Meet your U.S. national team of defense. No you are not imagining things U.S. soccer fans. The U.S. men’s national team has gone two straight games without allowing a goal and six games without allowing a run of play goal. Even at that, the last run of play goal that the USMNT allowed was this laser shot by Luis Betancur. For all the criticism that Jurgen Klinsmann receives for shuffling his lineups, the consistency of starting the same lineup through the three group stage games in the Copa America have paid dividends for the U.S. coach and fans of the national team. The back line of DeAndre Yedlin, Geoff Cameron, John Brooks and Fabian Johnson, along with goalkeeper Brad Guzan has been stellar throughout the Copa America.
Meet Your U.S. National Team of Defense
Perhaps the most improved piece of the suddenly tough to crack U.S. defense is John Brooks. The Budweiser Man of the Match was instrumental in setting the tone early and often for the national team. He rushed to sweep out an early Paraguay three on one advantage to save what could have been the game’s opening goal. Guzan said after the game that Brooks “has played great for us, in this tournament and you guys are starting to see what we see in training.” Brooks went into the game with a yellow card, and while many center backs may play it safe to avoid a second tournament yellow card and a suspension, he did not back down and kept playing aggressively.
Geoff Cameron has been a solid partner to “Brooksy”, as he affectionally refers to him as. He provides a solid complimentary role along his center back teammate. Cameron’s ability to dribble the ball up the field, track back on defense and provide another big body in front of Guzan has been a large reason for the team’s defensive turnaround. Outside of a half second mental lapse against Colombia, Cameron has been just as solid as Brooks, without the spectacular individual defensive plays.
The fullbacks, Fabian Johnson and Deandre Yedlin, are not world class defenders by any measure. One regularly plays as an attacking midfielder for his club team and the other struggled to catch on as a regular starter the first half of his club team season, respectively. However, the two players do have a lot of speed and an ability to attack the opponents’ defense. Neither player had a great game against Paraguay. However, their overall performances in the tournament have been serviceable defensively.
Johnson has struggled to find his way in the left back position. But there is no question that the national team is better with him in that position over any other option, simply by the element of having a knack for playing with the ball at his feet. Yedlin, on the other hand, will miss the upcoming quarterfinal due to his minute of mental lapse when he earned two yellow cards in one minute. His offensive skill set will be missed out of the right back position, but players like Michael Orozco, Geoff Cameron and Steve Birnbaum may be able to provide a better defensive option while sacrificing offense out of the position.
Brad Guzan came off a shaky season in Europe in which he allowed 58 goals and was relegated along with his club team Aston Villa. So when Klinsmann tapped him to be the starting goalkeeper for the USMNT in this tournament, it certainly raised some eyebrows and turned many fans into pessimistic curmudgeons. However, his only two goals allowed in this tournament have been off a missed assignment set piece by a defender and a penalty, in which a large percentage of them are converted. Guzan had a moment in the game against Paraguay where he had to make two saves in a span of seconds, afterwards he said, “As a goalkeeper when you get called upon to try and make a save or two, fortunately today I had the opportunity to do that.”
The USMNT may not be at the levels of the 2004 Euro Champions Greece. However, they may be good enough to match the qualities and results of the 2011 Copa America runners-up, Paraguay who advanced through the knockout stages to the final without scoring a goal, winning on penalties each time after scoreless draws. This U.S. team has more firepower than those teams, therefore has a leg up. U.S fans, you may not be imagining this suddenly stingy defensive USMNT team, but you may want to start dreaming about what a knockout tournament run with this backline and goalkeeper might be able to achieve in the coming games.
