U.S. Men’s National Team v. Austria, Vienna, 11.19.13: Michael Bradley and the Ewing Theory

Just days after playing Scotland to a scoreless draw, the U.S. men’s national team lost 1-0 to Austria in the second of their two November friendlies. Despite ending the calendar year with those two unsatisfying results, the U.S. finished 2013 with a gaudy 16-4-3 record.

Most fans and critics of the U.S. team agree that its foremost area of concern is the outside back position. DaMarcus Beasley’s combination of recovery speed, soccer IQ, attacking abilities and overall team performance when he plays left back make him, I think, the best choice to play that position in Brazil. My faith in Beasley remains unshaken after the Austria friendly, but he did have a down performance on Tuesday. He gave attackers too much space on occasion, and was involved in the game’s only goal.

The goal-scoring sequence came in the 33^rd minute and was a good example of how out of sorts the U.S. backline looked during much of the game. With Austria on the attack, Beasley initially slid towards the center to cover Austria striker Marc Janko, who was not closely marked by center back John Brooks. When the ball was played wide to Austria’s right, Beasley therefore found himself out of position. He eventually narrowed the gap, but Austria defender Gyorgy Garics was able to receive a ball in space and send a cross back towards goal that eventually found Janko for the score.

Geoff Cameron was Beasley’s fullback partner. Cameron is best suited to playing in the center, but he’s been forced by his club (Stoke City) and country to spend significant time at right back. (He also occasionally plays midfield for Stoke and the U.S.) Despite some low points—like a bad cross in the 9^th minute and an unforced turnover in the 37^th—Cameron had the best game of any U.S. defender. His deflected header off a Michael Bradley corner in the 17^th minute probably went over the end line before it was swiped out of goal by Austria keeper Robert Almer, and Cameron almost scored from close range in the 66^th. In the 74^th minute, his left-footed ball into the box nearly led to a Jozy Altidore goal. A few more performances like this one, and Cameron will likely supplant Brad Evans as the U.S.’s first-choice right back.

Of the remaining players in this game, few stood out. Altidore had at least three excellent chances but couldn’t take them. Aron Johannsson had a quiet 56 minutes playing behind Altidore in an attacking midfielder role. Jermaine Jones was his usual inconsistent self, alternately winning balls and turning them over. Jones—often described as a red card waiting to happen—also displayed a continued lack of poise. Early in the second half, he punctuated some trash talk with Austria’s burly midfielder Marko Arnautovic by patting Arnautovic on the cheek. Jones was lucky to get away with that one, but there’s zero doubt that 2014 World Cup opponents will target Jones as a player apt to lose his composure and get sent off. Winger Brek Shea started and played 56 mostly desultory minutes, looking particularly lackluster while defending. Shea was slow to track back on Austria’s goal, and he and Gonzalez had to be bailed out by Bradley after some loose defending in the 12^th minute.

Speaking of Bradley, he did not have a good performance by his current sky-high standards. He turned the ball over a few times, including a sloppy giveaway immediately after Austria’s goal that might have doubled their advantage. Still, he played better than most, and the offense tended to move through him. As Landon Donovan said after the Costa Rica match in September, the U.S. team “has in large part been built around Michael.” Most commentators agree that Bradley is the most important player on the team, including the great Ian Darke, who in one 2013 broadcast referred to Bradley as the “glue” of this U.S. national team. Bradley’s teammates defer to him and seek to play him the ball whenever possible. There’s mighty good reason for this. Bradley rarely loses possession and has excellent vision and passing skills.

Having said that, there were times during the Austria match when I sensed that Bradley acted as an inhibitor to his teammates. The urge and/or coaching directive to play through him may mean that the U.S. side is generally less creative, free-flowing and attacking with Bradley in the game. I wondered during the Austria match if the Ewing Theory—roughly, that there are some great players whose teams actually play better when they sit out—might apply to Bradley. I doubt it, and most U.S. fans would consider it heresy and lunacy to even suggest such a thing. But I decided to take look at the U.S. team’s win-loss statistics during the current World Cup cycle. Consider that since the U.S.’s final game in the 2010 World Cup, the Yanks have played 58 matches. During that stretch, and by my unofficial count, the U.S. is 17-10-9 with Bradley in the lineup, for a winning percentage of .597. The U.S. is 15-5-2 without Bradley in the lineup, for a winning percentage of .727.

