9.4.14
ASN Morning Read: Starting Off With a Victory
In the first match of the 2018 World Cup cycle, United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave some youngsters a chance and they responded with a victory against their European opponents.
BY
Noah Davis
Posted
September 04, 2014
8:16 AM
The United States national team went to the Czech Republic and came out with a 1-0 victory. It wasn't pretty but the Americans got the job done: "With Joe Gyau impressing in his U.S. debut, the Americans looked to be in charge only for their shape to fall apart midway through the second half after six substitutions. Emerson Hyndman, the 18-year-old Fulham starlet, and left back Greg Garza of Tijuana also got their first caps as Alfredo Morales, Brek Shea, and Tim Ream got time as well."
Alejandro Bedoya's goal:
and the full highlights:
Three talents earned their first caps, but this was about "philosophy": "The manager who said he’s targeting the semifinals in 2018 believes there’s a certain sort of soccer that will pave the way, and he tried his best to deploy it in Prague. Wednesday’s game wasn’t necessarily about securing a good result -- that came thanks to the 35-year-old Rimando and the hosts’ failure to capitalize on a dominant second half. It was about setting a cultural and tactical foundation for the program Klinsmann intends to build. We may see different names in Russia, but the philosophy should be quite similar."
While we're on the subject of youngsters, Julian Green finds himself in something of a disaster at Hamburg: "Americans will no doubt be tuning in throughout the season to watch Green finally get some minutes. What kind of minutes those are is the real question. Hamburg’s opening two fixtures were against two newly promoted teams: Köln and Paderborn. Hamburg managed a 0-0 draw against Köln before Paderborn came to town and showed Hamburg just how much of a dinosaur it really is: the biggest underdogs in Bundesliga history completely dominated Hamburg, winning 3-0."
Four more years (of cheerfulness):
