TheNearPostIn the second half, the USA brought on Agudelo for Jermaine Jones and Chandler for Spector. I personally think Bradley made a mistake with the former substitution, as Jones is quite simply a better central mifdielder than Edu.

However, the introduction of Agudelo as another forward, Chandler as a corner-to-corner wingback, and the change into a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 system still solved some of the USA's problems. Having two forwards immediately gave the USA more support up front when they won the ball back. Not only that, but the movement of the forwards into wide areas, as well as Chandler's forays into the attack either stretched play and created space for Donovan and Dempsey to exploit, or provided an outlet in transition play. More than once the USA found Chandler free on the right flank, and his crosses tended to be pretty impressive.

Possibly most crucially, the 4-4-2 still allowed the USA to defend deep(limit the space in behind the defense), narrow(limit the space in the center), and compact( limit the space between the lines of defence, midfield, and attack). That being said, the USA backline did sometimes shift over and create a back three to cover for Chandler's extended periods in the opponents half, although he typically got himself back quickly enough.

Either way, the USA has found a very nice way to play against teams that focus on possession/patient build-up play/passing although, one could say they already had a solution to that style of play.

29.03.2011