Steve Davis' weekly column, drilling down on five hot topics in American soccer
1. National team rosters and tricky spots
I don’t often feel badly for men who make $2.5 million a year, but you gotta admit: U.S. national teams manager Jurgen Klinsmann finds himself in some tricky spots these days.
Klinsmann, in his kingly dual role with U.S. Soccer, presides over two rosters as two important sets of matches approach. The U.S. national team faces Guatemala twice in coming days in semifinal round World Cup qualifying, Friday and the following Tuesday. On those very same days the U.S. under-23 team will fight for its Rio Olympic life in a winner-take-all series, home and away, against a talented Colombian team.
The tricky business starts here: several players under senior team consideration are eligible for the under-23s, most notably right back DeAndre Yedlin and center back John Brooks. The issues to weigh: which games are more important, and which team is more desperate for top men at these positions? None of this, of course, can be measured in a vacuum; also in play is depth and need at these spots at the senior level and at under-23 level.
Brooks is performing wonderfully now at Hertha Berlin, and Yedlin is starting at Sunderland in the mighty EPL. (Hey, DeAndre, nice “selfie” with Jermaine Defoe last weekend!) So, bring ‘em to the World Cup qualifiers, right? They deserve, it, eh? Even Klinsmann says: “At the end of the day, priority always is the senior team. Priority is World Cup qualifying.” Of course it is.
Then again, shouldn’t the national team be able to handle Guatemala – the United States is unbeaten in 21 straight against the small, Central American country – with veterans like Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron and Omar Gonzalez at center back? (They are all on the roster.) Besides, they are sharing a semifinal round group with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago. Honestly, they could successfully navigate that group and advance into the tougher final round even if Klinsmann started himself in these games.
So, assign Yedlin and Brooks to the under-23s, right? Klinsmann has talked again and again about why qualifying for the Olympics is so critical. Besides all that, an injury to potential under-23 starting center back Cameron Carter-Vickers leaves Andi Herzog’s team particularly thin at center back.
So, well, which one is it, then?
That brings us to the Clint Dempsey conundrum. At first blush you wonder why Klinsmann might summon Dempsey at all? He didn’t call in “Deuce” as the semifinal qualifying round started last fall. Now fold in this fact: Dempsey isn’t exactly tearing it up in Sounders league matches; the telling net out is no goals and just one shot on goal in three contests.
Dempsey is 33. He’ll be 34 during the meat of final round World Cup qualifying next year and 35 by the time Russia 2018 rolls around. Add in the continuing physical toll of home games for Seattle on artificial turf, and it makes a lot of sense to simply move forward without Dempsey.
Then again … Aron Johansson is injured, Jozy Altidore is just barely back from injury and Gyasi Zardes is hardly proven at top level. Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood certainly look promising, but are they ready for leadership positions? See where all of this gets problematic? In March of 2016, Klinsmann still apparently needs Dempsey. Heck, maybe even against little ol’ Guatemala.
2. Drogba can still Drogba. Believe it
Does anybody still wonder if Didier Drogba can seriously impact a match for the Montreal Impact?
Check that; allow me to amend that query: does anybody who actually witnessed his 20 or so minutes Saturday at Toyota Stadium believe the game has now passed him by, or that his knees are finally too rickety or that his heart is still stuck back at dear ol’ Stamford Bridge?
The dude’s still got it.
First, the crowd response is telling. Everyone knows when he rises from the bench to warm up. The crowd stirs and fidgets even more when he reports to the fourth official, and the mix of excitement and anxious dread is palpable as Drogba takes field, the game hardly in hand as Dallas leads 1-0. Clearly, the guy is a ticket-selling draw.
Just seconds on the Frisco grass, he rises over Walker Zimmerman to head a ball near goal. Yes, he fouled Zimmerman on the sequence, but the warning shot had been issued.
From there, his minutes are an effective mix of dropping deep to help with possession, arranging shots for others and generally making the FCD center backs – quite on top of things to that point – sweat out the game’s final minutes. The Ivorian legend’s best moment: twisting athletically to chest a zipped-in cross, somehow laying the ball perfectly for teammate Anthony Jackson-Hamel at the top of the 18.
It was wonderful stuff. How many MLS players could even see that pass, much less pull it off?
Drogba may not score at that otherworldly 2015 clip (11 MLS games, 11 goals), but assuming his knees hold, he will absolutely help the Impact win matches again this year. The only real issue for manager Mauro Biello is maximizing usage. That is, strategic use of Drogba’s minutes – sometimes as a starter, sometimes off the bench – might be the key to squeezing the very best from him.
3. MLS teams in Copa Libertadores? Sure, what could possibly go wrong?
If we’re talking about strategic marketing in a perfect scenario, especially as it relates to ginning up MLS interest in the Latino community, then official league linkage to the prestigious Copa Libertadores makes plenty of sense.
