4 Major Takeaways from the United States' Gold Cup Performance

This past weekend, the Landon Donovan-led United States Mens National Team beat Panama 1-0 on a late goal from Brek Shea.

It was clear that Jurgen Klinsmann’s strategies and tactics were on the field, despite watching from the sky box.

While many thought that the competition was far inferior to any real competition the United States have played, American fans need to understand that a win is a win. Obviously you take a tournament like the Gold Cup with a grain of salt; but there are many things that we can take away from the past few weeks of competition.

Let’s take a look at four things we learned as we move forward to World Cup qualifiers in September.

The United States have tremendous depth

As analysts continue to look at the Gold Cup, one thing that keeps popping up is that the level of competition is really subpar.

Seemingly every team brought out their ‘B’ Team, or the squad that most likely won’t be involved in World Cup qualifying. Besides Landon Donovan—who was coming off a seven month sabbatical from soccer—the U.S. only brought a handful of fringe starters.

Besides the aforementioned Donovan, the only other main roster members were DaMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, Eddie Johnson, and Omar Gonzalez (who didn’t play in the tournament).

What the 2013 Gold Cup proved is that the U.S. ‘B’ Team is a really talented group of young players. Having guys like Joe Corona, Mix Diskerud, Michael Parkhurst and Alejandro Bedoya play a lot of minutes at the international level says a lot about the depth that the U.S. has.

It will be really interesting to see how some of these guys fit in with the shoe-in starters like Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore.

This is a very good problem to have.

Klinsmann is great at using his subs

Part of being a great soccer coach is to be able to use the right substitutes in the right situations. Klinsmann was great at this throughout the Gold Cup.

The perfect example came when he subbed in Eddie Johnson for Chris Wondolowski in the 59th minute against El Salvador.

It was a great goal by Johnson, but some would say that it was lucky to put him on at that time. Being a coach is definitely lucky at times, but Klinsmann is definitely right more often than not.

In the Gold Cup, Brek Shea had two different game winning goals, one against Costa Rica and one in the finals against Panama.

Klinsmann used Shea as a substitute for the rest of the tournament after an absolutely horrible first half against Cuba. Klinsmann’s substitutes have given the Americans a much needed versatility in the second half that will definitely help in the coming months.

Mix Diskerud is a lock for the qualifiers

The one positional battle that intrigued me the most throughout the Gold Cup was between Kyle Beckerman, Mix Diskerud and the unfortunate Stuart Holden.

All three center midfielders were given about even minutes until Holden tore his ACL about 25 minutes in.

Diskerud was able to come on the field and make an impact on the game. His offensive minded attack was a great fit with Beckerman’s slow style approach to the game.

As you can see in the picture above, Diskerud created a ton of passes that led to attacking situations. If you take a look at Beckerman’s they were often times very short with no concern for attacking at all.

Where am I going with this? Diskerud won’t be a world cup starter, but he will make an impact.

As I mentioned before, Klinsmann is one to use the substitute when the team really needs a change of pace. I definitely see Klinsmann giving Diskerud the chance to sub Jermaine Jones in the final 25-30 minutes of a game if the U.S. needs a more offensive approach.

Jones is more of a traditional number six—someone who will play hard for the entire game—but that often times means he makes less of an impact offensively.

Bradley and Diskerud will make an incredibly enticing central midfield combination late in the game.

Landon Donovan is the future left midfielder

Landon Donovan, one of the greatest soccer players in U.S. history, found himself fighting for a roster spot during the Gold Cup. While I think it was much more of a formality for Klinsmann, he was still on the field against far mediocre competition.

Throughout the competition, Donovan played much better when he had the ball at his feet. When he was playing forward, often times with Wondolowski, he barely touched the ball.

Donovan played most of his time in the traditional number 10 spot, right under the forward, where he was able to distribute throughout the offense. However, that is Captain Clint Dempsey’s spot that I doubt he will give up.

Donovan is too good to have on the bench, so the next best option would be at the left midfield. It’s really difficult to even put this position on a chart because of the different responsibilities that they have.

As you could see in the Gold Cup and previous World Cup qualifiers under Klinsmann, the left defender has been a huge part of the attack down the wing. This causes the left midfielder to close in and play more of a central role.

This is where Donovan would really fit in. He’s a very creative player that can make a difference as long as the ball is at his feet. As soon as he gets comfortable playing with Fabian Johnson or DaMarcus Beasley, it will be a lethal combination.

Conclusion

Should U.S. fans expect this type of dominance during World Cup qualifiers? No.

But remember, the last time the United States actually won the Gold Cup was in 2007, 6 years removed from this year.

Klinsmann proved that he has transformed this squad from a team that occasionally beat CONCACAF teams to a team that can regularly win games by scoring great team goals.

When we look back at this tournament, we shouldn't look back on the low level of competition. 

We should look back on how the United States continued their record-setting win streak with a great group of young players.