Tough Week for U.S. Soccer

(Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

It has been a tough week for the U.S. national team. Two games against Brazil and Italy have produced more red cards (two) than goals (one). So what is going on with the national team? Are we really that bad?

Let's keep one thing in mind when analyzing the U.S. performance in the Confederations Cup. The U.S. has played two of the best four teams in the world. It is not as if the U.S. has lost to Cuba and Bermuda.

None of the U.S. players would get into the starting lineup for either Italy or Brazil. I don’t think anyone seriously thought the U.S. would win either of these two games.

That being said, the games this week have identified several weaknesses in the U.S. approach.

Coaching tactics

Bradley’s game plans in South Africa have not worked. The U.S. approach has been too defensive and allowed Italy and Brazil too much time to set the tempo of the game.

More worrying for U.S. fans, as a commentator on Yahoo mentioned, is that the US team has been horrible in four of its last five games. We barely escaped with a tie in El Salvador and it took two set plays against Honduras for the U.S. to score.

The U.S. players seems to lack the fire and passion of previous U.S. teams and that is down to the coaching. The U.S. will qualify for the World Cup next year, but can U.S. Soccer afford to go and lose three straight games?

The former German coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, is sitting in LA and the pressure has to be building on U.S. Soccer to make a change ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

Lack of creative players

It is a rare occasion now when the U.S. scores a goal from open play. Outside of Landon Donovan (one of the bright spots in South Africa), the U.S. has nobody capable of that piece of magic to open up an opponent.

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