Greetings from Holland. I am here with the U.S. Under-20 national team as we prepare for the FIFA Youth World Championship.
We played China on Sunday in a warmup match and won 2-0. It was a game of two halves. We dominated the first and scored two goals. They had control in the second and we kept them off the board. But that is soccer -- we need to score when we are on top and make sure the opponent does not score when they are on top.
At this stage our most pressing challenge is to figure out how to play. We have been preparing one group, the college players, at The Home Depot Center. We have another group, the pro players, who we only had from time to time. We were able to get the full team together a couple of times: in Korea in March, in Seattle on May 4 and against Canada on May 18.
However, we were missing a few key ingredients. The first is Jonathan Spector, currently at Manchester United. He plays central defender and as such we need to get him comfortable to play with his new teammates. Integrating him is relatively easy because it does not force us to change our formation in the back. He plays in a back four at Man United and we play a back four. He usually plays inside defender on the left and that is where he plays for us. He talks a lot, which helps because we have quite a few players who are very quiet. Fitting him in is easy.
We also have Sammy Ochoa. His is a name you might not have heard before. He became a citizen in November and has lived in southern California for many years. His brother Jesus Ochoa plays for Chivas USA. Sammy has spent the past year at Tecos in Mexico. We brought him into camp in February in Florida and he did very well. We wanted to bring him in again but Tecos would not let him go.
Youth teams are different than full national teams and players only need to be released for the World Championship. So we are at the club's mercy. Tecos would not let Sammy go because he only had a one-year contract. They were leveraging his signing a new contract against granting him permission to play with us.
He was finally released six days before the required FIFA release date. Had I not known him for many years as a player I might have given up. But I held with him because he gives us a back-to-goal forward with good skills and size. He is short on experience and his fitness is behind the others due to Tecos holding on to him. But, as the saying goes, beggars cannot be choosy.
Finally, we get to D.C. United's Freddy Adu. He was not available often and as such we now have nine days to figure out how to best play. When you add offensive players it is harder than defenders since the fine tuning is important to scoring goals. Do we play Freddy in midfield, or at forward, or on the flank? Everyone has their own idea. Where we play Adu affects the others who we select in trying to find the right blend.
Against China we played one way in the first half, with a box of four in midfield as Eddie Gaven (MetroStars) and Freddy were the attacking ones. In the second half we played with one forward high and three underneath, During qualifying we played with Freddy as one of the two forwards. Given three or four games we could figure this one out easily. However, our next game is against Argentina and it counts. So we need to figure it out now.
Building a team is important to your success as a coach. The process presents challenges at the national team level. Releasing players is an issue. Getting the proper amount of training matches that challenge players is an issue. Adequate training time to get the appropriate cohesion is an issue. Building a team spirit and camaraderie is a challenge.
We have one week. Our spirit is good. We will figure out the right combination because that is what the players expect. Also it is our job as coaches. We will train, talk and watch video to get the proper cohesion.
Geez, I love this stuff. The butterflies are there, and that is healthy. If you do not get those butterflies something is missing. Let the games begin, bring on Argentina, Germany and Egypt. The USA is waiting.
Sigi Schmid is one of the winningest coaches in MLS history, having led the Los Angeles Galaxy to four honors in his five-plus years at the helm, including the 2002 MLS Cup championship. Send comments to Sigi at sigischmid@hotmail.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
