It's only a friendly, but the above video (compiled by Rob Usry – go give him a follow on Twitter) illustrates just how brilliant the USMNT were in yesterday's 2-1 win over Germany.
Let's break down the equalizing goal a little bit
• Before the video even starts, John Brooks single-handedly stopped a German breakaway by shutting down Mario Gotze 1-v-1 on the wing. Brooks had a stinker against Holland, and still struggles with pure forwards. But he is the best center back in the pool at defending in space.
• Gyasi Zardes has dropped back to defend against the pull-back, and is in the perfect spot to make the interception after Patrick Herrmann's cross. Germany wouldn't touch the ball again until 95 seconds later, when they were picking it out of their net.
Rather than boot it out, Zardes touches a one-two past the pressing Gotze.
• The US come out at a stroll, and the ball ends up on Michael Bradley's foot. He recognizes Germany starting to creep up into a containment stance, and plays two straight third-line passes (passes that split two or more defenders). The second pass was a one-time, 30-yard laser that cut out four German defenders. Pure filth:
If you want to show Gedion Zelalem, Emerson Hyndman, Luis Gil and all the other young kids in the program what they need to work on to play at the highest level... there ya go.
• Fabian Johnson has space in front of him, but no support. He also knows that the Germans are in retreat... so he doesn't force the issue. He slows everything down, and allows his teammates to catch up and get into a position to hold the ball for a while. The US hadn't had many of those sequences at this point in the game.
• By the 42-second mark of the above clip, all 10 US field players are in the attacking half, pushing the Germans back and probing with side-to-side passes. Both fullbacks overlap into supporting positions, rather than attacking positions.
• Bradley and the two forwards - Juan Agudelo and Aron Johannsson – are doing lots of fun stuff off the ball. Agudelo repeatedly takes up good spots to occupy both central defenders, while Johannsson drops deep to occupy the attention of Germany's right midfielder, Herrmann. Herrmann's defensive attention naturally drifts to the center of the pitch throughout this sequence (that's foreshadowing, folks).
Here's how the field was laid out at the 1:07 mark:
Johannsson has dragged Herrmann so far inside that Johnson has about 15 yards of space to receive any pass. The US are in a good position to, at the very least, hold onto the ball. And it's because of the work they're doing away from it.
• Because Germany are disciplined and smart, they force the US out of that left-central channel, and make us play all the way back to Brad Guzan. Guzan is also disciplined and smart, and eschews the easy outlet. Instead he plays a second-line pass to Timmy Chandler, cutting out the immediate pressure. And now it's game on.
• Agudelo has dropped all the way back, 70 yards from goal, to be an outlet. This has confused the German backline, and left nothing but space ahead of Bradley. Who, of course, sees and takes it:
• This is a classic overload, a 4-vs-2 for the US along the touchline. But there's more happening here than it seems. Johannsson has dropped back between the German right central defender and right back, No. 4 on the screenshot above. When I talk about how good forwards occupy defenders off the ball by making smart runs, this is what I mean. Johannsson actually looped his run away from the play at first in order to suck Rudy into his gravitational field, and Rudy took the bait.
Herrmann, in the center of the screen at the bottom, doesn't realize what's happening. You can see him looking at the play. Young attackers are, generally speaking, very bad off-the-ball defenders. Diskerud (not pictured) is about 10 yards wider than Herrman and 10 yards past him. He already knows where the chance is going to be.
• Rather than attempt the killer pass to Bradley, Agudelo goes short to Chandler on the overlap. Antonio Rudiger commits a tactical foul to try to stop the build-up, but he's too late. Chandler's one-touch pass finds Bradley in that perfect little pocket of space.
• Okay, let's review where the German backline is. Rudiger has stepped up to try to take out Chandler, and is now out of the play. Right center back Shkodran Mustafi has slid over to cover Rudiger, all the way to within yards of the left touchline. Johannsson has collected Rudy, dragging him central.
That leaves left back Jonas Hector, who has been shadowing Zardes along the touchline. But at the 1:30 mark of the video, you can see Hector turn completely around and lose sight of Zardes - who doesn't continue along the touchline, but instead angles his run toward the goal. Hector also doesn't realize that Bradley is right behind him at the time of the pass (1:31)
• As soon as Chandler's ball reaches Bradley, Zardes starts booking it for the area. Mustafi is left with Sophie's Choice: do I pressure Bradley and risk opening up the space in behind for a slip pass to Zardes, or do I track Zardes and hope that Bradley can't pick out a telling pass from this particular spot on the field? This is the moment where the official highlight starts:
He chooses to track Zardes. That run is why there's no pressure on Bradley, why he gets time to receive, pick his head up and pick his pass.
• Diskerud recognizes the space earlier than anyone else on the field, and points to it. Hector never steps up to put any sort of presure on Bradley, and the back-pressure from Germany's midfield is non-existant.
• At the 1:36 mark you can see Herrmann's soul leave his body. He knows he goofed.
• At the 1:38 mark, Mix is celebrating. That was a hell of a chest trap and an even better finish.
Rock, Flag & Eagle time:
I really enjoyed that goal. Hope you did, too, because I don't think the US has ever scored a better one in a friendly.
