of both him and Johnson flying down the flanks and raining crosses into the box, or placing more pinpoint passes to players like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and Landon Donovan, is intriguing to say the least. The downsides of the experiment would include the fact that Feilhaber lacks experience at the position, and the fact that he sometimes holds the ball too long and is prone to giveaways. Still, if Klinsmann really wants to get the maximum number of highly fit and skilled players onto the field at the same time, and to play a more assertive and attacking brand of soccer than is typically associated with our national team, then Feilhaber should at least be considered as a possibility at right back.

Revolution at Toronto FC, 6.23.12: Benny’s Best Game Yet

Benny Feilhaber tried his ass off in this one. His game wasn’t flawless—he forced some passes in the first half (like his attempted through ball in the 41^st minute) and failed to get headers on frame in the 50^th and 90^th minutes—but the good far outweighed the bad. Despite playing 90 minutes without a goal or an assist, he was man of the match, seeing a lot of the ball, sending good crosses into the box off dead balls and in the run of play, setting up the Revs’ first goal with a strong shot on frame that the keeper couldn’t collect, and slamming the ball off the post in the 88^th minute during a hectic and highly exciting climax that saw the Revs press and press and finally get the equalizer in the fourth minute of extra time, sending the Revolution home with a single point that, given the New England players’ late-game efforts, felt more like three.

The game ended 2-2, the same score of the Revolution’s previous game in Toronto. That was Steve Nicol’s last game for the Revolution, a depressing end-of-season match played under dark skies between MLS’s two worst teams. On that day, it was the Revolution who collapsed, conceding the lead in the 83^rd minute and fortunate not to concede another goal before the final whistle. But this time around, the Revolution acquitted themselves admirably after going down two goals. They thoroughly dominated possession in the second half and created numerous chances, so many that, while they didn’t equalize until the final minute, they really should have won the match.

Flo Lechner came on for an injured Kevin Alston in the 40^th minute and looked strong on the attack. He sent in a number of dangerous crosses from the right corner during overlapping runs, including the pass that led to the Revs’ second goal. That ball was headed into the net with extreme prejudice by Lechner’s fellow fullback Chris Tierney. The goal was enormously satisfying, coming as it did after a flurry of late near-misses. Feilhaber was closely trailing Tierney on the play and it was unclear at first which of the two of them had scored.

The Revolution announcers can be forgiven for initially attributing the goal to Feilhaber, since his exuberant celebration certainly suggested that was the case, as did his teammates’ congratulations. When replays showed that it was in fact Tierney who had headed the ball in, my respect and fondness for Feilhaber actually increased. He clearly desperately wanted his team to score, tried his best to score himself, but ultimately didn’t care who finished. I’ve criticized Feilhaber on one or two occasions for getting too visibly frustrated with his teammates when his team was down, but there was none of that against Toronto, just a desire to win and a strong effort. One might say it was a Shalrie Joseph-like performance. And the Revolution needed it since their captain was sidelined for the Toronto game due to an adductor strain suffered against Columbus. With luck, Joseph will be back for New England’s next match, against Seattle at Gillette. If the Revolution play like they did in the second half against Toronto, they have a good chance to surprise the Sounders.