USA v. Algeria Preview: Moving On

USA v. Algeria Preview: Moving On: "

One final chance for the US to seal their progression to the knockout round.

Who: United States v. Algeria

What: Group C Third Round Match

Where: Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa

When: Wednesday, June 23th (kickoff scheduled for 10:00am EST)

Why: Because if England and Slovenia are the only match played during that time slot tomorrow, the amount of concentrated pressure and panic directed at Port Elizabeth would surely bring about the end of days. Plus, somebody has to advance from Group C.

In keeping with the majority of the World Cup field, this one’s not likely to come easy.

For all the pre-tournament predictions and hype, it’s proven to be a fairly unpredictable opening few rounds. Each group has had their fair share of drama, and each has at least three teams mathematically still in the chase. There’s been shocking results and moment of high drama, even with questions about how Jabulanied the different sides have been.

And as Group A and all its combustibility kicks off the final round today, we wait for the US, Algeria, England, and Slovenia to play out the deciding matches in Group C.

The easy money at the start of the World Cup was England to top the group followed by the US. And the first round of group play didn’t do much to disprove that—England and the US shared the points in a dramatic 1-1 draw, while Slovenia sneaked past Algeria with a 1-0 win courtesy of a conspiracy by Robert Koren’s bouncing shot and Faouzi Chaouchi’s hair.

The second round in Group C is where things really took off. There’s no need to relive the 2-2 draw between Slovenia and the US unless we’re going to talk about the fantastic second-half performance from Bob Bradley’s men in fighting back to earn the point. The other result in the group was no less interesting for neutrals, as England managed to disappoint yet again in drawing Algeria 0-0 and sending Wayne Rooney off the deep end.

So what we’re left with is a final round in Group C in which every squad has something to play for.

And on paper, you’d look at the US and say that they have the easiest draw for the final round. Algeria are only on one point and have yet to score a goal in the World Cup, and Slovenia and England pose more of a challenge than the North African qualifiers in theory.

But that’s a tired and inaccurate argument. Sure, Algeria are on one point, but the US and England are only on 2. And yeah, they haven’t scored a goal so far in the competition, but England’s only scored one. Algeria’s also only conceded one goal, which is joint-lowest in the group with England, and have proven exceptionally difficult to break down. Just ask England.

So to try to say that the US will somehow have it comparatively easy tomorrow morning would be a mistake only an author as ignorant as this would make. Algeria will assuredly be prepared for the US, and will again seek to stifle their opposition in attack and break on the counter. It’s what we expected to see when Slovenia took on the US…and then the Slovenians proceeded to run all over the US in the first half. I don’t think that Algeria will come out as much on the front foot as England or Slovenia, but I also don’t think they’ll allow themselves to be pushed around—they need this one just as badly as the US.

Regardless of how Algeria come out, though, the US will undoubtedly need to balance attack with defense, especially early on. They’ve looked nervy in the opening minutes of their last two matches, and it’s no surprise that they’ve conceded early goals against both Slovenia and England. A defensive-minded approach was always on the cards against England, but it was somewhat unexpected against Slovenia and hopefully isn’t in the plan for Algeria. It’s a tricky balance for Bob Bradley to strike—they need to win, and they’ll need to assert themselves moving forward early to do so, but they also can’t afford to leave too much space for Algeria on the counter.

Unfortunately I don’t know that this means much of a shake-up in the formation Bradley will choose, even though the US looked at their best early in the second half against Slovenia with a glut of midfielders and wingers. But if I had my way, here’s what we’d see:

Howard

Cherundolo-Onyewu-DeMerit-Bocanegra

Bradley-Edu

Donovan-Feilhaber-Dempsey

Altidore

My thinking is this—Bradley’s always going to go with four in the back to start, and even though Oguchi Onyewu has been up and down he’s the most experienced option. The rest of the back line has been mostly outstanding and needs no changing. Midfield, though, is where it gets tricky.

I’m still on the Jose Torres bandwagon, but I doubt he’ll be in the mix tomorrow, especially when combined with the solid play of Maurice Edu last Friday. Partnering Edu with Michael Bradley deeper in central midfield allows for the two of them to break up play while still using Edu’s skill at getting forward and linking with attack.

And while Benny Feilhaber hasn’t featured regularly (or as a central attacking midfielder), he was just different enough to cause some problems for the Slovenian defense. There’s so much natural overlap and floating from Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey that, should Bob Bradley decide to pack the midfield area, formation is a fluid concept. That basically includes any partnership with Altidore as well—we saw Dempsey and Donovan flank Altidore prior to Bradley bringing on Herculez Gomez late against Slovenia, and there’s no reason to think that the above formation would fall short in providing service to Altidore.

But here’s what I really think will happen:

Howard

Cherundolo-Onyewu-DeMerit-Bocanegra

Donovan-Bradley-Edu-Dempsey

Altidore-Buddle

It’s safe, it’s relatively proven, and it still allows Bradley some options, particularly off the bench with Gomez and Feilhaber. There’s also plenty of room for variation, as we could see Dempsey shift up top and Stuart Holden or DaMarcus Beasley wide. At this point, you have to figure that anyone and everyone will be needed.

For all the talk about personnel, formations, and tactics, though, it’s still very, very simple—win, and go through. Come on USA.

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