US Tactics

One story about the US camp that has gotten some attention among hardcore soccer geeks is Ronald Blum's article on how Claudio Reyna is going to play more of a defensive role in this World Cup. I'm not completely sure what practical effect this is going to have.

US fans generally think of Reyna as the primary "playmaker" for the US team. He is the player who sees the most of the ball, and generally determines the direction of the attack. But Reyna is not now, nor has ever been, the Valderrama-style "number 10" who plays behind the strikers and distributes to them and the advancing flank midfielders. Reyna plays very deep; he goes back to just in front of the defense to begin his distribution. When he plays with a strictly defensive midfielder such as Chris Armas or Pablo Mastroeni, you'll see him play almost alongside the d-mid when the US begins the attack. He will then advance to make himself available as an outlet or to support the attack he started. In other words, he plays a lot like a holding midfielder already, admittedly one with better attacking skills than the average.

The Blum article almost implies he will be the defensive midfielder for the US. I think this is probably not going to be the case, and I definitely don't think it should be the case. Because while Reyna often finds himself in a defensive midfielder position, he's not the greatest ballwinner and tough tackler when the opponents have the ball. The US has trouble disrupting opposing attacks when they don't have a Mastroeni or O'Brien in the midfield. I think it will be very important to have a dedicated d-mid in the World Cup, particularly since we'll be facing Pavel Nedved and Francesco Totti--talented midfielders whom we'll need to stifle in some way.

I think what will probably happen is that the US will play a "box" midfield with Reyna and Mastroeni or O'Brien playing behind two offensive midfielders who will play generally centrally, but have license to go to the flanks. The width will be provided by Cherundulo and Lewis and outside back. So in that sense Reyna might be more "defensive," but I think it will not make much difference when you see them on the field.

US-Morocco in an hour and a half, so maybe we'll see an indication of this soon. Enjoy.