There are many factors that go into the above winning percentages, such as opponent strength. For example, Bradley wasn’t around for the stat-padding 2013 Gold Cup, when the U.S. went undefeated and crushed such teams as Belize (6-1), Cuba (4-1), and El Salvador (5-1). Then again, that 2013 Gold Cup team was by U.S. standards highly collectively creative and attacking. And it should be added that Bradley was on the 2011 Gold Cup team. That team was thoroughly outclassed by Mexico in the final, losing 4-2. Along the way, the U.S. lost to Panama 2-1 in group play and managed to beat Guadeloupe by the slimmest of margins, 1-0.

None of that is Bradley’s fault, of course, and no one at this point would dream of sitting Bradley in favor of any other U.S. central midfielder. It makes sense that the current team is built around him, as Donovan observed. But between now and the World Cup, coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s challenge will be to ensure that the U.S. team doesn’t become too one-dimensional, that Bradley is regarded by teammates as the primary, but not sole, option to begin attacks.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Scotland, Glasgow, 11.15.13

Each friendly tends to have its own distinct quality, from non-competitive exhibitions where players avoid hard challenges and high pressing, to roiling matches with studs-up tackles and red cards. This match between the U.S. and Scotland fell somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. The referee didn’t issue a single card and (I think) the players didn’t exchange any trash talk, let alone extracurricular pushing and shoving.

But the players didn’t mail it in either, and each side had good reason to compete. Many of the U.S. players involved—like Aron Johannsson, Brek Shea, and Sacha Kljestan—are no locks for the 2014 World Cup roster and are out to impress coach Jurgen Klinsmann. On the other side, Scotland has been knocked out of the ‘14 World Cup Finals qualifications. But they were thrashed 5-1 by the U.S. in a friendly last May and so had plenty of motivation. As Stoke City and Scotland player Charlie Adam said before the match, “I want to give [the U.S.] a good hiding because they got a big result against us the last time we met. I want a bit of revenge on them.”

That hiding didn’t materialize (and Adam remained on the bench throughout), but Scotland proved it was a match for the U.S. this time. The Scots repeatedly attacked down the U.S. wings, exposing U.S. right back Brad Evans on a few occasions and according to MLS.com sending in 22 open-play crosses to the U.S.’s 9. Geoff Cameron, playing with Omar Gonzalez in central defense, was also occasionally caught out of position, most glaringly in the 35^th minute when he whiffed on a challenge off a Scotland throw-in. His gaffe created space in the center of the field and quickly led to a squandered chance from Craig Conway, Scotland’s best opportunity of the night.

To his credit, Cameron had some positive forward runs and was also involved in the prettiest play of the game. In the 85^th minute, working on the U.S. left side of the midfield, he used the outside of his right foot to chip the ball up the sideline to Shea. With a remarkable first touch, Shea used his left foot to loft the ball up the sideline and beyond defender Gordon Greer. He then effortlessly blew by Greer, taking a long touch to the endline and playing the ball back to Johannsson at the top of the 18. Johannsson cut the ball back to his left foot and sent a shot just wide of the far post.

That play showed Shea at his best, and his overall performance was a return to his 2011 form, when he was one of three U.S. players to appear in every game for Klinsmann. Shea has struggled since then with injuries and club-team playing time. (He’s reportedly going out on loan from Stoke City to an English Championship-level team this season, in part to help his chances of making the U.S. World Cup roster.) While he still appears to be a roughhewn work-in-progress, Shea seldom disappoints in a U.S. shirt, especially when coming on as a substitute. Klinsmann said after the game, “I think Brek brought a lot of energy to the field and did well. He can surprise people, he can create something out of nothing and we are glad to have him back.”

