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The USMNT took the field for the first time since their World Cup exit last week, earning a promising 1-0 victory on the road in a friendly versus the Czech Republic.
As we said in our game recap, Jurgen Klinsmann put out an extremely young squad in Prague as he sets his sights on getting the USMNT to the semifinals in the 2018 World Cup. The squad was captained by Jozy Altidore, and were without their crop of MLS players aside from goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
It’s hard to read into the performances this early, especially against a subpar Czech Republic team, but it was good to see some of the young talent that Jurgen has been so focused on. Yes, they made mistakes, but it was a good performance for Klinsmann’s youngsters, and being so far away from the World Cup only gives promise that these players will get better.
Joe Gyau
One youngster who impressed was Joe Gyau. He was one of three players to receive his first cap, and the Borussia Dortmund reserve scored a start and played the entire 90 minutes. The right winger displayed his skill, strength and quickness during the match and showed that he has the ability to go back and defend if called upon. He also showed willingness to go at defenders and has a great sense of where he needs to be on the pitch, but his decision-making was questionable at times and he didn’t do much in the second half. Like we said, we’ll take it with a grain of salt, but we liked what we saw from Gyau.
Mix Diskerud
Diskerud is almost 24, so he isn’t a prospect, but if the Norwegian-American starts to consistently put these types of performances together, the U.S. midfield will be in good shape. The first 60 minutes of the game were mostly positive and impressive. Diskerud, Joe Corona, and Alejandro Bedoya held the middle in Klinsmann’s 4-3-3 formation, and did a pretty good job despite none being true defensive midfielders. Diskerud specifically played out of his mind. He was all over the pitch and, for a player that normally zones in and out of games, Mix showed he’s capable of being the midfielder that could complement Michael Bradley. He did a great job dropping back with the central defenders, getting some passes going and then, before you knew it, he was up front supporting Jozy Altidore who didn’t get much help from his young wingers.
Mix Diskerud was all over the pitch vs the Czech Republic, spurring the United States only goal. (Photo: @twelfthyank | Twitter)
Julian Green
The 19-year-old’s first start for the national team was an okay performance. The youngster, who we have on our 5 American's to watch list, started well, but when it came down to it he didn’t make many plays and never posed a true threat. Still, Green was active on the pitch and one area you can tell he’s ahead of the older Gyau is his ability to read the game. Despite not being as athletic as Gyau, Green simply needs more games under his belt before we believe he'll prove himself to be a superstar. The transfer to Hamburg should help with that, along with more National Team caps.
Julian Green is still a ways from stardom, but the Hamburg man has the potential. (Photo: @Bundesliga_EN | Twitter)
John Brooks
Similar to Green, Brooks started strong and made a couple mistakes later, but it seems apparent that Brooks should be the anchor of the US defense come 2018. Not that his time at the right back position was worrisome by any stretch, but Brooks looked more comfortable playing at left center back. Overall his performance was what we were looking for and as long as he keeps his starting gig a Hertha Berlin, Brooks should be the guy holding down the back line in Russia.
The U.S. defense looked suspect at the end of the match, but they held firm with the aid of Rimando’s saves. Looking at it developmentally, it was good experience for the younger players to experience that type of pressure at the end of the match. There is still a long, long time until Russia 2018, but baby steps are what we need and we’ll see how Jurgen’s young talent develops over time. The squad won’t be back on the pitch until October 10th in Landon Donovan’s farewell game against Ecuador. The game highlights are below curtosy of @ussoccer:
