Looking back, this WC can be summed up as a combination of pretty much the same old, same old; the exit of the Project 2010 generation; a confirmation that US player development is still behind the rest of the world; and that world class players don't arrive to your program on any sort of schedule.
GK: What can be said except that Howard is a world class player. Hopefully that history of such players at that position continues. If it's Guzman in 2018 that'd be fine, but we need to ID the next guy and put him in with one of the better leagues.
D: Objectively, they stunk. Ghana shot themselves in the foot, and the rest of the games were full of the mistakes we've come to expect from this inexperienced group. Physically, they are fine except for a lack of comfort on the ball. Tactically, and mentally they have a ways to go. All of them need to play in Europe. If Gonzalez and Besler are still in MLS on 2016, I start looking elsewhere for center backs. They were consistently sloppy in there offside trap, though they got away with it most of the time. The biggest issue was allowing time and space to the ball between 20-30 yds out. It's why Belgium had there way all game.
Midfield: Zusi can play at this level but didn't, he'll need to get better in the fitness and speed department. Bedoya and Davis are out, IMO not good enough. Bradley needs to hope that he hasn't peaked, but we are building around him anyway because there is no one else. I'd want to see him on loans to the EPL and find his position as either DCM, CM, or ACM. I think Yedlin's future is in the midfield, he should get himself there as soon as possible. Green needs to develop and find first team minutes somewhere.
ST: Jozy isn't world class, will never be reliable, everyone else is done except for Johannsson, who needs to find a better league with tougher defenders. He looked more overwhelmed that I expected. I don't think Boyd will ever get there. Huge holes to fill at this position.
Coach: This was always a transitional WC, one last hurrah for Donovan, Dempsey, Howard and I thought, Cherundolo. Glad JK was able to find some new faces, recruit dual nationals with real interest from other countries and raise expectations. Problem is he didn't reach them. For all the talk about the Group of Death, the group played exactly as most predicted, escape Ghana with 3pts, get a result from perennially underachieving Portugal, and stay close enough to Germany to get through on differential. The drama from each game obscures the fact that getting through was coming from a few positive bounces of the ball. If we came up a goal short, then expectations would also have been realized.
The winnable Rd of 16 game shows shortcomings of the squad. Basing the roster around Altidore was a problem given his form and mercurial production history. Leaving Donovan off was a mistake, period, end of story whether it would have affected the outcome or not.
The team could not control the ball, make accurate passes either on the run or standing still against opponents of this quality. None of them allowed the US to pass back and forth in the center of the field with any frequency. This was the upgrade in quality that we failed to adjust against. In MLS and Concacaf, this is allowed.
We wondered at Brooks goal and Jones goal, but in truth these are routine strikes at the top level. Greens goal, and Bradley's assist were class, but it takes more than one lighting bolt. Our touches were generally clumsy, halting to the counter. Passes easily broken up.
I'm not sure if the variable tactics was a positive, negative, or just necessary, but I did like that we can adjust and not be pinned down to a single formation, guys were going all over. That is the biggest positive for JKs influence. No modern US team has ever gone outside the basic 4-4-2 box. So there's that.
But at the end of the day 2014, wasn't so different from 2010, 2006, 1994 and while technically worse than 2002, if you sub Mexico for a better squad, we are at the same result. A top 15-20 program. The variance is small in the ledger, but outside of 2002, we rely solely on spirit, fitness, GK, and pinging the ball around the opposing goal. The team peaked in 2009 and is moving away with the exit of Project 2010 generation. We have some intriguing pieces going forward with other huge holes to fill.
What I'd like to see now is Fabian Johnson sign with Everton.
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