Along with Shea, Johannsson stood out among players still fighting for a spot on the 2014 roster. Both came on in the 62^nd minute, along with Mix Diskerud. Two minutes before the play involving Shea and Cameron mentioned above, Johannsson put the best U.S. shot of the night on goal, a low left-footed blast that was saved spectacularly by Scotland’s David Marshall. Johannsson also made a nice cut-back and cross in the 72^nd minute, and he won the ball at midfield in the 82^nd to start a U.S. break. Given how consistently dangerous Johannsson has been for the U.S. in his brief time with the team (just five caps so far), and given his obvious technical ability, he may have secured his spot on U.S.’s 2014 World Cup roster with his performance against Scotland.

He had better hope so. Johannsson was born in Alabama but moved with his family to Iceland at the age of three and grew up there. In July of this year, he chose to eschew the Iceland national team (for whom he had played on U21 teams) in favor of the U.S. squad. That decision was almost certainly made because Johannsson thought it was unrealistic that he’d ever get to play in a World Cup Finals for a nation of 320,000 people that has never qualified for a major men’s tournament. Unsurprisingly, some in Iceland were angered by his defection, notably Geir Thorsteinsson, president of the Football Association of Iceland. According to an ESPN article, Thorsteinsson “sent a letter to US Soccer expressing his disgust” with Johannsson’s move.

Johannsson (and Thorsteinsson) could not have predicted what has unfolded since. Iceland is now on the cusp of becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, and they’re succeeding in the most daunting of FIFA confederations. With a victory over Croatia next week, Iceland will play in Brazil next summer.

It’s mere speculation, of course, and I’m sure he’d never admit it, but human nature might dictate that Johannsson will be pulling for Croatia to win next week so he can continue to justify his decision to play for the United States. One can only imagine the agonies he’ll suffer should Iceland play in the 2014 World Cup and Klinsmann leave Johannsson off the U.S. roster next summer.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Panama, Panama City, 10.15.13

I am not one of those enlightened souls who roots against my national soccer team when it plays teams representing less developed nations. And yet, it would have taken a heart far harder and more jingoistic than mine not to feel a twinge of sadness at the sight of devastated Panama players at the end of Tuesday night’s final CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match. Panama went from protecting a 2-1 lead and (due to a simultaneously unfolding Costa Rica victory over Mexico) securing a spot in the World Cup qualifying playoff match against New Zealand next month, to conceding two goals in stoppage time in front of their home crowd to squander their World Cup chances. Just thinking about it induces a touch of guilt, along with worry that the U.S. will suffer Karmic payback down the line.

Still, it would be hard (presumably) even for a God of justice to blame the U.S. players for hustling until the final whistle. There was no gamesmanship by U.S. players, no cheap play, no evident gloating when the final whistle blew. This was in fact an enjoyable game to watch, with plenty of attacking play and some attractive buildups from a U.S. side that, due to injuries and other factors, lacked big names and was stocked with players hoping to induce Jurgen Klinsmann to put them on next summer’s World Cup finals roster.

Left back Edgar Castillo played the entire match against Panama and again showed that he is one of those players capable of keeping both teams in a game. His giveaway in the 18^th minute, and subsequent slow reaction, led directly to Panama’s first goal. About a minute later, Castillo was nowhere to be seen as Panama again attacked down the U.S. left side, creating an uncontested shot for Blas Perez at the top of the box. On Panama’s second goal, late in the second half, Panama yet again attacked down the U.S. left, Panama’s Roberto Chen putting a cross past Castillo, who failed to promptly close down Chen.

Then again, Castillo had a couple of timely clearances and looked very good on the attack, particularly with the ball at his feet. His pass to substitute left midfielder Brad Davis set up the U.S.’s first stoppage time goal. But I have made the argument before: Castillo is an attacker, not a defender, and the better the competition, the more of a liability he is.

