In Bruce Arena's 1st game of his 2nd stint in charge of the USMNT, he will be facing a relatively weak opponent as Serbia will only bring domestic based players (none of whom are part of their UEFA World Cup Qualifying squad). This allows him to experiment more, and put out a more offensive lineup with two forwards and three more creative midfielders. Both Altidore and Morris were in excellent form in the MLS Cup playoffs, and should form a good partnership with Morris' pace threatening in space created by Altidore's strong hold up play. In the midfield, the U.S. should actually be able to possess more (which Arena emphasized when he said he wanted better passing midfielders) with technical, composed players working together in Nagbe, Kljestan, and Feilhaber ahead of Bradley. All 3 of them are also versatile enough to drop in and defend alongside Bradley when the U.S. doesn't have the ball. At CB, Birnbaum is the most established option available, and could form a good partnership with MLS defender of the year Matt Hedges. Although veteran DaMarcus Beasley is an option, Greg Garza should get a chance at left back to showcase himself. At right back, Arena has specifically talked about wanting to try Graham Zusi in that spot. Finally, Nick Rimando should start and he has a chance to claim the starting GK role for the March World Cup Qualifiers, with Tim Howard still coming back from injury and Brad Guzan not playing regularly. Overall, both Serbia and then Jamaica will have weakened squads, meaning that Bruce Arena (and U.S. fans/media) cannot take as much from the two games. Players will likely be evaluated more from their daily performance over the course of the whole January camp.
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Jason Foster
over 7 years
In Bruce Arena's 1st game of his 2nd stint in charge of the USMNT, he will be facing a relatively weak opponent as Serbia will only bring domestic based players (none of whom are part of their UEFA World Cup Qualifying squad). This allows him to experiment more, and put out a more offensive lineup with two forwards and three more creative midfielders. Both Altidore and Morris were in excellent form in the MLS Cup playoffs, and should form a good partnership with Morris' pace threatening in space created by Altidore's strong hold up play. In the midfield, the U.S. should actually be able to possess more (which Arena emphasized when he said he wanted better passing midfielders) with technical, composed players working together in Nagbe, Kljestan, and Feilhaber ahead of Bradley. All 3 of them are also versatile enough to drop in and defend alongside Bradley when the U.S. doesn't have the ball. At CB, Birnbaum is the most established option available, and could form a good partnership with MLS defender of the year Matt Hedges. Although veteran DaMarcus Beasley is an option, Greg Garza should get a chance at left back to showcase himself. At right back, Arena has specifically talked about wanting to try Graham Zusi in that spot. Finally, Nick Rimando should start and he has a chance to claim the starting GK role for the March World Cup Qualifiers, with Tim Howard still coming back from injury and Brad Guzan not playing regularly. Overall, both Serbia and then Jamaica will have weakened squads, meaning that Bruce Arena (and U.S. fans/media) cannot take as much from the two games. Players will likely be evaluated more from their daily performance over the course of the whole January camp.