The Short List: U.S. Position Battles For Confederations Cup

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Benny Feilhaber, USA v. Mexico, Gold Cup, June 24, 2007

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Players

• DaMarcus Beasley
• Ricardo Clark
• Jonathan Spector
• Conor Casey
• Heath Pearce
• Benny Feilhaber
• Marvell Wynne
• Charlie Davies
• José Francisco Torres
• Sacha Kljestan
• Jonathan Bornstein

By Allen Ramsey

It was quite a week for the U.S. National team. First they had an embarrassing loss in Costa Rica and then rebounded with a solid overall performance and a decent win against Honduras in Chicago.

As was noted after the match, a big part of that rebound in Chicago was the inspired play of brought to the team by some of Bob Bradley’s changes from the match at Saprissa Stadium. Among the biggest moves, and best performers, were fresh faces at right back and in the center of the midfield where the battles for starting spots are heating up with every passing game.

With a minimum of four starting spots up for grabs in the U.S. starting roster and as many as eleven players hoping to get the nod, Bob Bradley will be under immense pressure to find a working combination in South Africa.

Here’s a look at the top positional battles and a take on who should get the nod against Italy next Monday.

Right Back: With Frankie Hejduk nursing a bum leg, this is only a two man battle between Marvell Wynne and Jonathan Spector. Hejduk may be the favorite when he is available due to his vast amounts of experience and timely attacking runs, but Bradley will have to face the Confederations Cup without him.

Wynne: Wynne is a pure athlete who is still learning to play the game at a high level. His future is bright, but right now he is a raw project. What Wynne brings is the very rare ability to make up ground even after he’s beaten. But that’s not enough against teams like Italy and Brazil who punish mistakes.

Wynne’s performance against Costa Rica was less than stellar. He was caught chasing the ball on too many occasions and was beaten badly on the second goal.

Spector: The West Ham man is the exact opposite of Wynne. He’s a polished player, both on and off the field, and brings a level of understanding to the pitch that few players in America’s back line have. What Spector lacks is any world-beating athletic ability. He’s a “just guy”. Just-fast enough, just big-enough, just-skillful enough- to do the job.

Another selling point for Spector taking the job is his ability to link well with Clint Dempsey on the right. Both players come into the national team with an understanding brought about by playing in the same kind of systems in England. They proved against Honduras that they can do the job of shutting down one side of the field while still finding space to get forward. Spector has also shown the ability to whip in a very nice cross. His ball into Conor Casey against Honduras was spot on.

The Pick: It has to be Spector here. Wynne may be the future of the right back spot (especially if Spector shifts to the middle at some point) but right now Spector is the guy who can get the job done against top opposition.

Left Back: This is a three-man competition that seems to have Bradley shaking his head. DaMarcus Beasley, Jonathan Bornstein, and Heath Pearce will all fight for time, but one of the three needs to step up and claim the spot for the long term.

Beasley: It’s hard for me to admit now that I wanted to see Beasley at left back and thought the experiment might work after he put in a decent shift against Trinidad. Against Costa Rica he looked horribly outmatched, and while he was not the only player who had struggles in that match, his play turned me off of the idea. He looked small, weak, and unwilling in the tackle.

One thing that needs to be pointed out here is that in the 4-3-3 alignment used against Costa Rica Beasley had very little help on defending the flank. The packed-in midfield allowed far too many balls to be spayed down the wings. An isolated DaMarcus Beasley is a vulnerable DaMarcus Beasley. The move also kept Beasley from having any freedom to get into the attack which is the one area where he should have an advantage over Bornstein and Pearce.

Pearce:  I’m not ready to give up on Heath Pearce as a prospect just yet, but one has to question his match fitness and work rate. I like what he does on the defensive side of the ball and in one on one situations he has proven to be a capable defender. Where Pearce lacks is in the attack.  

One thing that has bothered me about Pearce is his lack of good deliveries from wide areas. The U.S. strike force relies (sometimes to a fault) on service from the wings, and Pearce’s inability to deliver those balls could keep him from finding regular playing time. Nobody would expect Pearce to be as polished going forward as Beasley, but he will have to prove that he can play a decent ball into the box before he can take hold of the position.

Bornstein: Borstein had a good showing against Honduras but wasn’t asked to do a lot. He was rarely left isolated and really wasn’t all that effective going forward.

The Chivas USA star is almost a hybrid between Beasley and Pearce-- not as physical or as strong in the tackle as Pearce, not as fast or as good going forward as Beasley, but fairly competent in all areas. What might tip things in Bornstein’s favor is his ability to move the ball quickly and accurately out of the back. He consistently outlets the ball well and rarely makes errant passes, choosing to go safety first in most occasions without just knocking the ball aimlessly down the field.