As long as I’m repeating myself, I might as well mention Brad Evans. He played left back for most of the Panama game and was beaten badly for speed at least a couple of times, once nearly leading to a Panama goal. (I was unable to take notes during this beIN Sport broadcast game, and can’t recall the minute.) Evans can sometimes cover for his lack of speed by good positioning and well timed slide tackles, as he did against Jamaica last week, but ultimately there’s no substitute for recovery speed in a defensive back.

To move from the back line to the front, Aron Johannsson turned in one of the more intriguing individual performances of this game. He came on in the 62^nd minute, looking like a young Kevin Bacon with an SS-officer haircut. In the 83^rd minute, he drifted to the U.S. left side of the field and received a pass from Davis, turning the ball towards goal and taking a shot that initially looked well wide of the mark, a wasted opportunity. And yet, Johannsson had wrapped his foot around the ball so well and thoroughly that it nearly found the far post. I looked up the game highlights specifically to see if this shot made the cut, and it did (it’s at around the 3-minute mark of the highlights). “A bit more bend,” the announcer says, “and that one might have gone in.” A bit more bend and someone would have had to rewrite the laws of physics.

Johannsson scored the final goal of the match on another remarkable hit from outside the box, this one low and to the near post. It seemed a hopeful strike at best, and certainly a selfish one, as midfielder Sacha Kljestan had made a run into the box and was wide open for a clear shot. Even after Johannsson’s shot went into the net, Kljestan turned and lifted his arms at Johannsson, seemingly in disbelief that Johannsson hadn’t delivered him the pass.

Kljestan had a solid performance in the center of the field, though perhaps not solid enough to infiltrate a U.S. World Cup finals roster that (barring injuries) will have a quality midfield. Graham Zusi will no doubt be a part of it, and Zusi turned in another good performance against Panama, heading in the equalizer in stoppage time.

There’s another moment worth checking out on those game highlights. After Zusi’s goal, the aforementioned Chen of Panama approaches Davis, lifting his arms in a questioning gesture. Chen then says something to Davis, nothing heated, something like (I’d guess), “What’s the point of that? What did you have to gain?”

Indeed, the U.S. team had nothing or next to nothing to gain in World Cup qualifying by winning Tuesday night, and Panama had everything to lose. Davis did not reply to Chen and to his credit did not look happy to have needlessly eliminated his opponent from World Cup qualification. But no one should expect an opponent to lie down. And Davis is one of those U.S. players, like Kljestan, fighting for a roster spot next summer. His cross to Zusi against Panama helped his cause.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Jamaica, Kansas City, 10.12.13

There needed no ghost come from the grave, nor announcer from the airwaves, to tell us the U.S. performance against Jamaica last Friday was a drab one. But ESPN play-by-play man Ian Darke made the observation anyway, remarking after an Edgar Castillo 76^th-minute giveaway, “In truth, a whole catalogue of errors out there tonight.”

To that point, and especially in the first half, the U.S. had given the ball away cheaply and looked listless, playing every bit like a team that had already secured its place in the 2014 World Cup. Landon Donovan’s performance was indicative. Despite some positive play—like a pass to U.S. newcomer Aron Johannsson in the 20^th minute that might have led to a goal or a penalty kick were it not for a well timed slide tackle by Jamaica defender Adrian Mariappa—he was mostly a nonfactor, at times even a detriment. His night is probably best captured by a sequence in the 41^st minute. He made a run into the box, received a fine pass from Alejandro Bedoya, but couldn’t control the ball and sent it over the end-line for a Jamaica goal kick. (Donovan’s uncharacteristically subpar performance was almost certainly due in part to an ankle injury that will keep him out of tomorrow’s final U.S. qualifier against Panama.)

So Darke was as usual talking sense when he noted the U.S.’s catalogue of errors. But within a minute of him saying those words, the U.S. elevated their play, working hard to string together some passes in the final third before Graham Zusi deposited a deflected Bedoya cross into the net for a 1-0 lead. The U.S. played with verve from then on, scoring again in the 81^st minute off a Jozy Altidore tap-in of a Castillo cross.

