The USMNT will be playing Serbia on Sunday afternoon. Here is how the USA could line up, as well as key things to watch for.
The USMNT will be taking on Serbia in San Diego this Sunday afternoon. The first game under Bruce Arena’s new tenure will be aired on ESPN2 at 4p.m. eastern.
Today, Arena narrowed the players at January camp down to these 23:
GOALKEEPERS (3): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls)
DEFENDERS (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Unattached), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Greg Garza (Atlanta United), Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders), Jorge Villafana (Santos Laguna), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Alejandro Bedoya (Philadelphia Union), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Jermaine Jones (LA Galaxy), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Dax McCarty (Chicago Fire), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Chris Pontius (Philadelphia Union)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders)
Overview
As we can see, basically all the players are domestically based due to the European season still being in full swing. There are a lot of young faces, like Morris, Agudelo, and Zimmerman, along with a few veterans such as Bradley and Jones.
Like most January camps, many of these players are trying to show Arena they deserve a shot with the USMNT in the meaningful games coming later this year, namely World Cup Qualifiers and the Gold Cup. For this reason, look for there to be some good squad rotation over the two games in the coming week.
Serbia did not bring their “A team,” and most of their players play domestically in the Serbian league. The Serbian team, according to the MLS website, is full of youth and inexperience. There are only two players over 25, and only eight that have even played a game for Serbia before. Though this is far from a meeting of both teams’ top talent, I would still give the USA the advantage on paper, especially at home.
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Lineup
This is going to be Bruce Arena’s first game in charge, so it is basically anyone’s guess as to who is going to be starting. We don’t really have any history to go off, but here is a best guess. In LA, he typically played a 4-2-3-1, so we are going to fit our lineup around that.
GK: Nick Rimando
Bruce is being dropped into a win now situation, so he is going to go with the best available, even if that means going with an older guy in Rimando.
RB: Zusi
There really aren’t any other right backs on the roster, though Brad Evans has played there before. Arena said he wanted to experiment with Zusi at right back, so wouldn’t he get the start there?
CB: Zimmerman & Birnbaum
The only other CBs on the roster are Evans and Marshall. Both are older than these two, and both as likely to feature in the 2018 World Cup. With Hedges going home injured, these two guys are the two best options if you go off of performance last season.
LB: Garza
This is the hardest guess so far. I decided to leave Villafana out because he was a late inclusion to the roster, so that tells me he wasn’t really in Arena’s plans. This left Beasley and Garza. I decided to go with Garza purely based off the fact that he is much younger and has been playing more recently. For Beasley, it wouldn’t make the most sense to play and risk getting hurt when he is still searching for a club.
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CDM: Bradley & Jones
This combination has never really worked well in the past, but there is nobody on the roster who deserves either spot more than one of these guys. Look for Arena to try this combo in the hope that he can be the guy that actually gets the two to play well together.
RM: Nagbe
This spot came down to Nagbe vs Bedoya. In my opinion, Bedoya’s stock has dropped a bit because he wasn’t as dominant as people hoped when he came to Philadelphia. Look for Arena to go with Nagbe because of what he can bring that Bedaoya cannot, speed and possession. Nagbe is great in possession, and he can fly up and down the flank. He also can tuck in a little to let Zusi overlap and send in crosses.
CAM: Feilhaber
This guys has deserved to play for the USMNT for years, and he is finally going to get his chance. He has creativity and great ability in possession, so hopefully Arena gives him this opportunity.
LM: Lletget
This is another guy, like Nagbe, who is great in possession. He also has the advantage of having played LM for Arena in LA, so he is going to know the system. For these two reasons, look for Arena to give him the nod.
ST: Altidore
After the playoff run Altidore had, there is no reason he won’t start this game. Realistically, he is also the best forward of the bunch on this roster.
This leaves us with a lineup looking like this:
—————-Rimando—————-
-Zusi—Zimmerman—Birnbaum—Garza-
————Bradley—Jones————–
——Nagbe—-Feilhaber—–Lletget—–
—————–Altidore—————–
Predicted score: USA 2-1 Serbia
Agree with that lineup and scoreline? Let me know in the comments section and we will find out Sunday afternoon.