Major League Soccer skeptics took a hit last week when Jurgen Klinsmann’s USA team lifted the Gold Cup for the fifth time in Chicago.
Those who still doubt the strength and quality of North America’s top flight will be pointed to the USA’s 2013 Gold Cup winning squad, with 13 of the 23-man roster playing in MLS.
But the USA’s triumph over Panama appears to have generated more questions than answers ahead of next year’s World Cup. Who will play alongside Michael Bradley in the centre of midfield? Can DaMarcus Beasley still cut it at international level? And most notably, who will form the centre-back partnership in Brazil?
Since the turn of the year Sporting Kansas City’s Matt Besler has solidified his place at the heart of the US defence. His displays in shut-out World Cup qualification wins over Honduras and Panama have made him Klinsmann’s first pick at the back.
The problem is Besler’s nature requires him to play alongside a dominating central defender; a destroyer. At club level his partnership with Aurelien Collin provides Besler with the perfect foil. Collin tends to take charge of the more aggressive offensive situations, while his partner reads the game before intervening.
Indeed Besler’s statistics at Sporting KC this season illustrate his style of play, making an average of just 1.6 tackles per game (Collin averages 2.6 per game) while making 2.9 interceptions per game.
So whom will Klinsmann turn to as his destroyer for the World Cup?
The Gold Cup campaign saw the German coach experiment with the San Jose Earthquakes defender Clarence Goodson and the LA Galaxy’s Omar Gonzalez alongside Besler at the back.
The possibility of shifting Geoff Cameron, a former Houston Dynamo player now with Stoke City, into the back four has also been raised, but Gonzalez is the more likely option at present.
The Galaxy defender’s rating of 7.35 per game ranks him higher than Besler, making him the highest ranked American centre-back so far this season, but Gonzalez’s biggest problem could be his stylistic likeness to his Sporting KC counterpart.
Both players base their game on anticipation of the play. Gonzalez and Besler both average more interceptions per game (2.9 per game) than tackles (1.2 and 1.6 per game respectively).
This style is also demonstrated by their rather feeble blocked shot ratio, with Besler making just 0.2 per game compared to Gonzalez’s 0.3, a figure that pales in comparison to some of the league’s more aggressive defenders (Joaquin Velazquez with 1.2 blocked shots per game and Jamison Olave with 1.1).
Of course there are differences between the two players, most notably when it comes to their attacking intent (Gonzalez likes the odd dribble upfield), but their style of play makes a comparison between Besler and Gonzalez unavoidable.
Both players appear willing to play the ball out of the backline, something that Klinsmann looks for in a centre back, although Besler can claim to be the more accomplished ball-playing defender.
The Sporting KC man makes an average of just 8.1 clearances per game compared to Gonzalez’s 8.6 per game, while also averaging more passes per game (50.7) than Gonzalez. Furthermore Besler also maintains a higher pass success rate as well, with 81.7% compared to Gonzalez’s 77.5%.
As the MLS champion’s best defender Gonzalez’s domestic stock is high (the difference in the Galaxy when Gonzalez returned from a long-term injury last season was dramatic) but his biggest problem when it comes to the national team is his similarity in both style and form to Besler.
If Klinsmann is looking for a centre-back to read the game, recycle possession and start attacking moves, Besler just edges out his Los Angeles counterpart in almost every column.
And that’s where opportunity might lie for Goodson, yet to make his debut for the San Jose Earthquakes since joining from Danish side Brondby in June. The 31-year old was given the nod at centre-back for five of the USA’s six Gold Cup games,
But it is when qualification resumes in September, with games against Costa Rica and Mexico, that Klinsmann’s provisional World Cup XI will start to take shape and MLS will provide Goodson with the chance to prove he warrants the place alongside Besler.
If he can offer something different to what Klinsmann already has in Besler and Gonzalez he would surely jump to the front of the pecking order for that spare spot at the back.