Well, it does in some alternate universe. Here on a little planet we call Earth, the very notion is a knee-slapper. In practical terms, it’s a fiasco waiting to happen.
Officials from Copa Libertadores, South America’s lucrative club competition, are apparently batting around that very idea. It was probably inevitable, seeing as Mexico has a history of participation and seeing as more and more attractive names are finding their way into MLS. Don’t think that the suits running Copa Libertadores aren’t seeing the potential of an Andrea Pirlo or Kaka appearing in their tournament.
Consider first that MLS teams have a spotty record of getting through CONCACAF Champions League group stages; the rate of passage has been good, but not exceptional. Copa Libertadores is another level.
Really, though, the chief concerns are practical and logistical. For instance, where would MLS teams squeeze in these matches? A good MLS team might already be in for 44-46 competitive matches in a year (between league contests, playoffs, U.S. Open Cup and Champions League). Throw in a high profile exhibition or two, which help pay the bills, and you see the issue.
Those CONCACAF matches already stretch MLS rosters. And can we talk about the extra travel? Right now, a trip down to Honduras or Costa Rica or wherever in Central America in the hot summer is bad enough. How are teams going to feel about a 12- to 14-hour plane ride into Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio or wherever? Tell Bruce Arena he’s got to deal with that, and he may just quit on the spot.
So how about this: when MLS develops to the point where clubs consistently get to the CONCACAF Champions League final, and maybe win a couple of them, maybe then we can start, just start, to entertain such grand designs. Until then … what is it they say about walking before you run?
4. Tim Howard, Zac MacMath and a horribly timed boo-boo
I saw something Sunday that instantly goes into the Hall of Fame of bad timing. Or, it would if such a thing existed. Just hours after Tim Howard’s move to the Colorado Rapids became officially official, Zac MacMath took his place in goal for the Rapids.
Not that there was much question about it, but any thoughts that MacMath could issue a challenge to retain his position at DSG Park were erased once and for all when he bobbled a routine catch, which turned into D.C. United’s only goal in a 1-1 draw.
It was precisely the kind of too-frequent boo-boo that had MacMath, unarguably talented but also undeniably mistake prone, losing his starting spot previously at Philadelphia. So, even if you’re in the camp that says Howard has dropped form, or that good goalkeeping is too abundant to waste big bucks and a Designated Player slot in MLS, it’s hard not to see Howard a major upgrade.
(We talked more about Howard and why he makes sense for Colorado here, back when initial reports began breaking the news of the longtime U.S. No. 1’s impending arrival into Commerce City outside Denver.)
5. The Little Five
5a. Anybody else wonder how long MLS can keepCyle Larin? The reigning Rookie of the Year is quickly eliminating any concerns of a sophomore slump. Three games … three goals. Yep, the Canadian international, who obliterated the rookie scoring record with 17 goals for Orlando City SC in 2015, is sure to have interested suitors.
5b. Something was lost in the conversation over whether Brad Davis committed a foul en route to the winning goal in a tense,1-0 win over Toronto at Children’s Mercy Park: even after the incident, TFC had plenty of defenders to deal with Davis, who was allowed time and space to move the ball to his preferred left foot and line up a game-winner.
5c. I know everyone is excited to see Lee Nguyen in a more influential role for Klinsmann’s team, which figures to have ample possession in this home-and-away set against Guatemala. Me? I’d prefer to see Darlington Nagbe in the role. Nguyen is slightly more creative, but Nagbe is better in protecting possession. It’s really about Nagbe having slightly more upside in the big picture, so I’d love to see him begin to absorb more national team playing time now, with the bigger payoff scheduled for down the road in tougher qualifiers.
5d. As much as we praised Red Bulls front office last year, coach Jesse Marsch and sporting director Ali Curtis and their 300-page plan and all, it is impossible to understand how they walked into this season with so little defensive cover. Matt Miazga took the money at Chelsea and French defender Damien Perrinelle went down to a torn ACL and, well, if you saw the first two goals allowed to Houston – women and children don’t need to see such things – then you see why New York will be pressed to repeat last year’s Supporters Shield performance.
5e. Has C.J. Sapong, who has been fantastic through three MLS weeks, already done enough to lap Juan Agudelo on the U.S. depth chart? (Further down in the U.S. depth chart, but still … ) At 27 years old, Sapong perhaps cannot match the upside of a 23-year-old Agudelo. Then again, if Sapong keeps playing as well as he has lately, it won’t matter. Now apparently more settled in his personal life, the Philadelphia Union striker seems on the cusp a very big season.
Steve Davis has covered Major League Soccer since is first kick in 1996. He writes on-line for FourFourTwo and co-hosts the weekly radio show/podcast ESPN Soccer Today on 103.3 FM in Dallas. Davis is also the radio play-by-play voice for FC Dallas on 100.7 FM.