We are still more than four days away from the United States next match in the FIFA World Cup but that doesn’t mean that we can’t start looking forward to the next speed bump on the road to the Final. The United States got past the first test with a gritty 2-1 win over Ghana in the match that was a “must-win” if Jurgen Klinsmann and company wanted to progress into the knockout round.
Up next is a very tricky fixture with a beaten and bruised Portugal side who will enter the match down two defenders and possibly their top forward. Center-back Pepe picked up a silly red card while Hugo Almeida and Fabio Coentrao have been ruled out for the rest of the group stage with the injuries they picked up during the 4-0 loss to Germany on Monday.
On top of the injuries and suspensions, the match will be played in Manaus at the Arena de Amazonia where the weather is projected to be dreadful over the next few days leading into Sunday. The weather reports show the possibility of consistent rain from now through Sunday with a temperature in the low 80s and humidity close to 90% at kickoff on Sunday night.
It is not a surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo is the engine that drives the Portuguese attack; a point which will be even more evident as Portugal looks to replace the contributions of Hugo Almeida and Fabio Coentrao. Ronaldo’s speed and skill make him a dangerous threat to the American defense as he attacks down the left attacking side.
The United States does not have a player who can match Ronaldo’s skill defensively but they do have someone who can match his speed in Seattle Sounders FC defender DeAndre Yedlin. The 20-year-old from Seattle, Washington was a surprising addition to the squad beating out his club teammate Brad Evans for one of the 23 spots. Evans had played in the right back position for most of the recent World Cup qualifiers, though there was doubt about his fitness after a calf injury suffered in March at the hands of Jackson from Toronto FC.
This situation is exactly why Yedlin was brought on the team; his speed allows Jurgen Klinsmann to not need to change the tactical approach for the United States. Klinsmann has allowed his fullbacks to press forward in support of the attack which at times had come back to haunt the United States in their warm-up matches and even a few times against Ghana. Yedlin’s recovery speed is fast enough to catch up to Ronaldo in case of a quick Portugal counter-attack.
Now, one of the biggest knocks on Yedlin has been his struggles with one-on-one defending, but the likelihood is that Klinsmann will have the right center back or defensive midfielder slide over in support of Yedlin when those situations would arise. That is another advantage to the injuries suffered by Portugal as there are two less weapons on the field for the United States to need to worry about. This writer believes that Klinsmann’s plan already was to attempt to double-team Ronaldo when he entered the attacking third so this should not be much of a change.
The question in doing this would be where would Fabian Johnson end up? My thought is that Johnson would flipped back to his more familiar left back over DaMarcus Beasley. The idea being that Nani would probably become the second offensive option for Portugal if the US is able to contain Ronaldo. Fabian Johnson is a natural left-back while DaMarcus Beasley is a converted defender and Johnson is better defensively than Beasley; he is less likely to be caught out of position by pushing too far forward.
The other thing to consider is that this will be a very physically draining match with all of the heat and humidity. The United States has just three days to rest, recover and prepare for the group finale with Germany in Recife on June 26.