USMNT may be in better shape than we thought

The United States Men’s National Team was criticized by their head coach for their lack of fitness after the U.S.’s loss to Chile.  On Sunday, USA’s Starting XI responded to the comments perfectly.

Feb 8, 2015; Carson, CA, USA; United States midfielder Clint Dempsey (8) is defended by Panama midfielder Hecgar Murillo (11) at StubHub Center. The United States defeated Panama 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

If there’s any way to quiet the doubters about your team’s fitness levels, it’s by getting a much-needed win against a team you should win against.  The USMNT’s 2-0 win over Panama Sunday at the StubHub Arena in Los Angeles is that perfect, much-needed win.

Obviously, when you’re 11-1-2 against a team entering a match and won the last six against them, a win is more mandatory than nice, but that’s another story for another day.

Besides ending the United States’ five-game losing streak, the win also proved that the USMNT may be in better “shape” than everyone, including their head coach Jurgen Klinsmann would’ve thought.

Earlier in the week, Klinsmann called for an 11-month MLS season to keep players in shape and said that the longer season would fix the fitness issue that has plagued the team through the January camp.

“We don’t have that culture yet. The MLS season goes nine months, and they should take a month off but then they should then go back to preparing themselves for their next year. A couple of guys haven’t done that and that’s why they are looking a little bit shaky right now,” he said in an interview with Fox Sports 1.

While the fitness levels of the team were in question, Klinsmann figured out one key thing to fixing the USMNT in their preparations for the Gold Cup: the formation.

Although he’s still expected to play around with the 3-5-2 formation, Klinsmann took it back to basics on Sunday and went with a 4-2-3-1, a formation that’s second nature to the squad he had available and a formation that sparked the team to a pair of goals in the first half, one on an awesome Olimpico by Michael Bradley in the 27th minute and one by Clint Dempsey 10 minutes after on a perfect counter with a perfect set up by the L.A. Galaxy’s Gyasi Zardes who made his first start for the national team, at home in Stubhub Arena in Los Angeles.

Dempsey’s goal in the 37th minute was his 40th career goal with the USMNT, placing him with just Landon Donovan as the only United States players to score 40 international goals.  Donovan scored 57 goals in 157 matches while Dempsey has 40 in 112.

“It obviously slowed down [in] the second half as you could see, but [we were] trying to add another, third goal. Didn’t come, but the pushing was there,” Klinsmann mentioned.

It’s very possible that switching to a more basic formation to get the guys more comfortable on the pitch is the better answer to the recent struggles by the USMNT instead of blaming it on the fitness.

The 2-0 win against Panama is the first win by the USMNT in 158 days when they defeated the Czech Republic 1-0 in their first action after the 2014 World Cup.  It was their first win in the last nine matches.  The USMNT conceded nine goals during the last three matches, losing each match (obviously).

But while Klinsmann and company has tinkered with just about everything during the skid, Sunday proved that the best fix had to be the obviously simple one — bringing it back to basics with the 4-2-3-1 formation and making those on the pitch happy.

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While the chemistry was off in the 3-5-2 formation against Chile, the USMNT looked a lot more in sync on Sunday and it showed.  It was easier for the United States to defend and to find the passing lanes against Panama and the striking combo of Dempsey and Jozy Altidore is still one of the best weapons the U.S. has.

Toss Zardes in the mix, who looked comfortable as well and impressive in his first start and the U.S. would be better off building in a “basic” formation compared to using the 3-5-2 or anything else.  Also, a Zardes-Dempsey-Altidore attack just seems like it could be lethal down the road.

In short, if the boot fits, don’t fix it.

When the USMNT returns to action in a pair of friendlies against Denmark (March 25) and Switzerland (March 31) it’s highly possible that Klinsmann won’t stick with the 4-2-3-1 or even a 4-4-2 and may in fact take another shot with the 3-5-2 as he’s been trying to do throughout January camp and these last two friendlies.

However while we all have to wait a little over a month to see if the USMNT can start to string a few wins in a row, the results against Panama should give Klinsmann the idea he needs of how to make this team fully effective.  The key part to this is keeping everyone in sync and in rhythm.

Like an orchestra band.  If one instrument is out of tune, the entire song sounds terrible.  The only difference between these two is that the music is made through goals and Klinsmann is the inconsistent (hopefully soon-to-be consistent) conductor.

Don’t worry, the video of his next “studio performance” should go viral real soon.

Next: Thoughts on the USWNT's first-ever loss to France