Jurgen Klinsmann finally got his first victory as head coach for the United States in a 1-0 win over Honduras, his fourth appearance as head coach for the team. Since taking over from Bob Bradley in July right after the Gold Cup, the United States has tied with Mexico, and lost to Costa Rica and Belgium.

Since these international friendlies are meant to give the crew a chance to experiment with what works and what doesn’t, we saw many positive and negative aspects in the USA-Honduras match that will greatly impact the way the United States national team is shaped in upcoming matches. A list of what worked and did not work with the club includes:

Pros

One thing is for certain about the U.S. team: Clint Dempsey is a key figure and has one of the biggest impacts on the match whenever he is on the field. Dempsey scored his 23^rd international goal late into the first half of the match against Honduras, providing the only goal of the match and victory for the U.S. team.

Being able to work with newcomers such as Brek Shea, along with veterans to international soccer such as Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore, shows his versatility to whatever Klinsmann has in mind for the U.S. national team.

Another thing is for certain about U.S. soccer: our young talent, even though a good amount are coming from the German Bundesliga, is quite effective on the pitch and will grow into formidable players in the years to come. Along with the upcoming stars in the MLS like Brek Shea and Juan Agueldo, four German-American players have been given looks and playing time on the national team.

Such players include Danny Williams from Hoffenheim, Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones, Nuremberg defender Timmy Chandler, and Hoffenheim midfielder Fabian Johnson, sidelined by a neck injury, has been approved by FIFA last month for a switch from Germany to the U.S.

Cons

One of the main concerns with the U.S. national team is their defense. No matter the situation, whether the team is in form or not, the defensive back line is always struggling to keep the opposing team out of their half of the field.

Veteran defenders like Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundalo, who have made close to 100 appearances for their national team, have been through many tactical changes throughout the years. However, the ineffective changes that have happened in the past couple of years have been changes that the defensive line has, so far, been unable to recover from.

Probably the biggest problem that will need to be fixed for the next international friendly is whether the tactics and changes that have been made will be effective once the stars from the starting roster come off the injury list and are inevitable thrown back into the mix up.

MLS star Landon Donovan has been on the injury list due to a sprained right quadriceps, and it is not entirely sure whether or not the tactics that were used in the match against Honduras will be as effective with the top American players in the squad.

Only time will tell if changes in the pros and the cons will help or hinder the U.S. national team in the near future.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/babasteve/

The article USA, Honduras Friendly: What Worked, and What Did Not? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Last time the US soccer team faced Mexico they went home with a lost in the Gold Cup Final.  Months have passed and changes needed to be made, first change coming with the termination of Bob Bradley as coach.  Now Jurgen Klinsmann has taken over as coach, former player and coach of Germany and their first match came to day against Mexico, their main rival on this side of the world.

The US is missing main players who have been around in the past and Mexico’s full squad is also not out there playing in today’s game.  Much remains to be seen if Jurgen Klinsmann can in fact build this team up, one day becoming a major player in national soccer around the world.

As for today’s game, the first half was relatively uneventful and the US team doesn’t seem to have an identity as of yet.  They play and run around not sure of themselves or what is asked of them from the new coach, who has stated that he doesn’t really believe in one particular approach.  The first half was not played with much passion, at the same time though, the Mexican team squeezed in one goal out of nowhere by a player who was being guarded by the son of former head coach Michael Bradley.

Throughout this game, it is important to keep in mind that this is a friendly game between the two teams, much left to be determined in how both teams will look in the future.  Both coaches are trying out different players to see what they have and who will contribute in the future.

The 2^nd half showed us much of the same on the American side that can’t hold on to the ball. They finished with no shots on goal in the first half and Mexico continued to dominate in the onset of the 2^nd half.  In the 55^th minute, Dos Santos was brought in as a substitute and the action picked up for a while after that change was made.

The first sub on the American side came in the 59^th minute when we saw an 18 year old player by the name of Agudelo, he then proceeded to bring a little bit of excitement with a 40 yard run towards goal.  Maybe this will be a youth movement for the American team trying to cultivate talent with an eye to the future. Tim Howard at the age of 32 still remains the guy at goal for the American side; he has not been tested much aside for that early goal in the first half.

In the 73^rd minute, the youth movement made an impact with a goal by Robbie Rodgers.  A beautiful sequence starting with Agudelo, then a brilliant play by another young sub named Brek Shea, finished off by Rodgers who scored on an empty net.

The intensity picked up tremendously after the equalizer by the American team who seemed to have settled down.  Torres and Donovan are playing like the best players on the field along with Agudelo and Brek Shea.

In the 86^th minute, Robbie Rodgers got behind the defenders of the Mexican team in a play in which the Mexican defender should have been red carded- but was spared by the referee after he pulled down the faster American player…A wonderful opportunity for the Americans after the penalty, but no results after hitting the ball into the wall.

The game came to an end 1-1 and although this was a friendly, the 2^nd half should be encouraging to the new coach and fans of American soccer.  There are young players to build with along with their best player Donovan.  A good introduction to American fans for the new coach.

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