Zusi, playing in his club team’s stadium, came on for Donovan at halftime and brought much-needed energy into the game. He not only scored the first U.S. goal, he had a critical hand in the buildup to it, picking out Bedoya making a run to the far post. (It was Bedoya’s deflected cross that Zusi put into the net.) And almost immediately after that goal, Zusi hit a cross from the right side that found fellow substitute Sacha Kljestan wide open at the back post. Kljestan’s one-time shot was deflected by Jamaica keeper Duwayne Kerr, but at that point it was clear the game was effectively over.

Speaking of Zusi’s fellow subs, Castillo, despite that aforementioned giveaway, played a strong game, frequently attacking down the left sideline after coming on for DaMarcus Beasley in the 66^th minute. I’m still not convinced Castillo should be the U.S.’s starting left back, or even their back-up left back, as there is too much evidence suggesting his defense is suspect. But against inferior competition, when a good attack is often the best defense, he continues to prove his worth. Against Jamaica he could have had a second assist in the 89^th minute, when he again had a wide-open Altidore standing before an empty goal, but Castillo elected to take the shot. It wasn’t necessarily a bad decision; the point here is he was a near-constant attacking threat. Again, though, Jamaica attackers never seriously challenged Castillo during his brief time on the field, and it would be nearly impossible to draw any conclusions about his defensive qualities based on this game.

There is also evidence to support the case that Brad Evans is not up to the task of defending world-class strikers. But Evans played the full ninety minutes at right back against Jamaica and mostly acquitted himself well. He made up for his relative lack of speed by sound positioning, and in a couple of cases late in the second half by executing good slide tackles. He also prevented a Jamaica goal in the 7^th minute when he cleared the ball off the line during a pinball sequence in the U.S. box following a Jamaica free kick.

But while Evans’s performance was largely reassuring, the position of right back remains the least settled going into next summer. (Beasley has, I think, rightfully nailed down the left back spot, assuming he remains healthy.) I would love to see Andrew Farrell, the New England Revolution’s tenacious and talented rookie, get called into the U.S.’s January camp to prove to Klinsmann he’s worthy of consideration at that position.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Mexico, Columbus, Ohio 9.10.13

Landon Donovan, playing with an eye infection that gave him the look of someone who’d had a run-in with Roberto Duran, had a goal and assist tonight as the U.S. beat Mexico 2-0 in a qualifier that all but sealed the Yanks’ place in the 2014 World Cup tournament. After looking flabby against Costa Rica last week, and borderline overwhelmed during the first ten minutes or so of this game, the U.S. defense and midfield settled down and then shut down Mexico attackers.

U.S. center backs Clarence Goodson and Omar Gonzalez read the game well and dominated in the air. Only Fabian Johnson, playing at right back, showed poorly, mishitting and turning over balls repeatedly. (Jurgen Klinsmann wisely substituted Johnson for Michael Parkhurst at the half.) At left back, DaMarcus Beasley had some rough moments early, including a whiffed clearance that ricocheted off his plant foot and nearly resulted in an own-goal, but, predictably, he recovered. At the end of an often furiously paced game, Beasley was sprinting up and down the sideline without any apparent fatigue. He’s indefatigable.

In the midfield, Jermaine Jones atoned for his poor showing against Costa Rica with a solid outing. He hustled and played tough defense, which is what the U.S. needs from him. He twice thwarted Giovani Dos Santos in the box, once in the 24^th minute and again in the 56^th with a well timed tackle. Kyle Beckerman played alongside him and performed well, harassing Mexico attackers and maintaining his composure, though he probably should have picked up a yellow in the 17^th minute for a hard foul on Dos Santos.

