TheNearPostLooking back at the Scotland game, Torres played a pretty nice role in that victory. From the left flank he drifted all the way across the pitch, sometimes to the opposite side, creating overloads in different areas and allowing the U.S to play around the opposition midfield. Plenty of times Torres would drew pressure away from Bradley and/or Jones, allowing them to receive in space, then skip onward in support of Landon Donovan and Terrence Boyd.

This suffered against Brazil when the U.S. got less numbers forward and Torres had less players to play out of pressure to. The Canada game saw this fail as well with Dempsey dropping so deep, because Torres isn't the kind of player who pushes forward in the final third alot. With Donovan hugging the touchline ( as he did against Brazil), the U.S. had a fairly toothless attacking performance.

This lineup has a few things that I like. First, as I've stated, in my book, Donovan and Bradley are the best passers on the team. They've good range, good vision, and, most importantly, they can break opponent's down at different speeds. Torres role should allow those two to break into the final third plenty. Dempsey is in a hybrid left attacking midfie/second forward role. Donovan will also sometimes go outside of him. Those two being in close proximity should help the U.S. plenty.

10.10.2012