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| Photo by Martin Poole |
The all-important CONCACAF Hexagonal Qualifying Round for
the 2014 World Cup will see each of the six teams play a home match and an away
match against each of the other five countries. The top three in points at the
end of the fixtures advance automatically to the World Cup next year in Brazil,
with the fourth place finisher forced to fight for a spot with a country from
Oceania. Scared yet? What if I told you that the other teams in the Hex are
Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Panama? Now are you scared? No? Well
then here’s a few more reasons for you to consider.
I Don’t Trust Klinsmann
Jurgen Klinsmann has some impressive results under his belt.
Wins in Mexico and Italy highlight a pretty impressive record that includes the
best calendar year for the USMNT in history. But the big wins are mitigated by
the poor performances. A late long-ball helped us salvage a tie against Russia,
which we were lucky to even get. We’ve played down to teams during away
matches, like against Jamaica last year and against Honduras last week. We’ve
had some truly beautiful performances under Klinsmann, but many make the point
that as the ceiling rises, the floor should come with it. We’ve undoubtedly
played better at some times than we ever did under Bradley, I’ll admit. But
other times we’ve put out performances as rough as I’ve ever seen on a soccer
field (and as someone who watched FC Dallas last season, that’s saying
something). I don’t know which team is going to show up each match, and in a
competition where we can’t afford to make too many mistakes we could find
ourselves at the bottom of the table before this summer.
What is this team? And where is Donovan??
Landon Donovan is one of a few soccer names most Americans
can name. He’s off doing some soul searching or whatever right now, and he
couldn’t have picked a worse time for his sabbatical. We need him bad right
now. Klinsmann’s long ball and lob pass strategy calls for a tactically skilled
midfield corps. We have one of the best attacking midfielders in the game, and
he’s taking a walkabout! The rest of the team looks lost without him. They
spent most of their time in Honduras dragging their feet, refusing to pressure
the ball, and letting themselves get beat. Graham Zusi is one of the most
consistent recent performers for the team, and there was only so much he could
do to right the ship coming off the bench. And when’s the last time Jozy
Altidore scored a goal for the USMNT? Any guesses? It was back in 2011. He’s
scored 5 goals in the last four years and who knows how many matches. He can
only hit it if it’s served up on a platter, and then it’s sporadic. Put in
Wondolowski. He’s hot, regardless of how he played in the trial matches earlier
this year.
The MLS isn’t making things any easier
The matches you go to every weekend to drink and cheer and
revel in the success of your hometown team. You know those? Well, they aren’t
doing anything to help our country in the long run. Klinsmann is urging every
American who can to go overseas. You know what the other CONCACAF squads are
doing? Urging their players to fill the empty spots. The MLS is developing our
own competition. The fans from Dallas will know it when we tune in on June 11
and see our beloved Blas Perez gunning for the netting behind Tim Howard (that
is if Tim can stay in front of the net. Seriously Tim. Positioning is nine
tenths of the battle.) Every team in the Hex except for Mexico started at least
one player who currently plays in the MLS.
Honduras started four current MLS players against us, and look how that
worked out for us. The MLS is a fantastic league and wonderful for spreading
soccer culture within the United States, but when it comes to international
qualifying it seems less like a blessing and more like a curse (notice I didn’t
say it looked like a “hex” because this blog is classier than that. And when I
tried it out it didn’t read well.)
Scared now?
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