beIN SPORTS

By Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven)

Just for a moment Jurgen Klinsmann had his critics revising their stance. The German coach, who so often has been pilloried for his scattered thinking and strategising, found a game plan to take the USA all the way to the semi-finals of the Copa America Centenario. That moment was fleeting, though.

In the four games preceding Wednesday’s final four clash with Lionel Messi and Argentina, Klinsmann’s team selections and tactics worked. Players were played in their conventional positions, with very few grumbles heard over the USA’s starting lineups against Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Ecuador. From the brink of indignation Klinsmann appeared to have salvaged his reputation, if not his long-term future as national side boss.

When it mattered most, though, Klinsmann’s team selection was as baffling as it has ever been. The task of toppling Argentina was always likely to be a challenging one, particularly with Messi seemingly on a one-man mission to finally lift his first piece of international silverware this summer. But the German’s lineup made the USA’s task all but impossible to pull off.

Whilst Argentina’s attacking ranks are stacked with elite talent, making them one of the most potent sides in the international game, they remain decidedly suspect at the back, especially when confronted with pace on the counter attack. The USA, therefore, needed players who could get in behind that static backline.

This appeared to put the US in a good position, given the players at Klinsmann’s disposal who fit that bill. American soccer might lack instinctive goal grabbers but they are certainly not short of speed merchants. Instead, Klinsmann decided to field Chris Wondolowski as the focal point of his attack.

It’s not that Wondolowski isn’t an effective frontman. The San Jose Earthquakes forward is one of American soccer’s greatest ever goalscorers, but there are games in which he thrives and a clash against Argentina in the semi-finals of the Copa America was not one of those games. This match-up was not suited to his qualities as a striker. Not even close.

Darlington Nagbe should have been handed a start, with the Portland Timbers star possessing the technical ability and pace to get at Argentina’s defence. Yet he was only given 12 minutes at the end with the USA already well beaten by that point. That call was Klinsmann’s most baffling on Wednesday evening, although there were more than a few to choose from.

With Bobby Woods suspended logic dictated that Gyasi Zardes should have been moved from his usual position on the right wing into the centre-forward role. That would have made the best of a difficult situation, boosting Zardes’ natural qualities as an attacker. He could have done some real damage or at least stretched the pitch for the USA to exploit in behind the Argentinean backline. 

In Michael Bradley and Kyle Beckerman the USA faced Argentina with a solid midfield platform, but the duo were robbed of an effective outlet further up the field to release the ball to when they won it. This was just another tactical misjudgement from Klinsmann.

Klinsmann, however, put the defeat down to the USA showing too much respect to their opponents. “We just simply hit a far better team today,” he said after the semi-final loss in Houston. “You were trying to scream on to the field saying, ‘Go at them. Become physical. Step on their toes. I think there tonight you could clearly see in that moment that once we were 1-0 down, we had far too much respect for them.”

Bradley disagreed with his coach’s comments, though. Indeed, Klinsmann’s remarks suggests that he believes his team was given the best possible chance of beating Argentina, but lacked the conviction to carry it through. Instead, the USA boss inadvertently sabotaged his own side’s chances before a ball was even kicked.