The Pick: I think Bornstein’s showing against Honduras merits another start against a higher quality opponent like Italy, but the pace of play at the Confederations Cup will bring to light any flaws that haven’t been exposed yet.

Center Mid: Michael Bradley has one spot locked up for the foreseeable future, but with Maurice Edu out for the summer there is a hot competition for the other spot between Jose Torres, Sacha Kljestan, Ricardo Clark, and Benny Feilhaber. (I’m not sure what Bradley wants out of Freddy Adu so we’ll leave him out of the discussion for the time being.)

Torres: Maybe the most gifted of the prospective center midfielders with the ball at his feet, Torres lacks the size and strength to be the devastating tackler that Bradley seems to want in the middle of the park.

What Torres brings to the table is the ability to link the backline with the strikers with short passes rather than balls over the top and a thunderous shot with his left foot when he gets the space to unleash from distance.

One positive for Torres, at least for one Confederations Cup match, is his familiarity with many of the Egyptian midfielder. Those who stayed up late enough (or recorded) Pachuca’s match against Al-Ahly in the World Club Cup know that Torres showed very well against many of Egypt’s stars and his team walked away winners.

Kljestan: Kljestan seems to be the odd man out in the equation right now. His inconsistent play has led to him seeing only spot duty in recent days.

Kljestan is not as good on the ball as Torres and looked completely out of his depth against Mexico, but puts in more than enough effort to make up for any deficiencies he has shown with the ball at his feet. Many will remember the 23-year-olds hat-trick against Sweden, but since that time his game has been a bit off, even sloppy at times.

He adds some nice depth and is a good attacking option from either wing, but would probably be overpowered against the central midfielders of all three Confederations Cup opponents. 

Clark: How much credit should Clark get for his showing against Honduras? I think it may have been enough to earn him a start in the Confederations Cup.

Clark is the prototypical defensive mid and Bradley loves having a hard nosed player in there beside his son. With a well defined role, the Furman product is capable of being a very effective player at the international level.

Clark struggles when he is asked to be the playmaker, a role he took on for the first half of the Honduras game, but is a monster when he is allowed to sit back and mop up the trash in front of the back four. Another positive is that Clark has developed into a reliable player with the ball at his feet. He may not be dynamic, but he is far from a liability on the ball.

Feilhaber: The prodigal son of U.S. soccer returned from injury and an extended layoff from international duty to put in a nice shift against Honduras.

After being characterized as immature by his managers for both club and country over the last few years Feilhaber seems to have found some of his swagger. Against Honduras he showed flashes of the skills that had people drooling over his play during the 2007 Gold Cup.

The 24-year-old is probably still working to get back into top physical condition, but his vision and ability to play a decisive ball are hard not to notice. Like Torres and Kljestan his strength is not in defending and his entry to the starting eleven would likely force the younger Bradley into a more deep lying role.

The Pick: This is by far the toughest decision the manager has to make before the Italy match. Each player has strengths that the others would struggle to duplicate, but I think Bradley’s tendency to play it close to the vest will have him leaning toward Clark.

Forwards: The question of who will partner Jozy Altidore on the front line in South Africa next week seems to be down to two players, Conor Casey and Charlie Davies.

Casey: What we saw from Casey on Saturday is what we’re going to get. Very little flash, but a menace to any defense who will put himself in good positions and use his large frame to fight through challenges.

Casey has had very little time with the U.S. to find his footing in the current squad and that is certainly a disadvantage. But he played the target striker role fairly well on Saturday and should be even more in tune with the squad by next Monday.

Davies: The Boston College product did very well against Costa Rica when he entered the match and showed some signs of why he is so highly touted. Can he play that way for 90 minutes? I would think so, but Bradley might not.

Davies is a like bulldog, small and compact with plenty of pace to separate from defenders. The knock on him is his ability to hold the ball up and play with his back to goal. If Bradley chooses to go with Altidore as his primary striker, Davies could be the odd man out. Altidore has shown signs of rust in his touch and not having someone on the front line that can play as a target proved disastrous against Costa Rica.

One thing Davies has going for him- he has no fear of taking on a chance at goal. His turn and strike against Costa Rica was ambitious and was well covered, but it showed that Davies has the mentality of going to goal.

The Pick: Casey brings three things— size, experience, and the ability to play with his back to goal— that tip the scales in his favor.

Allen Ramsey is and associate editor of Goal.com. The Short List runs every Wednesday afternoon on Goal.com.

For more on the U.S. National team visit Goal.com U.S. National team page.