The 2-1 victory against Turkey was quite a send off & the team showed what they're made of with the come-from-behind win. The crowd of over 55,400 was very supportive & it was nice to finally have a home game that actually felt like one.
A lot of questions about our team were answered this week.
Tuesday's 2-4 loss to the Czechs was just to narrow down the roster to 23 players & more guys played their way off the team rather than on. We played without 8 of our starters including Donovan, Dempsey & Howard, but Maurice Adu, Herculez Gomez (both goalscorers), DeMarcus Beasley & Jose Torres all played well enough to earn their spots at the World Cup. Questions concerning our back line were raised however, as Oguchi Onyewu looked shaky in his first game after an 8 month injury layoff. Clarence Goodson showed that he's no replacement & Jonathan Bornstein didn't convince either.
That all changed on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The game was a tell of two halves, as the USA gave 4 substitutes starting roles. Onyewu was saved for the second half, with Goodson & Jay DeMerit starting in central defense. Team captain Carlos Bocanegra returned to the left back position with Jonathan Spector covering the right side. Benny Feilhaber got to start on the left wing with Landon Donovan on the right flank. Ricardo Clark also got to start next to Michael Bradley in central midfield, which pushed Clint Dempsey up front beside Jozy Altidore.
The team struggled at first as the players tried to settle into their new roles. Donovan grew frustrated & tried to cover too much of the field. He drifted over to the left as Spector moved up on a U.S. attack. With Clark also pushed up, the entire right flank was left exposed & the Turks took advantage to take the 1-0 lead. Although the goal was not entirely Spector's fault, the West Ham defender chased the game - and chased the Turks - throughout the first half.
Feilhaber did nothing on his flank & Clark made no impact on the game, which allowed the Turks to impose their play.
All that changed in the 2nd half when Onyewu came on for Goodson, Stuart Holden replaced Feilhaber, Torres for Clark & Steve Cherundolo for Spector.
Cherundolo keep the right flank in check and along with his solid 90 minute performance against the Czechs, earned the starting role in South Africa. DeMerit also earned the right to play along side Onyewu, who looked more secure & solid than he did on Tuesday night.
Holden also played well on the left wing & will be battling Beasley for the starting spot. The same goes for Torres, who could take the starting central midfield spot from Edu. With three strong players to his left, Donovan stayed on the right wing, as he did at Everton, and set up both goals - one each from Altidore & Dempsey.
So a good all-round performance before the team boarded their flight to South Africa. They have one more game, on June 5 against Australia, to tighten things up a bit more & nail down those last two starting spots, but it's looking like they'll have a fighting chance when June 12 roles around.
So right now it looks like our starting lineup against England will be as follows:
---------------Alitadore-------Dempsey-----------------
--Beasley/Holden--Edu/Torres --Bradley--Donovan--
----Bocanegra---DeMerit---Onyewu---Cherundolo----
------------------------Howard---------------------------
