The American men on the pitch at Amsterdam, Netherlands, during yesterday’s friendly match between Netherlands and the USMNT will no doubt go down in history. The 4-3 thrilling victory over the Dutch team was the first time an American national team defeated their foe in international play. Before this match, Team USA has only ever scored one goal in total against the Dutch — a number they quadrupled yesterday. It will not just be the victory that is remembered, but the fashion in which that they won that will be in the spotlight for years to come. They came back from being down 3-1 early in the second half to score 3 goals to complete the comeback win in stunning fashion.
The Americans controlled the pace throughout the first half and attacked early and often seeming primed to get the first breakthrough of the match. A goal by Netherlands’ Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (27th minute) ignited the home crowd and could have taken the steam right out of the young American team. But Gyasi Zardes (33rd minute) scored just minutes later to get his first international goal and send the game into a tie at the end of the half 1-1. The second half started to look more like one would expect out of the Dutch, picking up two quick goals by Huntelaar (49th minute) and Memphis Depay (53rd minute) within the first 10 minutes. The Americans could have folded quickly, but after a few substitutions by coach Jurgen Klinsmann the match swayed back to the U.S. side as they controlled the last 20 minutes of the match. Goals by John Brooks (70th minute), Daniel Williams (89th minute), and Bobby Wood (90th minute), sealed the major result for the American side.
If you were to just watch the highlights, you might believe that this was a well played, back-and-forth affair between two nations that each wanted to get a result badly. Unfortunately, if you watched the whole match from start to finish you were not treated to the best looking affair. While there were some high points to the game for the American side, this is a typical situation where a decent result will get blown out of proportion by the fans and media. I don’t believe it’s because they are not knowledgeable of the game, I think it has more to do with the desire to want the national team to be able to compete with European powers consistently.
Let’s start with the good things that the young American side did in this match. The most obvious thing is when they were down they did not pack it in and just take the loss. Fighting back from a 3-1 deficit to tie is difficult enough in soccer, but to come back and win takes a lot of resolve. The other part was that they were able to score in the second half of the match, which has been a struggle for them during the Klinsmann era. The biggest high for Team USA should be not the fact that they won the match, but the group of players that were on the pitch that got this result. It was a young group who was playing without the leadership of striker Jozy Altidore and their leader attacking midfielder Clint Dempsey. This put the leadership role completely on the shoulder of Michael Bradley and he responded will with some good touches and key runs late in the game. It was nice to see Aron Johannsson, Deandre Yedlin, Jordan Morris, Brek Shea, Zardes and Williams all play integral parts in this match.
But now onto the reality of the result. The reality is that while the U.S. was able to pull off the victory, it was a sloppy match that had little to no quality defensive play from either side. Although he scored a goal, John Brooks consistently looked lost and had trouble keeping his mark out of the box. He along with Timmy Chandler failed to keep Huntelaar in check and allowed him to almost get a hat trick. With a friendly coming up against Germany the defense will have to play better if it wants to get a result.
Another factor playing into this win was that this Netherlands team is one that is struggling to find quality play. They are not the same team that finished 3rd in the World Cup a little over a year ago and it showed on the pitch. Even in the World Cup, what thing that ultimately doomed them was their defense not being up to par with the other countries they were competing against. This game was no exception as they allowed a U.S. side who has struggled to score in the 2nd half of matches score three unanswered goals. They were looking to gain stability and traction against an American team but only found themselves asking more questions about their roster. They are currently 3rd in Group A of the European Championships and have a chance of not making it past the group phase.
The biggest knock against the American team has been the same for many of their contests in the Klinsmann era: They lack time of possession. Their style lends itself to being an attacking style, but too often they find themselves playing in their own attacking third. Even in this game they lost the possession battle 62%-38% in a game which seemed like they were on the attack frequently. The only time they seemed to possess the ball at all was when it was at the feet of Michael Bradley. They need other players to get involved in order to compete internationally. They have yet to find a player besides Bradley that can hold the ball in the middle of the field and move through them in order to create slowly and in control. Most of their chances come off quick flashes that automatically turn into dangerous counter chances for their opponent. If they can’t find more quality in the middle of the pitch then they will never break into the elite in the world of soccer.
I am in not knocking the American side for their effort, it was clearly there and their drive to not give up is commendable. What I am knocking is their execution, or lack thereof, on the defensive end and their inability to possess the ball throughout the game. American soccer fans and media figures have been quick to anoint this win as a groundbreaking win and one that has brought the margin closer between Team USA and other soccer powers. What they haven’t frequently mentioned is the glaring deficiencies in the team that were apparent to anyone who watched the game in its entirety. In America this seems to be the only sport where if the team gets the win the way that they did, it doesn’t matter to anyone. If this was the U.S. Basketball team who struggled so mightily and had to come back in the final quarter to squeak out a win, then every pundit would be focusing on the struggles instead of the victory. Until fans and media members alike can get to that level of expectation and scrutiny for the American team then we will always be content with just being good and not great.
There is more younger talent on this team than there has been in recent history and Klinsmann needs to figure out the best way to turn it into a competitive unit that is more than just a few scoring opportunities a game. I am a Team USA fan, and I hope that these issues can get figured out, but I know the game and the American soccer media and I realize how much this win will get blown out of proportion. I am not trying to diminish the value of the win, it was a good win heading into the CONCACAF Gold Cup in a few weeks. What I am doing is putting the performance and win into perspective. The reality is: The game was sloppily played with a lack of defense that needs to be better but in the end a win is a win and we’ll take it.