US Must Bring Energy From Start

IRENE, South Africa -- No soccer game is decided by just one play. Certainly the mysterious and controversial call that nullified the Americans' third tally against Slovenia on Friday evening remains a topic of conversation here in South Africa, but the first goal of that game, scored by the Dragons' Valter Birsa, was just as important.

That goal, a stunning long-range strike in the 13th minute, marked the second time in two World Cup games that the U.S. fell behind early. England scored just four minutes into the tournament opener. Birsa's goal also represented the seventh time in the past 17 matches, dating back to the initial World Cup qualifier of 2009, that coach Bob Bradley's first-choice team has yielded a goal in the opening 20 minutes. On four occasions, it's happened in the first 10 minutes.

"It's something that's been with this team for a couple of years now. It's not something we enjoy, don't get me wrong. No one likes going behind in a game," goalkeeper Tim Howard said. "But for whatever reason we seem to be very resilient and we start to play more to our strengths when we get desperate."

That ability to perform so effectively when things look their worst, but the inability to produce those results from the opening whistle, is the key question surrounding the U.S. (0-0-2) heading into Wednesday's first round finale against Algeria (0-1-1). A win, and the Americans are through to the second round. A tie or a loss and they're in deep trouble. Falling behind for a third straight time (especially to Algeria, which has allowed just one goal in its two games) probably isn't a good idea.

"It's not like we sit in there before the game and say to ourselves, 'All right, let's wait until we go down 1-0 or 2-0 before we start playing.' Its something we're not happy about right now."
-- Michael Bradley "We prepare the same way every game, so it's hard to put your finger on one certain thing," defender Jay DeMerit said. "Warm-ups have been fine. Attitude going out from the tunnel has been fine."

Conceding early is not part of the plan of course, even though it does seem to get the U.S in gear.

"It's not like we sit in there before the game and say to ourselves, 'All right, let's wait until we go down 1-0 or 2-0 before we start playing.' Its something we're not happy about right now. You play at the highest level and you can't be giving away goals like that," said midfielder Michael Bradley, who tallied the equalizer on Friday.

His father, the coach, also said giving up an early goal didn't necessarily mean the team was starting poorly, either. Goals occur against the run of play, because of individual and isolated mistakes or when an opposing player conjures magic from nowhere.

"If you get scored on first then everybody says it's a bad start," Bob Bradley said. "I actually didn't think the first 12 minutes [against Slovenia] were bad. I think that we were doing a lot of the right things to play ourselves into the game. I think we had found a way to start, to look for seams in their defense. I think we had played some balls behind their defense to open things up a little bit. In the process there's that feeling out period, and I think we were doing a lot of the right things."

Then suddenly, Birsa found some space behind Michael Bradley and in front of Oguchi Onyewu and uncorked a vicious drive that left Howard flatfooted. Just like that, it was Slovenia 1, USA 0.

"Soccer is a game where often times things change based on somebody making a play," Bob Bradley said. "It's frustrating when you go through a stretch when it seems like in that feeling out process of the game you find yourselves behind too often. We're all looking hard at that. But nonetheless I would still say that the opening parts of the game were handled pretty well."

It seems, however, that in that statement lies the answer to the U.S.'s difficulty. Bradley and several other players said that their team looks at the opening minutes (or even half) of a game as a time to set a deliberate pace, find their rhythm and probe the opponent. The U.S. consciously chooses not to play in the manner that destroyed Slovenia in the second half on Friday. The view is that pushing forward aggressively both exposes the team in the back -- perhaps making an opposition goal even more likely -- and requires the sort of long passes that prevent players from seeing more of the ball and getting comfortable with the flow of play.

In short, the U.S. appears to know exactly how it must play when it needs a goal, and it opts to play that way only when it's absolutely necessary.


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"The first half of these games, there's this part of feeling things out," the coach said. "If you play every ball behind [the opposing defense], you'll feel like you don't have the ball ever. If you're content to just play around the back, you feel like you're not going anywhere. There's this part that's required early in a game, the understanding of a team tactically and how that, over time, things start to change.

Goals change what happens on the field ... I'm not sure that from the first minute you can play like that ... You start to see how the game develops. The ebbs and flows of the 90 minutes. Those are interesting things. Every game is a little different."

Clint Dempsey concurred: "We're not going to approach the game saying, 'All right, we're just going to hit the long ball.' That's not how we play. We try to play a good game. We try to mix it up. We try to find short passes, keep possession, get confidence on the ball ... Then, if you find yourself down, you play a little bit of percentage ball. You have set pieces. Most set pieces you're hitting the ball into the box. The more times you hit it into the box, the greater chance you have to score. Is that the style that we like to play all the time? No, it's not. So you have to adapt to the game, and that's what we do."

That style, the long ball, requires strength, aggression and commitment. It's not pretty and it's not fun. Howard said after the Slovenia game that the match changed when "we started hitting them long and letting the big boys up front hit those guys in the mouth and get forward, push them around, wrestle them, and you saw how well we did.

"Sometimes that's not always on your mind when the game starts. You want to be a little bit more pretty and a little bit more flashy, and so I don't know the answer."

Um, the answer would seem to be to recognize that you're not Brazil, Holland or Spain, embrace who you are and play to your strengths. Time and again U.S. players speak of their unity, determination, resolve and fortitude. The fact that they possess those qualities is admirable, but withholding them from the start because you want to keep the ball for its own sake obviously is counterproductive. It's not working. The statistics prove it.

Be sure to stay with FanHouse for complete coverage from South Africa, as columnist Kevin Blackistone and soccer editor Brian Straus will be on location for the duration of the tournament.

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World Cup Coverage
"We've got some pretty crafty players and some really good players," Howard said. "You're always going to try and find the rhythm in the game and you do that by passing and moving ... Maybe we can mix it up even better. Maybe that's the answer. But I don't think we're just a direct, long ball type of team. But do find success in those areas when we have to."

The notion that teams that employ long passes in the attack therefore lack skill is a myth. Did Bradley's equalizer not require skill and technique? The high ball from Landon Donovan was flighted perfectly. The header by Jozy Altidore required timing, strength and accuracy, and Bradley's finish was opportunistic and lethal. Skillful players can attack at speed as well.

Bob Bradley said his team's success in the second half against Slovenia came "from the fact that now we make a pure commitment at halftime that we're going to push the game. We're behind. We're now going to push harder. We're going to press harder. We're going to pick up the tempo of the game to a different level. The team then has the confidence to overcome those obstacles. After all, it's already done so several times."

So will the U.S. learn to muster that commitment when the score is still 0-0? It will have to. It's playing with fire starting the Algeria game any other way.

"We generally play better when we play with more of a sense of urgency. ... We knew if we were aggressive in the second half [against Slovenia] we were going to get some chances to score," Donovan said.

FanHouse asked him if the team could manufacture that sense of urgency without falling behind.

"You don't manufacture it," he answered. "Guys have to take it upon themselves to put that into the game."

Is that possible from the opening whistle?

"Sure. Absolutely it is."