Why Michael Bradley Will Be USA's Key Player Against Jamaica

The goal on the road in CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers for the U.S. should always be to try to nab a draw. As such, Michael Bradley’s contributions from the center midfield position will be critical as the Yanks face Jamaica on Friday June 7, 2013. 

Securing a point in the harsh conditions that playing in the Caribbean presents in no easy task. The heat alone can suck the wind from even the most conditioned of soccer players. The U.S. will need to remain pragmatic, control possession whenever possible to give their defenders a break and counter when the time is right.

Therein lie some of the many strengths of the midfield general, Michael Bradley.

The New Jersey native is one of the fittest players currently in the U.S. pool. He can play the box-to-box role with comfort and consistently covers tons of ground. This sort of effort will undoubtedly relieve the back line of many of its duties, including ball-winning and cutting down passing angles. 

In addition to a high work rate, Bradley is a key cog in possession. The Roma midfielder is certainly capable of the killer through ball; but his best work in possession, for the U.S. at least, is in time-keeping passing. 

Bradley is expert in knowing when to play out of pressure with a backward or square pass. He reads defenses well enough to navigate the distribution game to prudent areas at key times. And, perhaps most importantly, his simple possession is very accurate; he rarely misplaces a high percentage midfield pass, due, in large part, to his pitch perfect technical abilities.

As indicated previously, though, Bradley is more than just a tempo-keeping passer, and that’s where his contributions become all the more important against Jamaica. Assuming the Yanks do concede a good chunk of the possession throughout the match, they will need to counterattack to keep the Jamaicans from pushing too many numbers in the attack.

That is where the diversified distribution game of Bradley comes in. He can hit that pass, that very important counter-springing-into-space pass that others in the U.S. pool simply cannot from the central midfield position. If the likes of Graham Zusi, Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson (or whoever else plays as the outside midfielders and forwards) are going to provide a spark, they will need Bradley’s virtuoso-style passes to get open down the field.

The likely partner for Bradley is the hard-working Jermaine Jones. Jones is a nice player but best deployed as a true No. 6, the destroyer-type. He can do many of the things Bradley can, but is slightly less cultured in terms of the valve-releasing ball. 

Playing Jones behind Bradley will give Bradley the freedom to roam where he sees fit. 

Apart from every reason mentioned above, Bradley’s contributions are also crucial because he is one of the more experienced players in the current pool. He knows what it is like to play in the most scrutinized of matches for both club and country. He can guide the folks who have played far less than he has. 

The wildcard, too, for Bradley, is that on top of everything he can bring to this match, he has the long-range blast of a goal well within his soccer bag of tricks. If all else fails—the attackers are gassed and the defenders are clearing ball after ball—it is comforting knowing that at any point, Bradley is capable of lacing one up and putting the Yanks on the scoreboard.

Regardless of how Jurgen Klinsmann sets the tactics, Bradley will be a key-talking point for how the U.S. wants to play against Jamaica.