Klein and Bocanegra versus the minnows

The recent spate of friendly matches for the US National team has had its moments of illumination. For one, defender Carlos Bocanegra and midfielder Chris Klein are shaping up to be CONCACAF-killers, with each grabbing a goal in wins Canada and Jamaica. Bocanegra almost picked up a third in the match with a very young Argentinian side, but was denied. With the US dropping that match, the sense of invincibility following last June's performance in Korea has started to wear off. To be fair, coach Bruce Arena was experimenting in all three games, but reality never seems to be an issue with the online critics.

And I'm not really purporting to be any different, owing to the fact that I'm online, and critical. What else did I glean from these matches? Pablo Mastroenni seems to finally be shedding some of the invulnerability his supporters have been boasting since before the World Cup. All things considered, the games with Argentina and Jamaica may have done more for Chris Armas in his absence, as Mastroenni's game seemed to be suffering a bit, particularly with the timing of his challenges. He just gave his opponents a bit too much space before engaging them. As for the rest of the central midfield, Ben Olsen versus Argentina and then Bobby Convery versus Jamaica seemed to struggle. Convey, in particular, seemed to telegraph his passes badly, which hurt his overall effectiveness.

Then there was the abject lack of a forward line. There's been much speculation about strikers Landon Donovan and Clint Mathis both drifting towards more of an attacking midfielder role, but the long and short of it was that the US lacked any consistent offensive threat. If they're really midfielders, play 'em in the midfield. Finally, and I'm not saying I endorse his former aesthetic choices, but it's hard to pick out defender Danny Califf now that he's gotten rid of the grunge look.