USMNT Roster Thoughts: On Core, Experimentation, and Klinsmann

The USMNT roster for the upcoming October friendlies was announced yesterday and, as has been the pattern in the Klinsmann era, it wasn't without a few surprises. Take a look at the full roster here.

Ultimately, I don't have too many bones to pick with Klinsmann's selections, but I certainly do have a few main gripes. Before we get to that, let's just run through position by position with some thoughts.

Goalkeepers: Bill Hamid, Tim Howard, Nick Rimando

No complaints here, as Klinsmann continues to bring along Hamid under Howard.

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Timmy Chandler, Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Orozco Fiscal, Tim Ream, Jonathan Spector

I'm not particularly enamored with this group. Michael Orozco Fiscal gets another call into camp despite underwhelming (at best) performance at the club and international levels, while Tim Ream gets brought in despite his own poor form. Meanwhile, MLS standout Omar Gonzalez is left out in the cold once again.

Now, I'm sure some will tout the whole "style" aspect of Klinsmann's selection strategy- he wants the US to play a possession, more fluid game, which is why guys like Ream and MOF get brought in over Gonzalez. But if we're relying on those two to carry out that style, might that be a pretty stark indication that the pool isn't yet capable of playing successfully in that manner? Might Klinsmann be shoehorning an approach that worked with a German squad that could boast talent far beyond that of the current American pool?


The defensive group is the one for which I have the most discuss, so I'll just get through the midfielders and forwards first before returning to a couple of overarching issues.

On a more positive note, though, it's great to see Oguchi Onyewu back in the mix. He's been playing well with Sporting Lisbon and will impress some folks with the explosiveness he has regained.

Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Brek Shea, Danny Williams, Jeff Larentowicz

As with the defenders, I think there was an opportunity to experiment here that wasn't fully exploited, which I'll touch on later.

Overall, most of the selections went as expected. Kyle Beckerman has performed well in his recent USMNT appearances and adds depth at a time when Jose Torres and Stu Holden are sidelined by injury and Jermaine Jones is only just working his way back onto the field. Michael Bradley has impressed early on with Chievo and deserves this call to camp; I think he might be poised to stake a serious claim to a starting role in the future during the matches next week.

Edu and Dempsey are no surprises either, with the former riding a nice run of form with Rangers. Meanwhile, Jeff Larentowicz gets brought in again, while Danny Williams (another American-German) makes the official switch from Germany to the USMNT, following Hoffenheim teammate Fabian Johnson. Williams may or may not be eligible for this week's matches as he tries to secure a passport, but either way a camp experience would be a good one for him as he gets integrated into the squad.

Forwards: Juan Agudelo, Jozy Altidore, DaMarcus Beasley, Teal Bunbury, Landon Donovan

With likely just one striker in the formation, it's no surprise that there are only a couple true forwards in the roster. The Jozy Altidore pick needs no explanation. Agudelo and Bunbury, meanwhile, get called back into camp, with the former coming off a decent appearance against Belgium earlier this month. I would have liked to see Robbie Findley or Herculez Gomez get a look over Bunbury, whom Klinsmann has already seen in camp, but that will have to wait until November at the earliest.

DaMarcus Beasley, meanwhile, rightfully gets called back into the USMNT picture thanks to his fantastic form with Puebla, as well, which may help him inch closer and closer to the 100 cap mark.

---

Back to the aforementioned griping.

Before I begin, a piece of important background info: following the October friendlies, there will be just three FIFA match days with which to work prior to the start of World Cup qualifying next June (two in November, one in February).

With that in mind, it's pretty apparent that Klinsmann doesn't have too much time remaining to experiment and familiarize himself with all viable options in the player pool against "A" competition (since the January friendly is never between full squads). So why not use these October friendlies as an opportunity to do just that, instead of calling in a known entity like Michael Orozco Fiscal who has done little to prove himself as a legitimate option going forward? Why bring in Tim Ream who has been struggling for much of 2011? Again, the style argument may come into play, at which point I would issue the same rebuttal while also wondering if that flies in the face of Klinsmann's desire to reward club level form.

