BY: MATT CARLSON
I spent a lot of time working on an article about how to handle the USMNT midfield for the upcoming Friendlies and the Gold Cup, but circumstances forced me to change my plans. Thank you, Jonny Evans. I did not let this get me down, though, because I know the story of chemist, and fellow genius, William Perkin.
CONTINUE READING AFTER THE JUMP.
CONTINUE READING AFTER THE JUMP.
In 1856, William Perkin was working on a cure for malaria, but his experiments were unsuccessful. However, as Perkin examined the glob of goo he created, he saw the color mauve. Yes, mauve. Long story short, Perkin had accidentally created the first synthetic dye. Such was the importance of this discovery, that Perkin continued to work on his synthetic dyes and even developed one of the first perfumes. Sure, people still died from malaria, but their clothes looked more vibrant and they smelled much nicer while they suffered. What does his story teach us? Well, aside from the fact that Perkin choose to make money over helping humanity, it teaches us that it takes a true genius to see the potential in a failure.
Just like Perkin, I found myself staring at the glob of nonsense that my article had become and I saw my mauve. I was so excited that I ran down the street naked yelling, “Eureka!” Unfortunately, the local authorities hadn’t heard of Archimedes. Undeterred, I set to writing this article immediately after my release from custody. Since the start of the new World Cup cycle, many USMNT fans have been spending a lot of energy trying to come up with a way to squeeze five midfielders into the starting eleven. Others have been trying to figure out the left back situation. Still, others have been banging away on what formation to play. While we’ve been focusing on these issues, we may have missed the answer to all of our questions. What’s the answer? Forget five midfielders -- let’s go with five forwards! Think I am nuts? Well, don’t look now, but there are five forwards in the USMNT pool building a case for a starting spot on the USMNT.
First, let’s look at the veterans. I recently wrote that Clint Dempsey should play one of the forward spots (http://watchsocceronline.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-could-be-part-time-model.html), so I won’t go into it again. As for Jozy Altidore, everyone has been saying for over two years now that all Jozy needs is playing time. Well, he is getting it now in Turkey and is doing well by all accounts. Edson Buddle had seventeen goals in twenty five games last year, and frankly, I wanted to see more of him in South Africa. I think he produced in the limited minutes he had with the USMNT in 2010. Remember that rocket against Australia?
As for the new guys, did you see Juan Agudelo last weekend? His composure, his passing, his speed, his ability and desire to take on defenders, and his strength on the ball continue to impress me. I don’t want to overhype him. I want to be rational. I want to be careful to keep things in perspective, but I must say Agudelo’s production rate is amazing. In his fifty eight minutes with the USMNT, Agudelo has scored and drawn a penalty. He is also on pace to score 30 goals this year, which would break the MLS single season scoring record! While Agudelo’s production is certainly amazing, Charlie Davies is making Agudelo’s numbers look pedestrian. Did you see Davies’ debut for DC United? I know Davies was not called up for this weekend’s Friendlies, but he should have been. Again, I am not prone to hyperbole, but if Davies continues at his current rate of scoring one goal every nineteen minutes, he will score an astounding one hundred forty two goals in MLS this season! The all-time MLS scoring leader Jaime Moreno only scored 132 in his entire career! In my opinion, you just cannot leave that kind of production off the roster.
So, with all of this talent what do you do? You could just run a 4-4-2 and make the five of them compete and earn their place in the team, but don’t you want to play attacking soccer? I say we need to find a way to get all five forwards on the field, and that is going to take some outside the box thinking. Fortunately, I have already done all of this thinking for you. I say the USMNT should implement a 3-3-5 formation. This formation is so outside the box that I cannot think of a single professional club or national team that runs it. The beauty of going with a 3-3-5 for the USMNT is that it will simultaneously and completely end the “who should start in the midfield debate” and the equally maddening “who should start at left back debate.” How will it do that? Well, Holden is out, Dempsey moves to a forward spot, and running a 1-5-5 would be ridiculous.
The critics will say, “We’ll concede too many goals with this formation.” My retort is, “Who cares?” The average goals per game in the 2010 World Cup was a measly 2.27. With these five guys in the attack, I figure we're going to score around seven a game. We’ll be the soccer version of the Loyola Marymount basketball teams under Paul Westhead. Also, I can tell you from personal experience that the 3-3-5 can work defensively if done properly. I played center back in this system on my U-12 team. Now, in my estimation Oguchi Onyewu is conservatively around one hundred eighty six times better at soccer than I was at age eleven. The same goes for everyone else that plays fullback for the USMNT. As a result, playing a three man backline should be no problem for the USMNT defenders. The biggest obstacle to running the 3-3-5 is Bob Bradley. Bradley is so stuck in his ways that he would never do it. Klinsmann would do it, though. He would definitely do it. If Sunil Gulati hadn’t totally messed up the hiring of Klinsmann, we would be running the 3-3-5 right now. How long are we going to have to pay for that mistake?!
I know some of you may laugh at what I suggest. Laugh if you will, but remember the words of the great Austin Millbarge who once said, “We mock what we do not understand.” Think about that. While you’re thinking about that, I will be thinking of ways to get six forwards onto the field. Why? Well, we’re going to have to do something once Teal (I like that) Bunbury comes back, aren’t we? Now, that is going to take some real genius.
