One of my favorite television shows was HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, a comedy about a musical duo from New Zealand trying to make it in America. One of my favorite things they did is a song entitled, The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room). The song tells the story of one of the guys scanning the room at a friend’s party. He spots a girl who he’s attracted to, but he makes it clear she is not the best looking girl in the world, she’s just “the most beautiful girl in the room (the whole wide room).” At one point, he tells her, “. . . and when you’re on the street, depending on the street, I bet you are definitely in the top three . . . of good looking girls on the street (depending on the street).” Could there be more caveats? I wonder if Bob Bradley gets the same feeling when he looks at the current options he has at forward for the USMNT.
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Jozy Altidore absolutely falls into this category for me at his current state of development. He has a lot of things to improve upon before he gets to an elite level and he is not getting enough playing time at Villarreal to help him get there, but who else do we have? Robbie Findley, Eddie Johnson, Herculez Gomez, Conor Casey, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, and Kenny Cooper have all contributed at forward at various times, but none of them has done enough to command the starting role. Bear in mind, that Bob Bradley was still looking for a forward to pair with Altidore during the friendlies a mere week before the World Cup began. That is a problem, and there hasn’t been any significant change in the USMNT’s forward candidates since then. The most intriguing forwards Bradley called into the January camp -- Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, and Yevgeni Starikov -- have limited professional experience and are not yet ready to consistently produce at the senior international level, in my opinion.
So, what is Bradley to do right now? Many have advocated changing to a one forward formation in order to replace a weak forward option with a strong midfielder. (Come to think of it, left back has been a bit of a problem area for the USMNT, too, and, you know, Onyewu hasn’t played in eighteen months, and Spector is playing some midfield now, so maybe we should just go to a 2-7-1.) While the one forward formations are popular, I am not convinced they work as well if players like Xavi and Iniesta or Robben and Sneijder are not on the field. These formations definitely do not work as well without a strong target forward. The performance of the USMNT in the Poland and Colombia friendlies last October suggests the USMNT may not have the players these one forward formations require. Granted, it was new players playing a new formation in those matches, but when the team reverted to the 4-4-2 in the second half against Colombia, there was a noticeable improvement. Tellingly, perhaps, Jermaine Jones was quoted in the German media last year as saying he doesn’t like playing with two defensive midfielders because it doesn’t suit his style. He was talking about Schalke, but I assume he feels the same way about playing in that position with any team.
Thinking of new formations and who should play in them can generate hours of debate among USMNT fans. The more I think about it, though, the more I think we are over-thinking it. Why spend so much time conjuring up ways to employ new formations that the USMNT may not have the personnel to pull off when, right in front of us, is a goal scoring forward to pair with Altidore in a 4-4-2 that also opens up a spot in the midfield for a player like Stuart Holden? What is this option, you ask? Freddy Adu. No! Stop that. No. It’s playing Clint Dempsey at forward full-time, of course. I know this is not a new idea, but it is a much debated one and I don’t see why. Yes, Dempsey is not a forward. Yes, he only plays forward because everyone else on Fulham is injured. Yes, he is not fast enough. Yes, yes, yes. I know Dempsey is not a Drogba or Messi or Ibrahimovic. I also know that none of those players are U.S. citizens and that Bradley can’t go out into the transfer market. Remember, this is not about Dempsey being the best forward in the world, it’s about him being the best forward in the USMNT pool (the whole wide pool) and the facts show that he is, hands-down.
Dempsey has scored thirty-one times in all competitions since his arrival at Fulham in 2007, with twenty seven coming in Premier League matches, the most of any Fulham player during that span. His goals against Egypt, Brazil and Spain won him the Bronze Ball at the 2009 Confederations Cup. His five goals in thirteen qualifying matches for World Cup 2010 was second highest, and he is the only USMNT player to have scored in the last two World Cups. Dempsey also has a history of scoring big goals. His first goal in the Premier League was against Liverpool to help Fulham avoid relegation. His amazing goal against Juventus sent Fulham to the Europa League round of eight. His goal against Ghana in World Cup 2006 tied the match. More than half of Dempsey’s twenty-seven Premier League goals have either tied or won a match. As Bob Bradley said last year, "We all see that he has a good nose for the goal and that he's good about finding chances in and around the penalty area. That's something we continue to count on." Sure, not all of Dempsey’s goals have come as a forward and he does not score with the frequency of the top strikers in the world, but that misses the point. The point is that Dempsey has proven he can score important goals when playing forward against the highest level of competition, something that no other current USMNT forward candidate can say. In addition to his goal scoring ability, Dempsey also brings legitimate target man skills to the table. That area of his game has improved a great deal in the past few years and, in my opinion, surpasses the target skills of any other USMNT forward option.
Dempsey’s Premier League opposition thinks he does a pretty good job at forward, too. He is being marked man-to-man by many teams when he plays forward this season, including Chelsea, who had England international John Terry shadow him on all set pieces in their last match. In what I take as a further sign of respect, Dempsey is being played very physically. With 46 fouls suffered in 22 League matches this season, he is, by far, the most fouled player on Fulham and is on pace to set a career high. In spite of this close marking, Dempsey has gotten loose often enough to unleash 57 shots. His current manager, Mark Hughes, a forward who scored loads of goals with Manchester United during his playing days, said in a recent interview, that although forward is not Dempsey’s natural position, "He’s done a hell of a job for the Team and he’s a very viable option for us [at forward].” Who else in the USMNT player pool can be considered a “very viable option” at forward for a Premier League team? Ooh, ooh, I know, I know . . . no one. Call me crazy, but if you can score big goals and display useful target skills in one of the top leagues in the world, then that makes you an automatic choice at forward for the USMNT until someone better comes along.
So, I propose we stop with all the talk of new formations and maybes and what-ifs, and just put Dempsey at forward full-time. As an added benefit, putting him there will give the Bunburys and Agudelos out there time to develop without being expected to bear the entire weight of the USMNT’s future right away. If we let them do that, hopefully, in two or three years there will be a lot more choices when we look around the room.
