WASHINGTON – As US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave his final comments about this latest international break, he insisted there was more good than bad to take from two matches in which the results on the scoreboard were underwhelming.
For a full-strength US squad in a meaningful competition, a 1-1 draw against New Zealand – or even a 2-0 victory over Cuba – would have been considered disappointing performances.
Not so, Klinsmann said, after a pair of friendlies during that punctuated a 10-day training camp geared around youth, and focused on sorting out final roster decisions ahead of the CONCACAF Hexagonal opener against Mexico on Nov. 11.
“I mean when we watch that game again, when we analyze it and we see kind of small pieces and individual performances, there are definitely a couple things that we are not OK with,” he said. “But that’s why we play these games.”
The US struggled to impose its will on a physical, direct New Zealand side that similarly troubled Mexico in a 2-1 friendly defeat Saturday.
And Monty Patterson’s 72nd-minute equalizer for the Kiwis came on a sloppy defending sequence off a corner kick, the very kind of opportunity that could offer a lifeline to otherwise overmatched CONCACAF sides.
US captain Michael Bradley shrugged it off as a momentary lapse, during the kind of playing conditions like expanded substitutions that wouldn’t necessarily exist in qualifiers.
“When they start throwing more numbers at us and they start in some ways becoming even more direct and more desperate, that combined with some subs on both sides just means that the game becomes hectic,” said US and Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley. "We gave away a bad goal, and ultimately that’s the difference between winning and tying.”
Furthermore, both Klinsmann and Bradley doubted whether New Zealand closely resembled of any of the five qualifying opponents the US will face over the next year.
“It’s difficult to say who do they resemble,” Klinsmann said. “Is it similar to a Panama playing long balls into Blas Perez? Or other teams in CONCACAF that have a similar way of doing it? … We have to just take the opponents the way they are.”
Said Bradley: “I mean listen: These games are important for individuals. For the group to still move itself forward in a good way. For guys to gain familiarity. I’m not sure how many similarities there are between tonight’s game and the game on Nov. 11 against Mexico.”
