A much better performance in the middle and defending third by the US MNT in Paris. Overall a good solid performance against a dangerous top international team although the US attacking chances were few and somewhat easy to defend against.

Defending: A 442 in the middle third with two pressuring players up front as the ball entered the middle third then became a 451 in the defending third. The team maintained good defending shape and had a clear line of confrentation around the central line. They moved numbers as a cohesive unit of defenders to where they were needed. The shape was ball oriented, compact and had two lines to provide good depth to stop any penetrations through the middle by France. The US MNT worked hard when they did not have the ball against a very good possession team. The transition into the attack was also good by the players.

The attack shape looked a bit confused was it a 424, a 442, or a 433?
The central attacking triangle of Beckerman, Edu, and Dempsey (whoever the central tri is) in the middle third is where the main problem still lies in the US MNT play. This group has to work harder in finding space during the transition into attack and control the speed and direction of play more. We were forced many times to play the ball to the outside or just simply away to relive pressure once we regained the ball.

The basic supporting movements by the other players around them need to be better. The three central players need more options to keep possession before trying to move forward. The French team seemed to know that if they keep the pressure on the central players they could get the ball back quickly. This is where playing back to the defenders comes in. Many in the US (coaches) don't believe in playing back before going forward. There is a reason so many successful international teams do play backwards first. That is how a team controls the tempo of the game especially in the first half when you want the other team to chase you (using up their own energy going the wrong way) as much as you have to chase them. If when you gain possession you play back to the defenders then the other team has to drop off and find their own defending shape. This is where the team finds their own time to catch a short rest before penetrating through the middle with quickly executed combination plays. As a attacking player you can't do all the transition work back and forth up and down the field as your team plays ping pong and then still have the 110% of energy to beat defenders in the final third.

When the counter is not on then the attack must take more time to develop going forward. Only when your team has solid possession and space will the other team drop off. As that happens even more space opens up in the back for better build up play.

Both teams need to have the same amount of possession in the first half. It's about player energy use in a game that is 90 minutes long. The team that has possession the most has the most opportunity to slow down their players movements forwards and backwards and maintain that peak energy reserves for the final third attacks with good quick penetrating and support movements.

A good attack should have both build ups through the middle, up both the outsides, and counter attacks that can go quickly with just a few players when that play is on (few defenders back) and the space exists to play the long ball to them. The balance of different attacking styles creates unpredictability and defenses then have to make decisions and that is when they make mistakes.

An attack that always goes forward first, plays without good support (no time for the space to develop and players to use) and does not give the players time to create combination plays. That creates high risk passing that turns the ball over more often causing your players to run hard a lot (in the wrong direction) getting back into the compact defending shape.

Players can't run at 90-95% MHR for 90+ continuous minutes. Short rest gained during your own teams possessions in the middle third are the key to good quality attacking play. To get those short rests in the attacking transitions a team should balance attempts to play forward quickly with slower developing build ups that have enough space to maintain possession for longer periods of time. You gain that space and time by playing back and maintaining possession when no good chances to go forward are apparent. Playing ping pong does not give your team any time to rest.

Get through the first half using energy only when a great chance presents itself, make the other team chase you as much as you have to chase them by having good long lasting possession, then win the game after 70 minutes of play with aggressive attacking play down the center part of the field (the most dangerous area) using 110% of the attacking supporting movements energy you now still have.

All chasing/defending with no energy left in reserve/and no time for good supporting movements in attack does not win games against top international teams.

Great info JW7. My layman's analysis was that the US looked afraid to move forward, and when they did, they were disorganized. At least the US drew an easy initial bracket in the World Cup qualifiers.

I had a really good time watching the US men's national team play today down at the Sweetwater. There was a nice group there and it was a very enjoyable time.

Ithought that Buddle played a solid game, but did tire toward the end of the match. However, his goal in the ninth minute was spectacular and world-class. On the other hand, Altidore was essentially worthless on the pitch in my opinion. Who cares that he scored a goal on a penalty kick. I could have scored myself. I was tremendously upset with the way that the US backline played. I have seen a group of U6 players play better. Beckerman was also a disappointment in my book.

It was interesting the US played primarily 442. However, Altidore clearly is not able to play up top by himself. Having an extra forward did give the US an opportunity to play forward. This was something they clearly were unable to do against France.

Does anyone have any idea when the next international friendlies are going to be? I sure hope the US gets their act together before they face their initial group and World Cup qualifying. Otherwise, Jamaica is going to be the team to beat.

I remain skeptical!

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1566711/

Interview with Jurgy

Q- So the theory is to not just bunker in and hope for results against the bigger teams, but to be one of the bigger teams?

A- If you play Spain or Barcelona ten times and try to stay back and defend, you might win one out of those ten games and maybe get one draw, but they will beat you, probably badly, seven or eight times. Maybe they will have a bad day and you will get lucky, but this is what I mean when I say the USA needs to be more proactive and less reactive. My goal is to show the players that the way to compete with this kind of football is to improve every element of our game.

Q- Your best result so far was a 3-2 win in Slovenia in November. Did you see the kind of football you’re talking about then?

