{"id":31482,"date":"2015-02-06T22:47:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T03:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31482"},"modified":"2015-02-07T00:11:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-07T05:11:36","slug":"3-things-usavpan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=31482","title":{"rendered":"3 Things: #USAvPAN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

The U.S. Men’s National Team\u00a0may\u00a0have a long line of contests against some of the world\u2019s strongest and most seasoned teams later this year, but Sunday night\u2019s game against a\u00a0plucky Panama side at the StubHub Center could present more opportunities than usual for budding prospects to shine.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s match\u00a0should be relatively\u00a0manageable\u00a0for the U.S. compared to upcoming exhibitions against Switzerland (Mar. 31), Netherlands (Jun. 5) and Germany (Jun. 10), which are all expected to be played on European soil. But this inexperienced U.S. team measures up fine with 55th ranked Panama, whose players are mostly common adversaries for Jurgen Klinsmann\u2019s domestic call-ups in MLS and CONCACAF Champions League play.<\/p>\n

For U.S. players who are looking to leave a positive impression ahead of tougher competition, performing well against Panama\u00a0will be\u00a0key.<\/p>\n

Here are my three things to look out for:<\/p>\n

Score out west, young man!<\/strong> \u2014 Sunday\u2019s game will allow plenty of U.S. players with fewer than five caps to make a splash, but will there be one performance that stands out above the rest? In a new midfield set-up,\u00a0could Perry Kitchen emerge as the\u00a0next Kyle Beckerman or Michael Bradley? Can Steve Birnbaum bring the poise and discipline he brought to D.C. United last season to the back line and be this World Cup cycle\u2019s version of Matt Besler? Gyasi Zardes has an opportunity to push Chris Wondolowski for a regular spot in future camps –\u00a0will he take his chance Sunday if he\u2019s given it? It may still be early to project which players will make a difference in qualification or at a World Cup, but there\u2019s no reason why Sunday can\u2019t be the launching pad for at least one new rising star.<\/p>\n

Controlling the midfield<\/strong> \u2014 The 3-5-2 formation is tough to pull off as it emphasizes and requires teamwork, passing accuracy, and inventiveness on all sides of the ball. When it\u2019s executed properly, it\u2019s beautiful to watch. When it\u2019s not, there\u2019s plenty of chaotic, disjointed play. Getting used to a new formation is tricky, especially when national team training camps last all but a few weeks and players are balancing the tactics of their club team. But controlling the midfield and dictating play is something that\u2019s historically been lacking for the U.S. With so many strong midfield players, the 3-5-2 might be the U.S.\u2019s recipe for success. It will be easier to practice and experiment with against a regional foe like Panama, so Sunday will be a litmus test.<\/p>\n

Competitively friendly<\/strong> \u2014 This may be a friendly, but don\u2019t just expect the Panamanians to sit back and let the U.S. go at them. Remember that the last time these two teams met, the U.S eliminated them from qualifying for the World Cup – and on their home soil. That heartbreak\u00a0may still run deep,\u00a0so don\u2019t be shocked to see Panama playing with some edge.\u00a0The guests\u00a0may\u00a0administer an easier test than Switzerland, Netherlands, or Germany on paper, but don\u2019t count them out. This is a team that occasionally pulls off shock wins \u2014 even against the U.S. \u2014 and is eyeing a place in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julian Cardillo will be looking at three things in particular during Sunday’s U.S.-Panama friendly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[891,262,418,892,1279],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Mix-1.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31482"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31482"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31489,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31482\/revisions\/31489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}