The Changes in USMNT World Cup Preparation: '02-'10

Every team goes about preparing for the World Cup in a different way.  Mexico just kicked off their 12 match build up to South Africa with a friendly against Bolivia last night, while the Netherlands, the USMNT's opponent next Wednesday, will play just 4 matches before their Group E opener against Denmark.  This time around, the USMNT falls in between those two, with 5 matches scheduled in 2010 before their match against England on June 12.

While that number may not be too remarkable considering similar preparations from other teams, it is pretty noteworthy when comparing it to what has been done in previous two cycles.  In 2006, Bruce Arena had his team play twice as many matches in the months preceding the '06 World Cup, with 10 matches over 5 months.  Just look back to 2002 for an even bigger contrast, when the Yanks played an astounding 14 times before heading over to Korea.  When you look at it that way, this year suddenly seems pretty atypical.

Of course, this year only features one FIFA match day before the end of the European club season, with previous years likely having a couple more.  But this downward trend is really just more of a reflection of the change in the USMNT's roster composition over the past decade.  In 2002 and 2006, 11 of the 23 World Cup players were MLS-based, with a good deal of those players being starters or key subs for the national team.  This meant that those non-FIFA match day friendlies could actually be a lot more reflective of the World Cup team than, say, the USMNT's pair of friendlies thus far in 2010 that have featured mostly young guys with little international experience.  As a result, significant team building could be done during those extra games.

With it looking like there will be only 3-5 MLS players at the World Cup this time around, that handful of additional friendlies just doesn't really serve much of a purpose in terms of preparing for South Africa.  There isn't going to be any relevant team chemistry gained with 4/5 of the team absent, and there aren't too many serious roster questions left to be answered.  So, instead of working hard, Bob Bradley's working smart, opting for quality over quantity.

So while 5 matches isn't much compared to years past, I'm confident that the Yanks will be sufficiently prepared come June.  Three tough friendlies await Landon Donovan and company, and each will surely provide a challenge.  That's enough for me. 

But if we crash out in the group stage once again, I wouldn't be surprised if this slimmer schedule gets brought up as a reason for the poor results.