FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – “Sometimes versatility is a good and a bad thing,” says US national team midfielder Alejandro Bedoya.
Having a player that can fill in effectively at multiple positions is a valuable asset for any team, but when that trait is pushed to the extreme, things can get a little dicey, as Bedoya and the USMNT learned the hard way on Tuesday night.
Thrust into a defensive midfield role in the USA’s 4-1 friendly loss to Brazil, Bedoya looked behind the game almost from the start. He made one crucial interception early on, but afterwards struggled to make an impact on the game on either side of the ball until he was replaced by Danny Williams – a more natural defensive midfielder – in the 36th minute.
“I hadn’t really played there before,” Bedoya told reporters after the game. “... Over the past two games I tried to do my best somewhere, but I hadn’t really played [there] as a professional. But this is one of those games where you learn a lot and you take it from here.”
Bedoya, who plays his club soccer with Nantes in France’s Ligue 1, is typically more accustomed to playing in an attacking midfield role, either centrally or on the the flanks. In his latest stint with the USMNT, however, he was asked to play as one of two central midfielders alongside Jermaine Jones in a 4-4-2 formation against Peru, then in an even more defensive role alongside Jones, with Michael Bradley playing ahead of the duo, in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Brazil.
He admitted that he was able to train “a bit” in the so-called No. 6 role in the current US camp, but that when push came to shove, the circumstances were slightly different.
“I try to work on things in training, but obviously in a game environment it’s a whole different thing,” Bedoya said. “Against good teams like Peru and Brazil, it’s fair to say that I got exposed a little bit and not really knowing how to play as a No. 6, which I haven’t really played it as a professional, but everything’s a learning curve. “
The decision to start and play Bedoya in any position ultimately rests with USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who said that he’d seen some good things from Bedoya in more central positions in the last year, but that the experiment just didn’t work out on the night.
“Obviously playing Ale in the center there with Jermaine and with Michael in front of him was a very good option,” Klinsmann explained in his postgame press conference. “He showed that in a couple of other games after the World Cup that he can play inside.
“He just never caught up with the game. He was literally running after the ball and trying to get involved somehow, but he never connected, and that’s what you see then and you wait a little bit and then you say, ‘You know what, maybe it’s better if you make a switch there.’ And you explain it to him and you just cross it off.”
