SANDY, Utah -- On the eve of their friendly against Venezuela, the US national team has a long road to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Part of it is currently not being in a spot that qualifies out of CONCACAF and the other is still having lineup questions heading into the third and fourth qualifiers under head coach Bruce Arena.
“I would argue there’s not enough qualifying left and we’re not in a good spot, but we’re in a better position than in November,” Arena said. “We have to go out and earn points.”
Part of finding a way to earn points, especially in Mexico City next week, will be on display on Saturday night against Venezuela (10 pm ET | FS1, UniMás, UDN). A lot of how the US will play will be determined by not just who will start, but where players will line up.
Arena said he would get a look at Geoff Cameron as a center back first and Christian Pulisic will be in the midfield either centrally or out wide. It doesn’t mean it will stay that way or they’ll line up there against Trinidad & Tobago or Mexico in the upcoming qualifiers.
“They can play both positions depending on the needs of the team,” Arena said. “Who we’re playing and how they play influences that as well.”
Chemistry and combinations in the midfield are also up in the air, as Jermaine Jones isn’t in this group to pair alongside Michael Bradley. Arena feels he has choices and will use Saturday to test out just what he can get from different pairings.
“We’ll have the opportunity to look at a couple players next to him. We have good players at those positions in camp. I have been very pleased with Kellyn Acosta, Dax McCarty, and Alejandro Bedoya to name a few. I think we have some good choices there.”
A good week of practice has left Arena saying that question mark isn’t as big of one as it could be. Bradley notes the midfield will be prepared regardless of how Arena lines them up.
“We have worked on a lot of different things in training, not stuff that we’re going to make a big deal about publicly, but we feel like the time has been well spent. The guys continue to get a good feel for each other and however Bruce decides to play and go about things we’ll be ready,” he said.
Saturday will also provide Arena with an opportunity to see how his backline stays together in a game setting, which should help in ahead of the qualifiers.
Omar Gonzalez, Cameron, John Brooks and Matt Hedges could see some time in central defense, and finding out how the pairings perform against a national team on the rise in Venezuela could be an important stepping stone in the days and weeks ahead.
“You start getting into trouble when you have a disjointed group,” Gonzalez said. “The main focus is having good organization and good ball movement. We have enough talent to get in front of goal and find opportunities and on the defensive end we just have to stay alert and be ready.”
The game against Venezuela may just be a tune-up, but it’s still an important step to earning points in CONCACAF.
“After four games, it’s better, clearly better, but still not where we want to be, so coming into games five and six it’s very important that we understand where we are. We understand there’s a real urgency to take points,” Bradley said.