Aside from Donovan, the most effective outfield player tonight for the Yanks was Eddie Johnson. (I say “outfield” because Tim Howard was fantastic.) Johnson nearly scored a header off a Donovan corner-kick delivery in the 32^nd minute, when Johnson was left unmarked. Three minutes into the second half, Donovan and Johnson again connected off a corner kick, and Mexico again let Johnson have a free run in the box. This time Johnson didn’t miss, and he put the U.S. up for good. Mexico was overmatched in the air against the U.S., and El Tri team officials must be damning themselves for not pursuing Omar Gonzalez while they still had the chance, before he was cap-tied to their bitter rivals.

When I began writing this post, the U.S. had not officially qualified for the 2014 World Cup. That has now changed, as Honduras’s recently concluded 2-2 draw with Panama guarantees that the U.S. will finish in the top three of the CONCACAF hexagonal.

Now that the U.S. has qualified, the team’s fans should credit head coach Jurgen Klinsmann with doing an excellent job so far. He set out to change the style and attitude of U.S. soccer, and you could make a strong argument that he’s doing just that. His teams have gotten excellent results, not only qualifying for the World Cup after 8 hexagonal games, but running away with this year’s Gold Cup and beating teams like Germany and Italy to boot. And the team has occasionally played some very entertaining and attractive soccer. His unorthodox roster decisions, like playing Beasley on defense and giving young players like Mix Diskerud and Alejandro Bedoya significant time in important matches, have proved prescient. And his in-game adjustments have been notably and consistently excellent, as when he brought on Diskerud against Mexico tonight and the player justified the decision with an assist.

I for one look forward to next month’s final two qualifying games, when the pressure will be off the players and Klinsmann will no doubt make a few surprising, perhaps even enlightening, decisions.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica, 9.6.13

The U.S. national team’s night began unpropitiously on Saturday evening as midfielder Michael Bradley limped off the field during warm ups after rolling his left ankle. Over the last few years, Bradley is as close as the U.S. gets to a sure thing. He can be counted on to play hard, smart, and well. He’s seemingly always available and never turns in a dud performance. And he mans the middle of the field, virtually ensuring that he gets touches, is in on challenges, and remains visible.

He managed to remain visible against Costa Rica last night, even though his ankle injury relegated him to the sideline. His absence leapt off the TV screen. Without him, the U.S. midfield looked as soft as the average American’s midriff. The players routinely gave away balls and lost challenges, particularly in the first half. Jermaine Jones was asked to assume Bradley’s role, and Jones is the anti-Bradley, as inconsistent a central midfielder as can be imagined on the international level, and not just game to game but play to play. Forced to watch the beIN broadcast at a bar last night, I was unable to take notes, but I’m confident in saying that Jones sent many balls long and out of bounds and ceded possession needlessly in critical situations. He booted the third kick of the game over the Costa Rica end line, and just a minute later gave the ball away at midfield, starting a Costa Rica attack that resulted in a corner-kick goal.

As for the rest of the U.S. midfielders, Graham Zusi had the presence of mind to spring Clint Dempsey by taking a quick free kick near the end of the half, leading to a penalty kick and the only U.S. goal of the game. But Zusi was beaten badly for speed a couple of times down Costa Rica’s left, and generally did not look sharp or even energetic, which you expect from him. Geoff Cameron actually did fill in for Bradley in the midfield, and had a below-average, drab game. Fabian Johnson played on the left. He did have a flawless, powerful half-volley on goal that was saved spectacularly by Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas, but otherwise he played like his line mates and failed to impose his will.

On the second Costa Rica goal, which came in just the 9^th minute, the U.S. midfield virtually took the play off. Central defender Omar Gonzalez was sucked into a vacuum of space on the Costa Rica left side, ultimately lunging at a Cristian Bolanos cross. Costa Rica attackers swarmed on the pass and overwhelmed the remnants of the U.S. back line to head the ball into the net. The defense looked and was out of sorts on the goal, but it was the U.S. midfield that put them in that untenable position. Zusi was beaten down the sideline, Jones was in the box but marking no one, and Cameron and Johnson had an excellent view of the proceedings from the top of the 18, where they both stood alone together.

