Denmark vs. United States: Failure for Jurgen Klinsmann's Tactical Gamble

The United States men’s national soccer team twice took the lead in Aarhus but ultimately fell 3-2 to hosts Denmark on a dismal Wednesday night.

Though Michael Bradley gave an encouraging glimpse of his old form, Nicklas Bendtner’s first international hat-trick showed there is a far more cause for worry than hope as the Yanks continue their poor post-World Cup run.

Any Arsenal fan familiar with the Dane’s uninspiring tenure as a Gunner will tell you that there must have been something horribly wrong with the U.S. defense to allow a Bendtner hat-trick—the soccer equivalent of a unicorn sighting.

The performance was hardly the turnaround in form manager Jurgen Klinsmann was looking for from his side, which had won only two of its previous seven matches. In fact, it was a dismal perpetuation of everything that has recently gone wrong with the U.S. defense.

The U.S. was actually leading 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to go, but instead of seeing out the advantage, the Yanks continued their recent habit of conceding late goals and threw it all away.

Center-back starters John Brooks and Michael Orozco showed their inexperience with poor positioning and miscommunication throughout the match, often failing to pick up runners or even stay with their marks.

However, with a little luck, they managed to muddle through for 80 minutes until Klinsmann decided to sub on Ventura Alvarado for Orozco. Three minutes after the debutant took to the field, Bendtner found himself wide open in the box and lashed home his second.

Coincidence? No.

Wanting to get the young Alvarado involved with the USMNT before he could be claimed by Mexico was understandable, but suddenly destabilizing an already flawed center-back pairing with even more inexperience was just asking for trouble.

To his credit, the manager adjusted to a more stable 4-4-2 formation for this match after his experiment with three at the back failed against Chile in January. The change allowed former AZ Alkmaar teammates Jozy Altidore and Aron Johannsson to share the striking responsibilities and provided the U.S. with one positive takeaway in the form of Johannsson’s goal.

Bradley clipped a vintage pass over the Danish back line to hit the streaking Altidore, who then corralled the ball and poked it to Johannsson for the finish. The move showed a great understanding between Bradley and the front two, which could be huge going forward.

However, it was unfortunately the only connectivity to speak of between American players on the night, as one fan pointed out:

Starting outside midfielders Gyasi Zardes and Fabian Johnson both looked out of sorts. They dutifully tried to cover for the U.S.’s numbers disadvantage in the midfield (Denmark played a 4-3-3), but they lacked the technical ability to be pressure-relieving outlets and consistent threats in the attacking third. As the half wore on, their fatigue at having to chase the game was evident.

As MLS researcher Ben Baer’s graphic illustrates, the American midfield generally had very little possession against the Danes—and they didn’t do much with it in the short spells where they did possess the ball.

Tellingly, Altidore’s opening goal came not from a passing move but rather from a Timmy Chandler long ball and a strong, individual finish from the Toronto forward.

The final minutes of the first half saw the U.S. seemingly content to concede possession and simply boot the ball up the field when under pressure, hoping for the whistle to signal the intermission.

For all Klinsmann’s insistence on a more free-flowing and attacking U.S. team, the Yanks looked to be taking a page from their old dig in and pray philosophy.

The second half wasn’t much different. It took the Americans a full five minutes to earn a significant stretch of possession, and they still did nothing with it. It wasn’t until a decent cross from Brek Shea in the 60th minute that the U.S. looked like threatening the Denmark goal.

Shea, like the other four largely ineffective subs, looked unprepared for that level of international play. The 25-year-old winger almost single-handedly gave away a goal with an awkward chested pass to Nick Rimando and was often late to react to shifts in play on the left wing.

As for the other subs, DeAndre Yedlin shirked his defensive duties on the second Denmark goal, Rubio Rubin wasn’t on the same wavelength as Altidore and, well, the less said about Alvarado’s debut the better.

While inexperience—both as individuals and as teammates—is partially at fault for this loss, Klinsmann must shoulder the majority of the blame for a fourth defeat in five matches.

The manager seemed to be more concerned with handing out caps than playing his best team. And his substitutions exacerbated the team’s disarray rather than remedying it. Now, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that—it just depends on whether Klinsmann has a reasonable endgame.

If his only concern at right now is experimentation for the next World Cup cycle, then this present tinkering may be beneficial. However, the U.S. fans looking to future matches against Mexico, the Netherlands and Germany will be demanding more than this motley crew of young Yanks with an unrecognizable back line.

U.S. fans are accepting of a little bit of experimentation in friendlies—after all, that’s what friendlies are for—but they won’t tolerate a year of train wrecks leading up to the Gold Cup.

Klinsmann will have to foster solidarity among his players against Switzerland on March 31 or risk facing bitter rival Mexico on April 15 without the team confidence necessary to win the North American derby.

Look for the manager to take fewer tactical risks in defense against Switzerland by going with a more experienced lineup—Tim Ream instead of Brooks and Yedlin instead of Chandler perhaps. Also, keep an eye out for Miguel Ibarra to make a statement in place of the unsettled Zardes.

Regardless of what happens, one thing is for sure: The scrutiny over Klinsmann’s tactics will only grow as USA’s opponents get increasingly more daunting over the coming months.

After the Denmark match, Klinsmann said, per FourFourTwo: “There was a lot of good stuff taken from this game, definitely. What we need to do is step it up in terms of managing the game all 90 minutes.”

Fans can only hope he was talking about fixing the shortcomings of his own decisions sooner rather than later.