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MOTD: Denmark 3-2 USMNT

By on March 25, 2015

On paper the match was a friendly, but in practice anything but — Jurgen Klinsmann is facing increasing pressure for his US Men’s National Team to perform. It’s been almost five years since Klinsmann took over, and many are still questioning the impact his revolution has had on the pitch. The US struggled to string together passes today and looked altogether disjointed; indeed, Klinsmann has returned to the drawing board, experimenting with formations and players.

While friendlies such as tonight’s are conducive to experimentation, it is clear that Klinsmann hasn’t yet settled into a style and squad, even after a successful World Cup. The German patched together a solid team over the summer but undoubtedly strives for more, today featuring a side only loosely resembling his World Cup side. Ventura Alvarado debuted as a substitute, while a new, experimental back line was often caught out due to simple communication breakdowns; for one, Brek Shea and Greg Garza are still learning to play together, and multiple times a back line of Garza, John Brooks, Michael Orozco, and Timothy Chandler communicated poorly and so nearly cost the US dearly.

Denmark provided a stiff test away from home, but still, the US back line was all too often subject to the whims of the aging Nicklas Bendtner — “Lord Bendtner”. The Dane’s night was marked with a hat-trick, though at least two of his goals came as a result of poor defending. Two of his goals also came late on after Klinsmann changed the US’ back-line, a tactic that must be halted for the US to buck the trend of second-half disasters: since the World Cup they have been outscored by a dismal eleven to one in second halves.

The US did well, but only in the sense of taking their chances — while they found themselves less than ten minutes from a confidence boosting away-win, their possession and performance hardly warranted one. Klinsmann’s men were sloppy, not entirely unexpected from such a young side with just days to gel; many players only played together a day or two after flying in off of weekend action in MLS and abroad. If Klinsmann had wanted a result and only that, he could have played a different team, so given the circumstances, the experimental side’s grit to dig out two goals was laudable.

Jozy Altidore was a force to be reckoned with up front, unusually composed and clinical tonight. With a goal and an assist, it is safe to say the front man is back on form. Just nineteen minutes in, he created a goal out of nothing, muscling his way past two defenders at the far post to volley Chandler’s lobbed cross past Stephan Andersen with a deflected near post finish. Klinsmann even afforded a beaming smile in the drenching rain when Altidore made it two in the sixty-ninth minute, squaring Michael Bradley’s peachy diagonal ball across the box for Aron Johannssen to tap home from eight yards out.

Klinsmann even complimented his back line afterwards, holding relatively firm for eighty of the ninety minutes despite undergoing multiple experiments. Timothy Chandler was caught out early on, forcing Nick Rimando into a fine save before Christian Eriksen fired over at the far post. Fabian Johnson’s lackadaisical backtracking led to Daniel Wass getting a low cross into the US penalty area from the right side of the box, and Bendtner was wide open to tap home Lasse Vibe’s flick on from six yards.

Rimando kept the US in the game after a poor chest-down from Shea early in the second half, coming up big to stop Nicolai Boilesen’s volley, too, before DeAndre Yedlin cleared the loose ball off the line. However, the US team’s rhythm was naturally disrupted after Alvarado, Alfredo Morales, Rubio Rubin, Shea, and DeAndre Yedlin were substituted on in the late stages. First, a cross trickled all the way across goal for Bendtner to finish at the far post, and in stoppage time the ex-Arsenal forward sliced a beautiful, winning volley across the goal and in off the post after space opened up for him on the edge of the box.
Man of the Match: Nicklas Bendtner

Homepage photo credit: Stiendy on Wikipedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.