It must be said that while the U.S. back line was hung out to dry, it did not acquit itself well in any case. In order for Cameron to move to the midfield, natural center back Michael Orozco played right back for the U.S., and Orozco’s need for support often pulled the defense out of shape. Matt Besler had a tough night, most spectacularly on a counter in the second half that led to Costa Rica’s game-sealing third goal. Besler was the picture of an overmatched man expending all his strength and speed. He was muscled off the ball and outrun. It was a beautiful play, actually, a classic counterstrike off a U.S. turnover in the penalty box. Costa Rica substitute Jose Cubero’s long one-time ball over Besler was quick and unimprovable, the kind of classy touch U.S. players could rarely summon in this game.

DaMarcus Beasley also had a rough time in the back, but I think partly out of misfortune. He was manning the near post on Costa Rica’s first goal, and had a chance to clear the ball off the line, but the powerful close-range shot glanced off his shorn head and into the net. Realistically, no one short of Spiderman could have reacted quickly enough to make that play. Beasley was also involved in the second goal described above, but no team can rely on its left back to challenge three attackers making unimpeded runs onto such a fat, juicy cross, especially when that left back is a speedster listed at 5’8”, 145. I think Beasley will get a lot of undeserved grief for this performance, and a lot of people will call for his replacement, but that’s nonsense. Beasley has been remarkably solid—and sometimes considerably better than solid—on defense in the prior dozen games for the national team, all of them victories.

Similarly, this loss should not be pinned on Landon Donovan, who made his long-heralded return to World Cup qualifiers. He played forward along with Dempsey, and given the performance of the U.S. midfield, combined with a field-clotting five-man Costa Rica back line, those two were given few chances to shine. When Donovan and Dempsey did have the ball at their feet against Costa Rica, it was a visual relief, a series of brief reprieves from watching the unpolished performances of the rest of the U.S. players. Donovan and Dempsey nearly linked up in the 56^th minute, producing one of the few U.S. highlights of the night. Donovan beat Costa Rica’s left back, driving to the flag and then turning the ball back to Dempsey at the top of the box. Dempsey took over, doing what he does best, creating space in traffic by juking his defender and dragging the ball back in the opposite direction. His low left-footed strike hit the outside of the post.

After the match, Donovan had an insightful, gracious quote about one of the few U.S. players on his and Dempsey’s level, a player that undoubtedly would have changed the nature of this drab U.S. performance: “This team has in large part been built around Michael [Bradley] and that hurts. We lose a leader and a good player but that doesn't account for how we started and how we played. We still needed to do better than that.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 8.14.13

The U.S. men’s national team brought a number of their best Europe-based players to Sarajevo, including Michael Bradley, Tim Howard, and Jozy Altidore. But most MLS and Liga MX players—including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Graham Zusi, and DaMarcus Beasley—stayed home. Oddly, the two MLS players that did make the long trip were from the same team (Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans, from the Seattle Sounders). To fill the remaining gaps, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann called in three Europe-based youngsters: John Brooks, Aron Johannsson, and Bobby Wood, all of whom got their first U.S. caps on Wednesday.

So the roster was a hodgepodge, even by national team standards. And in the first half of Wednesday’s match the U.S. play reflected that quality, looking disjointed and devoid of class. In the 7^th minute, Eddie Johnson dwelled on the ball in the U.S. final third, carelessly giving it away. Four Bosnia-Herzegovina attackers pounced, then Edin Dzeko shot, collected the rebound, and shot again, this time threading the ball behind a U.S. back line that was too slow to cover the exposed goal.

A few minutes later, Altidore had a good chance to score but played an oddly weak ball across the face of goal that no teammate had a hope of latching onto. In the next five minutes, Mix Diskerud lost possession three times. In the 30^th minute, after clearing a corner kick convincingly, the U.S. defense relaxed and Geoff Cameron was beaten off a header on the second ball into the box. When the first-half whistle blew, with the U.S. down 2-0, all those European soccer snobs, inside and outside the stadium, must have been chuckling into their hop-rich beers and yelling towards the field and their TV screens, “You’re not in CONCACAF anymore, boys!”

