![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/dempsey3.jpg?resize=192%2C300\" "\\"dempsey3\\"")
<\/a>Clint Dempsey's play in the attack has been phenomenal for the U.S., but his defensive effort leaves a lot to be desired. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
The U.S. opened the CONCACAF Gold Cup against Canada playing exactly as one would hope coming on the heels of an embarrassing defeat. From the opening whistle the Americans looked the superior team and at times carved through the Canadian midfield much as Spain had done to the U.S. three days prior.<\/p>\n
But after taking a deserved 2-0 lead, things began to unravel for the U.S. Players looked tired or just plain lazy as Canada started to get the better of the play, easily finding gaps in the U.S. defense and forcing Tim Howard\u00a0 to make several impressive saves to preserve the shutout.<\/p>\n
If head coach Bob Bradley, Howard or one of the other veteran leaders on the team chastised the squad for the late letdown after the match, then\u00a0it clearly had little effect heading into the next match. In fact, the U.S. started the match against Panama much as they finished against Canada: looking lethargic and performing as if they believed emerging victorious from the match was a given. Unfortunately for the U.S., it was not.<\/p>\n
The U.S. may have put together a few dangerous attacks and, in actuality, probably had more threatening opportunities than Panama in the first half. But it was in defense rather than attack where the worrying signs were most prevalent. From the opening whistle the U.S. midfield, led by veterans Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, simply seemed unconcerned with aiding the defense after turning the ball over.<\/p>\n
Sure, Michael Bradley turned in his typical box-to-box performance and Jermaine Jones often sat back, but Donovan, and especially Dempsey, left outside backs Carlos Bocanegra and Steven Cherundolo isolated on the flanks. Dempsey\u00a0was often\u00a0seen walking back after the U.S. lost the ball, allowing Panama to get numbers down their right flank without making any effort to track them. If Bocanegra looked overwhelmed at times, a lot of the fault falls\u00a0on Dempsey.<\/p>\n
Many have pointed to Dempsey\u2019s impressive offensive forays and success in the attacking third and given him a pass on defense, but as a midfielder, that\u2019s part of the job description. Some have called for Dempsey to be moved to striker, a spot he often sees time at late in matches, full-time, but for a player who thrives when he\u2019s on the ball, he still seems better suited for midfield. And as a midfielder, it\u2019s Dempsey\u2019s responsibility to defend, something he\u2019s done plenty of at Fulham FC and particularly during his time with the New England Revolution.<\/p>\n
Donovan, meanwhile, put in a fantastic performance against Canada and could be commended for his effort to track back and help out on defense. Yet, that same effort seemed lacking on Saturday against Panama, though his involvement in the attack was also diminished. At best, both were struggling from fatigue after a busy schedule, but it certainly appeared neither was too concerned of the threat of Panama\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n
And Panama made the U.S. pay, scoring twice in the first half and putting the U.S. in a two goal deficit at halftime. \u00a0That\u00a0two-goal shock\u00a0seemed to wake the U.S. up in the second half as they brought the score within one, but it was too little too late.<\/p>\n
As the U.S. prepares for\u00a0its first-ever match with an underwhelming Guadeloupe on Tuesday, Bob Bradley and his veteran leaders, particularly Howard and Bocanegra, need to stress the importance of taking every opponent seriously \u2013 something their rival Mexico has done masterfully both on the pitch and in the media throughout the Gold Cup. The U.S. should dominate their weaker regional adversaries, but they can\u2019t do it by just showing up. They need a complete game\u00a0from everyone, and Dempsey and Donovan need to be the leaders of it, showing the importance to of playing end-to-end\u00a0soccer to youngsters like Juan Agudelo and even Jozy Altidore.<\/p>\n
Of course, overconfidence can hardly be faulted for the poor performances of center backs Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream, who have both looked out of their element in the Gold Cup. The pair\u2019s play shows a worrying lack of depth in the heart of the defense as former stalwarts Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu and Bocanegra grow older.<\/p>\n
But for the U.S. to succeed right now, the pressure needs to come off of Ream and Goodson and that will only happen\u00a0once\u00a0all\u00a011 players\u00a0put in the effort to defend. Granted, the U.S.\u00a0could very well win on Tuesday without the maximum effort, but they won\u2019t be advancing much further\u00a0unless there’s\u00a0a drastic shift in attitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. has shown worrying signs of overconfidence in their past two games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4956,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/dempseyfeature4.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4955"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4978,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955\/revisions\/4978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}