The US soccer team has found itself in a place that it is not used to after Friday's loss to Jamaica: Second Place. That's right. The second best team in the CONCACAF is not at the top of its group which includes Jamaica, Guatemala and Antigua. Historically, this would be an easy group for Jurgen Klinsmann and company, but this group of Americans has been disappointing during the qualification stages.
They started off with a less than convincing win over Antigua before blowing a late 1-0 lead to Guatemela. Then the worst came to life when they blew an early 1-0 lead to lose the match 2-1 and find themselves three points behind Jamaica for the group lead.
To say Jamaica won the game is to overestimate how good they really are. Yes this team has speed and confidence and has looked poised, but they have a leaky defense that a more adept offensive team would have taken advantage of. But offense was the US's biggest weakness of all as the midfield was unable to distribute the ball to the forwards. The main culprit was Klinsmann who chose to run with not one, or, but THREE defensive midfielders in the middle. Those men were Maurice Edu, Germain Jones, and Kyle Beckerman. It was a tremendous flop as neither of Klinsmann's soldiers worked any offensive magic.
But the US lost because of set pieces, including one play in which Kyle Beckerman tapped the ball into his own net. The second goal came on a beautiful free kick, but the US's poor defending allowed for the two free kicks to happen in the first place.
How the US can win
Klinsmann needs to go with an offense first approach, because Jamaica has speed and power to take over offensively. If Klinsmann goes with a more offensive approach, he can maintain possession for longer stretches and tire out a weak Jamaican defense that will be susceptible.
X-Factor: Clint Dempsey scored in the first minute of play, but faded for the remainder of the match. He needs to be as dominant as he can be if this team is to win.
Start Time: 8 P.M.
Prediction: The US is much better than they've played thus far. They will win this match 2-1 and reassert themselves atop Group A. IF they lose, then this team is likely not going to win the group.
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