Five Things the USA Soccer Team Needs to Improve Its Game

The United States lost to Italy 3-1 on Monday in their opening match of the 2009 Confederations Cup. They will play Brazil on Thursday in a game where points are a must.

Some say the Yanks did poorly against Italy, but I think they did well. However, there are still areas where the United States can improve. 

Passing

Now, personally, I think that dribbling is cooler than passing. But the fact of the matter is, the U.S. has no good dribblers; and the dribblers in the squad (like Freddy Adu) are not usually in the starting lineup.

This is why the United States needs to improve on its passing. Short and quick passes can be very helpful in getting the ball up the field.

So many times in the past few games, the United States has given up a goal which could have been avoided if the player had not over-dribbled.

Against a Brazil side with Robinho's flair and Kaka's speed and passing, the USA will need to be careful and pass more to avoid giving up the ball and another goal.

Long distance shooting

Long distance shooting can be a very helpful and potent weapon if used correctly. Against Italy, the Stars and Stripes threatened about three times from distance.

If they can shoot from distance and get the shot on target, then either of the following could happen: a goal could occur, a rebound could be given up by the goalkeeper resulting in another chance at goal for the Americans, or the keeper may just get rattled and give up an easy goal later on because of his shakiness from the previous shot.

Also, this could really help on free kicks. Donovan wasted some chances from free kicks that he should have scored on. More practice on free kicks and distance shooting would be really helpful.

Long distance shooting defensively

This has become a real problem for the Americans, particularly Tim Howard. The United States has given up four goals from outside the penalty area in the last three games.

The US midfield needs to concentrate on not giving time and space to their opponents because you never know when he's going to shoot.

Also, Howard needs to practice stopping shots from distance, because he has the ability to stop some shots that he lets past.

Creativity

This goes along the lines that Freddy Adu SHOULD be given more playing time. Adu has the ability to find forwards when no one else on the team can.

Against Spain last year, he found Eddie Johnson numerous times and the USA would have won if only Johnson would have been able to finish.

Another player on the team with some creativity is Feilhaber. Against Honduras, he did really well in reminding people that he has flair and creativity; but against Italy, less of it was shown.

However, I think that against the country of his birth, he will be up to the challenge of showing people why Bob Bradley chose him for the team.

Finishing

Finishing is one thing that could have really helped the USA against Italy. Once Altidore was on a one-on-one with Buffon and he passed instead of shooting.

Michael Bradley was in the same position later on in the game, and he did the same thing.

The Americans need to be more confident about their finishing and take a crack at the goal. Odds are they probably won't miss anyways.

I don't expect these to be the only things that the USA needs help at, but these were a few areas that I noticed that they needed help in.

Also, they will need way more practice if they want to get points off of Brazil, especially with turning on the creativity.

However, if they improve in these areas, they will do probably do very well against the two-time Confederation Cup champions.