USA – Honduras: Three things we learned

The US Men’s National Team managed to gain one point late on the road against Honduras after a 1-1 tie. Here are three things we learned after a sloppy, poor quality game.

1. There is a glaring lack of quality in the US talent pool

With less than a year to go before the World Cup in Russia, there is very little to be excited about in this US talent pool, excepting of course Christian Pulisic. The US was five minutes away from earning zero points in two crucial World Cup qualifying games in the CONCACAF. The results speak for themselves, but looking beyond the scoreboard there is very little to be optimistic about with regards to our future prospects as a soccer nation.

Are there some “interesting” players coming up the ranks? Perhaps. Kelyn Acosta had some good moments, Paul Arriola made some good runs and showed some bite. Bobby Wood put himself in a great position and showed clinical finishing ability to score the all-important equalizer that may end up being decisive for the USMNT’s qualifying campaign.

However, for a nation aspiring to one day sit at the same table with the European and South American soccer powers, the US proved that it’s ways away from even the CONCACAF elites (Costa Rica and Mexico). However sobering this conclusion may be, trying to paint a rosier picture of the US Soccer talent pool would be delusional.

 2.  Bruce Arena needs to stop tinkering with the lineup

There is no excuse to sit a guy like Geoff Cameron. The Stoke City man is far and away the most valuable player on the back line in John Brooks’s absence. Benching him is a luxury that the US team does not have. Bruce Arena has shown a propensity to overthink lineup changes before and it (sort of) worked against Mexico due to a fantastic solo effort from Michael Bradley that earned us a 1-1 draw. The constant tinkering results in a lack of flow to the game and a lack of identity.  The old adage that “when you have two good quarterbacks you have none” rings true here if you replace quarterback with left back/centerback/ center mid.

The fact that Damarcus Beasley is still chasing down opposing right wings at the ripe age of 38 is a function of lack quality, but it is also a failure on the part of the coaching staff to trust a younger player with the role and let him earn it. Jorge Villafana may not be the second coming of Marcelo but he is certainly not an issue that needs to be addressed by bringing in Old Faithful.

Having a regular lineup helps create and foster in-game relationships. Given the lack of world-beating talent, the US cannot afford to show a lack of identity and risk looking like a team gathered in the stadium parking lot hours before the game. No self-respecting national team changes more than 1-2 players from game to game, and even those are usually due to injuries or suspension.

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3. Bruce Arena has to start trusting the kids

Bobby Wood’s late goal puts the USMNT in the driver seat to earn the last direct qualifying spot out of the CONCACAF region. Assuming the US takes care of business against Panama and Trinidad & Tobago in its last two games, we will have booked our tickets to Russia. At what point does Bruce Arena realize that Clint Dempsey is best used as a super sub, that Beasley cannot be your left back and that Graham Zusi has no business playing right back at a World Cup level? These players will be 35, 36 and 32 years old, respectively. Perhaps one of these three can feature regularly (ahem, Dempsey) but there is a larger point here. There are younger, capable players with more potential ahead of them that have earned their chance.

Arena coached with no regard for the future and had the USMNT on the brink of disaster. A loss to Honduras would have meant that qualifying for Russia was out of our hands. The younger players contributed decisively to the all-important goal. Acosta hit a great free kick and Morris flicked the ball decisively to Wood who buried it into the net. For the sake of the USMNT program, Arena needs to show more trust in these players and allow them to settle in and gain enough confidence before Russia 2018. The reality is they are the best we’ve got at this point.