I expect neither Orozco Fiscal nor Ream to see the field during this break. And it's not as if there are no other solid options to call in instead. Omar Gonzalez is deserving of a look, so why not use one of the few remaining opportunities to experiment to see what he has, in camp and possibly in a game? There is no way that in just three friendlies Klinsmann can consider his process of pool evaluation close to complete.

The somewhat troubling thing, though, is the language with which he described his selection process, justifying his picks with this sentiment:

"We'd like to see new faces as well, but we also don't want to shake up the core structure of the team too much. We aim to build a consistency in our work approach with the established group of the team.”

I have a serious issue with that- either this means that guys like Orozco Fiscal, Ream, and Larentowicz are somehow considered "core", or that Klinsmann is simply missing opportunities to experiment and using that as an excuse. The bottom line is this: Orozco Fiscal is not core. Ream is not core. Larentowicz is not core, and a superfluous defensive mid with so many already on the roster (5 are capable by my count, plus Larentowicz). They have not proven themselves, particulary Orozco Fiscal. So why not use those fringe spots to experiment, while still maintaining the integrity of the true core that remains largely unchanged from the Bradley era (save for Brek Shea and, when healthy, Jose Torres)? The core is not- and should not be, considering the variability of the international game- the full squad. The core is a smaller subset, with fluctuations on the fringes. Look through the Bradley era and you will see just that.

Again, it's not as if there aren't viable alternatives. Omar Gonzalez, for one. Or perhaps a look at Benny Feilhaber as a fill-in for the distribution ability of Jose Torres? Or maybe even Mikkel Diskerud, particularly with Norway recently expressing a desire to bring him into their national team? Those are opportunities lost, in my opinion, passed up instead to bring in players that are rather known entities (and poorly performing ones, at that). While Mix*, Benny, and Omar will at least be available for the January camp and friendly, it's still no reason to push their opportunities to impress aside for the moment. The clock is ticking on the whole roster building process, and it is inefficient not to utilize each of this remaining friendlies to learn more about the options at the staff's disposal. One might say that early World Cup qualifiers against the likes of Haiti could also be opportunities to experiment, but that's a little to presumptuous for my liking; as we saw in the last cycle, this first group stage can provide some unique tests as well.

(*I would be curious to know what, if any, contact Klinsmann has had with Diskerud. I'm not hitting the panic button, but it's hard to ignore the looming presence of Norway, who may swoop in and take a player who might not see himself as part of Klinsmann's plans going forward if left out of the loop too long. Again, though, I have no idea how much they have talked to this point.)

While we should reserve our most serious judgments for the matches that matter (i.e. World Cup qualifiers), I can't help but feel a little unsettled by Klinsmann's pattern of roster building. Admittedly, though, this is no reason to seriously panic yet, as the performance of the true core group of players is most important at this time as they try to learn and implement a new style. Let's hope they can take a big step forward this break after essentially playing just one half of good soccer during Klinsmann's young tenure (which may or may not be related to suspect selections).

Regardless, though, the first real grumblings of his era have begun, with the honeymoon quickly coming to an end. And if Klinsmann is unable to take a win and a draw or two wins from the upcoming friendlies, expect that ending to be particularly abrupt.

It will be very interesting, in light of all this, to see what the November rosters look like and if any of the above is addressed.

---

For what it's worth, here's the starting XI I'd trot out next Saturday:



As I said following the Belgium friendly, I don't think a 4-1-4-1 look is most effective approach offensively or defensively, so I'd like to see two deeper-lying center mids. I think Dempsey was more effective than Donovan centrally during the last break, but I expect interchange between them regardless of the initial deployment.

---

Hey, at least Jurgen gives me plenty to discuss with these posts. Let's hope a couple of positive results and performances make us quickly forget all about the issues raised here.