The United States face Panama in their opening Gold Cup game. Here is the lineup we predict Bruce Arena will use.
The United States open their 2017 Gold Cup campaign against Panama, the team that beat them on penalties in the third-place game at the 2015 Gold Cup, on Saturday. Manager Bruce Arena will likely stick to the 4-4-2 formation he has used — with the notable exception of last month’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico — since taking over for Jurgen Klinsmann. Arena named a relatively inexperienced squad for the Gold Cup, but expect him to favor his more proven players against Panama, before rotating more in the remaining group stage games against Martinique and Nicaragua.
Forwards
Arena elected to give many of his regulars the summer off. In place of Clint Dempsy, Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood, the U.S. will likely start Jordan Morris and Dom Dwyer, although Juan Agudelo certainly deserves some minutes this tournament based on his form in MLS. Dwyer received his first call-up since becoming a U.S. citizen in a pre-tournament friendly against Ghana, and scored his first goal. Morris has been a staple of the USMNT roster since first being called up in 2014. With Dempsy, Altidore and Wood absent, Morris will finally be able to receive more playing time.
Midfielders
Arena will likely stick to a four-man midfield, but he has a lot of different options available to him, and the players he chooses will probably dictate whether the shape is flatter or more of a diamond. FC Dallas’ Kellyn Acosta is beginning to cement his place as the best option next to Michael Bradley in Arena’s first-choice midfield, and should see significant starting minutes in the Gold Cup. Alejandro Bedoya is the most experienced player in the squad, and will be a useful shuttler on the left side of midfield, while Dax McCarty is enjoying an excellent season with the Chicago Fire, and is the obvious Bradley surrogate in the squad, despite a lack of national team experience.
Tijuana teammates Joe Corona and Paul Arriola will also be in contention to start, and given Arriola started the WCQ in Mexico a month ago, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he gets the nod. If Arena wants to go with more of a diamond, Corona and Gyasi Zardes will be options in attacking midfield, but Agudelo could also be used there if Arena doesn’t want to play him up top.
Defenders
The defense is the most experienced part of the U.S. roster. Brad Guzan will likely start every single game of the tournament for Arena. The Atlanta keeper could earn the confidence of Arena and become the first-choice in next summer’s World Cup, though Tim Howard still has the edge.
Arena has four good options at center-back in Matt Miazga, Matt Besler, Omar Gonazalez and Matt Hedges. Gonzalez is one of the more experienced players on the roster and will be in charge of organizing the back line. Miazga is currently under contract with Chelsea and showed a lot of potential while on loan with Vitesse last season. However, Miazga has only made two international appearances. Playing Miazga is a good test for the 21-year-old and should show Arena what type of player he has going forward. All four will likely start matches at some point in the tournament, but we think a young-old combo of Miazga and Gonzalez will be the pick in the first match.
At full-back, veteran Graham Zusi and Jorge Villafana will likely start. Zusi’s 49 caps are the third most on the roster and, while Villafana has only seven international caps, he seems to have established himself recently as Arena’s first-choice left-back. This will be another opportunity for him to cement his place. Zusi’s place may, however, be under threat from Eric Lichaj, who has made a name for himself at Nottingham Forest over the past few seasons. He’s remained curiously uninvolved with the national team, but Arena should give him some minutes during the Gold Cup. Whether they will come against Panama is less clear.
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Starting XI
Arena has a lot of options against Panama, and it’s difficult to predict who he’ll choose given how many different players in the squad he’ll want to take a look at. Given Panama are the strongest side in the USMNT’s group, however, and that this is the first game of the tournament, we expect him to take a slightly more cautious approach, and go with something like the following lineup:
A win in the opening game almost guarantees the U.S. a spot in the knockout stage as two of the third-place teams in each groups advance. Winning the opener would allow Arena to play a younger squad in the remaining group stage games. Arena likely wants to get his inexperienced players as much playing time as possible against Martinique and Nicaragua.
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