USMNT Look To Finish Up Winter Camp With Win Over Panama
By Sean Maslin
While results in January friendlies do not matter in the grand scheme of things, it would be nice if the U.S. Men’s National Team would win a friendly.Having won just one out of their previous nine, the USMNT will look to change that trend on Sunday when they host Panama at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles. The match will be played at 4pm EST on ESPN and UniMas.
Having gone win-less in their last five matches, the USMNT and coach Jurgen Klinsmann have come under immense pressure this past week to at least produce a result. While the key word of the week has been fitness, their lack of defensive shape should be more closely examined. In last week’s 3-2 loss to Chile, the United States did look tired in the second half but their lack of communication and poor buildup from the defense made any sustained possession impossible.
Klinsmann’s constant switching between a 3-5-2 and a 4-4-2 and using Jermaine Jones as a center-back has taken one of USA’s traditionally strong defense and turned it into chaos. Although it is okay to tinker in January with formations, it is critical that one sticks to a plan. Players like Jones and Steve Birnbaum had never played with one another prior to the Chile match. Expecting them to be comfortable with one another enough after 45 minutes to switch to another style is pushing it.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given the time period. World Cup qualification has not started and the Gold Cup is still months away. But given that the United States defense has performed poorly with both European-based and MLS-based players and that their opponents have played with very different styles, it should be evident that fine tuning is needed.
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This should start with the center-backs. Adding a traditional center-back like Matt Hedges (F.C. Dallas) to the starting will give Klinsmann someone who is comfortable with the role and can play a role on the attack, when needed. He should also be an asset in tracking and containing Panamanian forward Blas Perez, who is his teammate with F.C. Dallas. A center-back combination of Hedges and Matt Besler would give goalkeeper Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) the protection that he needs to control the match.
Although playing in Chile on the road was a tall task, this Panama match will be just as difficult. After missing out out on the CONCACAF World Cup spot by the narrowest of margins, Panama will be looking for revenge against the United States. Led by a solid veteran corps of senior national team players like the aforementioned Perez, goalkeeper Jaime Penedo (Los Angeles Galaxy,) and forward Gabriel Torres (Colorado Rapids) this is a team that will test a very fragile USMNT squad.
Panama also appears to be using this friendly as a chance to give younger players the chance to gain more experience. Seven of the twenty-one players called up for this match just finished up an impressive showing at the CONCACAF U-20 Championships, where they beat the USMNT U-20’s 1-0 and finished second in the tournament overall. Watch out for midfielder Luis Pereira, who scored 4 goals and was the Golden Ball winner of the tournament.
The key for USA in this match will be controlling possession in the midfield. Midfielders Perry Kitchen and Will Trapp need to be careful with Panama on the counter-attack. If they can hold their ground against Perez and link up with Mix Diskerud (NYCFC) and Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) or Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution) on the attack then they can give USMNT supporters the three points that they crave right now. Look for Los Angeles’ own Gyassi Zardes to play a huge role in this match.