A- It’s not good enough to have a 45 good minutes like we did against the Slovenians. We need to be tactically more aware and awake all the time, to play the game the same way, totally tuned in, for a full 90 minutes. Little mistakes are not allowed at the top level, and we saw that against Ecuador

Q- Can you keep players from making mistakes?

A- All the elements need to improve. As the players get better and hungrier, the team gets better. There’s more competition. Along the way we will lose some players. When I was a player, there were countless times when a team-mate had more skill than anyone out on the training pitch, but you just knew that he wouldn’t make it because his mentality was wrong.
...........................................................................................................................
That is the real question about this current group of US MNT players...
"Can you keep players from making mistakes"?

As a coach your job is finding the correct style of play for the group of players you currently have, it the federations job to develop the next group of players. How do you as the US MNT coach give them the best chance of success in a short tournament like the World Cup Final where most teams only get to play 2-4 games that even matter to their end result? I'm assuming they will qualify out of the CONCACAF group.

Not sure if he really answered that question? And this is the very strength of the top teams, they will not make mistakes and when you do they will make that cost you a goal.

Who are we really kidding sitting at the 34 ranked position in FIFA?

Tell me what tactics the #2 team The Netherlands use against the #1 team Spain in the last WC final game. Did they try to beat them at their own game or did they try to disrupt the flow of that possession/passing style with the most fouls ever in a final game.

Jurgy has no real plan to execute... Except to have high hopes of success, which is a trait of forwards, never to give up on hope! No matter how many times they miss the net, they always think the next one will go in.

I hope, his hope, is good enough in this day and age of well executed possession play soccer played while giving up very few mistakes. Few mistakes made while pushing attacking numbers forward to score goals exposing your defenders to a numbers down situation in front of their own goal on counter attacks. Do we really have good enough defenders to play 1v1 nearer to our own goal vs the worlds best? Have we even found a real strong left back yet?

A tactical mistake to not know who you really are in this game today, one coaches make all the time now days trying to copy a style of play far out of reach of their current players.

How many teams has that worked for against Spain? Teams that were player for player much better than the (currently ranked #34) US MNT group.

How many teams like Switzerland (#17 ranking) have taken points from a team like Spain during the World Cup final tournament, and what were their tactics again?

He only gets a few days a year training this team as a group, changing the whole dynamic of american soccer skills may not happen fast enough for him to survive. The next World Cup qualifying starts soon.

25/06/2011 USA vs Mexico 2-4
04/06/2011 USA vs Spain 0-4
History tends to repets itself, unless you find better, more realistic tactics.

"Can you keep players from making mistakes"?

-If not then does redundancy make sense?

Redundancy
• Engineering the inclusion of extra components that are not strictly necessary to functioning, in case of failure in other components : a high degree of redundancy is built into the machinery installation.
• chiefly Brit. the state of being no longer employed because there is no more work available : the factory's workers face redundancy.

Good luck son, it's looking more and more like you're going to need some.

Tactics in a real world.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/20...ule=from_footer

Great game! 1-0

I know of a soccer coach in particular that could learn a lot from this article. However, that coach knows more about soccer than I do and is probably beyond this article. Sadly, the results on the pitch don't show it.

Jw7, thanks for passing on another great article. It will be interesting if LA can find their winning form in the 2012 season.

Results are not really all that important the style you play is. Unless of course the goal is to win the game. Then I guess the end result counts. But that's just my own opinion.

4-3-3 And the new American orthodoxy

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/20...dule=from_foote


And while there is institutional desire in US soccer to adapt and become a 4-3-3 country in the Dutch mold, few of the players on the squad have been drilled in the finer points of the formation’s tactics either as youths or pros. Of the players on the roster, only Teal Bunbury plays in the 4-3-3 regularly for his club team.

The 4-3-3 is a thing of beauty when it works, which is why neutral fans tend to adore the teams that employ it well. But it takes time, discipline, repetition, instincts and distinct skill sets to make it happen.

Right now, I don’t see those skills on the US team, either Porter’s U-23s, or Klinsmann’s full national side. In switching to the 4-3-3 at this juncture, the US is trying to jump straight to calculus without first having mastered algebra.

Expect some real, severe growing pains along the way. Olympic qualifying starts next month, and that’ll be the first test of this new American orthodoxy. If they don’t get high marks, they'll be stuck watching how the 4-3-3 really functions every time they see the masters work it.

http://www.usldiscussions.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/278077/1

Inter Milan has gone from a very successful classic defend and counter 442 under Jose Mourinho to this years fashion of new attacking systems under first Gian Piero Gasperini's very short lived "343 experiment" and to now on to another system "the christmas tree formation" of Claudio Ranieri (which would be a completely new shape again) in one season and it has been almost a perfect lesson on how to ruin your teams confidence in one easy season of confusion and system changes...

And now sitting in 6th place in the league they are almost completely out of the run for Europe next year. That might just cost them a few dollars next year, and a few championships over the next few years as they will not be able to afford the top players.

1. AC Milan GF- 45 GA-20
6. Inter Milan GF- 34 GA- 33


http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/serie...asperini-021512


“It might be that we have or had got some decisions wrong,” he said. “Anyway, I don’t believe there have been that many errors, nor have there been any big ones. I know that football doesn’t always follow arithmetic and that strategies to renew the team don’t always give the results that you’d like.”
- Massimo Moratti