I was thinking along those lines myself. But the game changed remarkably in the second half. It is true that Klinsmann used all six of his available substitutions, but it should be said that the two most transformative players in this game were Bradley and, especially, Altidore. The latter scored a hat trick and assisted on the U.S.’s fourth goal, and Bradley had a couple of assists and generally displayed as much class as Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic, or anyone else on the Bosnia-Herzegovina roster, currently ranked 13^th in the world by FIFA.

Many critics consider Bradley to be the U.S.’s best player right now, and much has been written about his passing ability and soccer IQ. Those traits were clear to see against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and his pass to Altidore in the 86^th minute that helped put the U.S. up 4-2 was a calmly delivered, understated thing of beauty.

His passing ability and game smarts don’t need further burnishing from me, but I will point out two additional elements of his game that may lie beyond the obvious and widely recognized. The first is how strong Bradley is on the ball. He’s not a particularly large midfielder, and God knows he’s not a particularly fast one, but he frequently seems to defy the physical law stating that weight moves weight. Through a combination of leverage, reading his opponent, physical strength, strength of will, and no doubt other factors, he routinely runs bigger and faster players off the ball. In addition to that, he has an uncanny ability to slide (or “go to ground” or whatever) when the ball appears to be just out of his reach and deflect it so that his team either maintains or regains possession. He did this no fewer than three times against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first half. Maintaining and regaining possession are of course critical factors in winning games, and Bradley’s well-timed slides help his teams win those battles. (The U.S., incidentally, had about 60% possession on Wednesday.)

To move on to Altidore: anyone who thought his otherworldly game against Panama in June was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke national team performance needs to go check out the Bosnia-Herzegovina match before Watch ESPN takes it off the website. Altidore was a rare bright spot for the U.S. in the first half, but he was a supernova in the second. He helped get the U.S. on the board in the 55^th minute with a great first touch off a long ball from Bradley; Altidore’s trap fell to Johnson, who scored off a side-footed shot into an empty net. Less than five minutes later, the U.S. pulled level off a nice sequence that started with newcomer Brooks playing a pass from the back to Fabian Johnson, who turned and found Altidore, also playing with his back to the goal. Altidore made a nice turn himself and laced a spectacular left-footed shot far post to beat the keeper.

Remarkably, Altidore outdid that strike with a dead-ball hit in the 84^th minute. I don’t recall Altidore ever taking free kicks for the U.S., but he took two of them against Bosnia-Herzegovina. And maybe I’m forgetting something else, but I can’t remember a U.S. player hitting a free kick as sweetly as Altidore hit this one, a dipping ball struck with power and accuracy into the top of the net near post. After the goal, Altidore ran toward the stunned, silent crowd, his arms outstretched as if to say, “Where’s your CONCACAF-bashing now?” He’d score again, in the run of play, two minutes later to put the game out of reach.

This post is already too long but something should be said about 22-year-old U.S. national team newcomer Aron Johannsson, who was born in Alabama, grew up in Iceland, and plays his club soccer with Altidore’s former Dutch-league club Alkmaar Zaanstreek (AZ). Johannsson played less than thirty minutes against Bosnia-Herzegovina, but he looked unmistakably skillful, smart, and dangerous. Soon after coming on, he slid a nice through ball to Altidore; in the 74^th minute he deftly settled a ball in the box to create a volley for himself; and in the 77^th minute he had a very good touch in the box to blow by a player, creating another good shot for himself. The thought of Johannsson working in the final third amidst clever, quality players like Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, and Altidore is appealing.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s Altidore on Johannsson’s strong performance: “I'm not surprised at all. Aron, over the past six months I was with him at AZ, you saw in training his ability to see passes and score goals and beat people so effortlessly. He's such a smart player and I'm so happy he chose the U.S. I think he'll be an asset going forward and I think he'll help us a lot.”