Friday night’s Copa America opener for the USMNT did not exactly go to plan. Even though they were playing a Colombia squad ranked third in the world, an error prone 2-0 defeat wasn’t what fans had anticipated. And it was midfielder Michael Bradley‘s play that was particularly troubling at times.
His performance on the night would likely be classified by most observers as unexpected. Bradley was hugely impressive in the lead up to this tournament. Relishing the more deeper lying role he’s been cast into for both club and country, things looked promising in terms of the US being able to finish in the top two of Group A.
But suddenly, a cloud of doubt has been cast over those prospects. What looked like a confident side in their final tune-up against Bolivia had the appearance of a disjointed, out-of-sync bunch less than a week later against a stronger opponent in Colombia. As a result, the Stars and Stripes find themselves bottom of the group with a -2 goal differential.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. Center back Geoff Cameron‘s marking of Cristian Zapata on his eighth minute goal to open up the scoring was shambolic at best. DeAndre Yedlin‘s hand ball in the box played a part in doubling the US deficit right before halftime. The Yanks got all of two shots on target, both of which came from forward Clint Dempsey.
Michael Bradley Needs to Be Better for the USMNT
But that doesn’t take the spotlight of criticism off of Bradley. In fact, some would say he deserves the brunt of it considering his less than stellar play on the night. Taking into account that he’s also the captain of this team, there’s no doubt that he shares responsibility for what transpired.
Let’s first take a look at it from the standpoint of his current role. For both the US and his club team Toronto FC, Bradley has evolved into more of a holding midfielder. This is different from earlier in his career when he was slotted in a much more advanced position in central midfield. It was a good move considering his defensive work rate, his ability to cover ground, and overall acumen in distributing the ball.
Bradley’s advanced stats for TFC in 2016 further reinforces that notion. His ability to get the ball up the field to his attacking teammates like Sebastian Giovinco is among the best in MLS. Bradley is currently averaging 8.0 accurate long balls per game in league play. Among non-goalkeepers, only NYCFC‘s Andrea Pirlo and Montreal‘s Laurent Ciman (who was called up to Belgium‘s Euro 2016 squad) have more.
What the number six role really requires of a player more than anything is to be the engine of ball-winning and distribution. And once again, Bradley excelled at both for his club. His 70.3 passes per 90 is third in MLS among players who’ve appeared in at least two-thirds of their team’s minutes. And he’s averaging 6.58 tackles and interceptions per 90 which is top ten in the league.
It’s not just the sheer volume of his distribution. Leading up to the Colombia match, Bradley had been fairly adept at ensuring those passes reached their intended target. Just take a look at the following two Opta chalkboards from the last two US friendlies leading up to Copa America.
Successful passes are in green, unsuccessful in red and yellow indicates a key pass that led to a shot.
I don’t know about you, but just nine inaccurate passes out of nearly 140 over two games strikes me as fairly impressive. If the US would’ve gotten this same effort out of Bradley on Friday, against Colombia, in a game that really mattered, it’s possible that the team would be in a much better predicament.
The fact of the matter is that this was far from the case. His passing was erratic at times. His ability to transition the ball from defense to attack was nowhere near where it needed to be. His overall confidence on the ball was lacking for the most part.
Compare the two passing maps above with the one that I’m about to show. Before doing so, you must be warned. It’s not going to be pretty.
Notice the lack of width created by Bradley’s passing against Colombia compared to the previous two friendlies. Yes, he nearly had an assist on a Dempsey goal that would’ve gotten the US back into it if not for a clearance off the line by . And yes, he did generate one-third of the Yanks’ six chances in the game. But 14 inaccurate passes and a completion rate of 77.8 percent is subpar at best.
And then there’s the issue of him giving the ball away cheaply. Yedlin may have been the one whose hand made contact with the ball in the box, but it was Bradley’s turnover which precipitated the sequence that led to it.
Costly giveaways in big game situations is nothing new to Bradley. Remember the game against Portugal in the 2014 World Cup? If your memory needs refreshing, skip to around the 18:35 mark of this clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4By8cY8Y-U
Which brings us to a vital question going forward. Does Bradley define the big moments or does he let those moments define him? It’s one thing to be on your game when you’re playing a friendly against South America’s worst team according to the current FIFA rankings. But are you able to step up and put in a solid 90 minutes against a team who’s behind only Argentina and Belgium in those same rankings?
The eye test and raw data from Friday’s debacle paint a grim picture in that regard.
An opportunity at redemption for both Bradley and the team as a whole awaits Tuesday in Chicago, IL. There, the US will face a Costa Rica team coming off a dull scoreless draw against Paraguay in steamy Orlando, FL on Saturday. The Ticos are 6-2-2 in their last ten, including a 1-0 win over the US last October.
Getting the full three points at Soldier Field is of utmost importance. But it won’t be easy to convert chances against Costa Rica’s vaunted five-man back line. It’s a unit that’s highly effective at choking away space in the box. And if the US want to have any success at all in Chicago, they’ll have to be much better in the final third than they were in Santa Clara.
For Michael Bradley, it’s not an issue of being played out of position. He’s proven he has the skill set to excel in the deep-lying playmaker role. He has done it all season in Toronto and, at times, has looked the part for the USMNT.
The issue revolves around whether or not he can come through in the clutch for his country. Against Colombia, that didn’t seem to be the case. It puts his team in a precarious, pressure-filled situation on Tuesday. The room for error has become razor thin. And it necessitates Bradley and company to rise up and prove the lackluster performance on Friday was an anomaly and not part of a growing trend.
Doing so will put Jurgen Klinsmann‘s Copa America endeavor back on its planned course.
