Brazil Gets Young, USA Needs to Get Current

The world of football is changing. The 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 is a tactical system that the 4-4-2 is just not up for, and it showed in the USA-Brazil friendly Tuesday night. Both sides tried out new players, but Brazil reformed their tactics as well. The only wrinkle the USA brought to the table was a 4-4-1-1, with Landon Donavon lining up as a Trequartista. Questions have been raised about why this team’s forwards struggle to score, but I think that at least part of that answer lies in the tactics the United States use under Bob Bradley. While I am no Zonal Marking, I will try to do the best I can demonstrating this.

For the first 20 minutes of the match, the US made a real go of it, and Landon Donovan was quite obviously fouled in the penalty area (once again, we were witness to how poor officiating encourages diving because Donovan’s decision to try and stay on his feet meant the official was too cowardly to make the correct decision). Initially, the US was able to get the ball wide and in front of the fullbacks, and the energy from Edu and Bradley was able to make it difficult for Brazil to have the time to move the ball from the back 6 to the front 4.

However, the long-term viability of this plan was doomed from the start. First, it was a very humid night, and there was no chance that Bradley and Edu could run like that all evening. Second, by trying to play wide of the holding midfielders, there has to be a threat on the Brazilian fullback either to get around them or to pull a holding midfielder or a central defender over to help in order to open up space for the attack. The wide midfielders for the United States did not have the speed or the ability to threaten the fullbacks by themselves, so the United States had to pull one of the two forwards over to create pressure on the fullbacks (as when Donovan drew a clear penalty), or required the fullbacks to come all the way up the field and overlap (as when Bornstein got past Alves and into the box, or when Klestjan played Spector on a nice overlap in the second half down the right). The problem is that this pulls the United States out of position as much as it does Brazil to create these imbalances, with the disadvantage that there is now only one forward in the box. This is the frustration Alejandro Bedoya found when he broke free down the right on a release by Landon Donovan. Despite lots of time and space, he had no targets in the box and cold only win a corner in the end. The US got a few chances from their overloads, but Brazil gambled that they would get better chances going the other way as a result of how the US went forward. They were correct.

Once Brazil were able to get possession, the writing was on the wall for the United States. The 4-2-3-1 is just a superior tactic for providing supporting play without distorting the shape of the attack. A clear example of this is the first Brazil goal. Neymar lined up as a left-sided attacking midfielder. He scored his goal from the right side of the penalty area… and he scored the goal on a ball played in from his normal position on the left side. Meaning, as play pulled one of the central players (Santos) left, Neymar cut to the inside of the field. This created chaos for the US defense as the left back for the US ended up trying to mark Brazil’s left winger who had curled in through the middle, Carlos Bocanegra had taken Pato, and Omar Gonzales, the other USA centerback, was marking no one in particular.

With the 4-2-3-1, Brazil frequently had 3 against 2 in the midfield, and when Landon Donovan tried to come back to compensate, it meant that Buddle/Altidore were miles away from the rest of the team, and had two markers to boot. If the USA looked like England against Germany to you last night, well… that was also 4-4-2 vs. 4-3-2-1.

The USA surely could play a 4-3-2-1 with success given the personnel that they have. They have fullbacks who are fit and can play the ball in with some menace. They have a bevy of options in the holding role, with Bradley, Edu, Jermaine Jones, even Benny Feilhaber if you want to play one as more of a linking player. They have options going wide and in the attacking midfield spot, and the one position they are perhaps pressed for high quality play is the position where they only need one player: forward. Maybe more important is that the USA have players who can play many of these different positions effectively, which could allow them to switch around in the course of a match the way the Brazil did to great effect on the Neymar goal. Dempsey and Donovan can play any of the four attacking roles. Feilhaber could play any of the attacking midfield spots, and even play the holding role. This tactical arrangement could give the US a lot of flexibility in their attack, as well as allowing them to adjust around the development of new players into the talent pool at the top level.

If Bob Bradley is truly on his way out as manager of the United States, I’d like to see someone come in who will try the modern 4-2-3-1. I think you saw how effective it was against the United States. I’d like to see us use it on our opponents. If only we had a former German legend residing in California who liked to play this system…

Written By Steven Maloney (80 Posts)

Steven Maloney is a regular contributor for Glorious Football. You can follow him on Twitter @stevenmaloney. Like Albert Camus, he fancies himself as having learned his morals "on the football pitch and in the theater." His football writing interests are in the institutional structures and strategies of world football, as well as the ways in which contemporary politics enters into the world of football and vice-versa. His most cherished memories of the game are of being in Holland for Euro 2000. In the interests of full disclosure, he supports Arsenal, the United States and DC United.