A 0-0 draw that left both teams top of their World Cup qualifying group before the winter break could probably be regarded as a solid point, especially for the visiting team. But circumstances being what they are around the USA side these days, many of their fans were also looking for a statement performance to reaffirm Jürgen Klinsmann’s shaky mandate, and this, sadly, was not it.
And while expecting such a showing against a physically-inclined Trinidad & Tobago team may not have been a wholly reasonable expectation, it was also true that in a year when few reasonable fan expectations for the USA had been met, this game assumed a greater significance than normal.
The early omens were not auspicious for Klinsmann. The game was barely 20 seconds old when Kenwyne Jones loped into space down the right side of the box, before pulling the ball back behind the scrambling US defense. It found Joevin Jones stepping in to the edge of the area in time to drive a shot up and just over the bar.
It set the tone for the opening exchanges, where Trinidad & Tobago generally looked like the sharper team, dominating the physical battles and finding more incisive passes in the final third. Klinsmann had changed around his defense to push DeAndre Yedlin further up the field, with the result that the versatile Michael Orozco was dropped into the side behind him, but any hope that liberating Yedlin offensively might offset some of his defensive gaucheness had to be balanced against yet another changed US back four trying to get on to the same page.
It took some adjusting. In the 13th minute Geoff Cameron was turned way too easily by Kenwyne Jones on the edge of the box, before the big striker hammered a fierce shot past Tim Howard, but just past his near post as well. If there was relief for Klinsmann (and Howard, back in goal after his sabbatical had put him behind Brad Guzan in the goalkeeping order), it was that that type of chance was typical of Trinidad & Tobago’s best work in the first half: plenty of good final balls or well-created half-chances, but a lack of finishing to actually force the US keeper into a save.
In fact by the time Jones hit a tame free-kick straight at Howard in first-half injury time for T&T’s first shot on target, the USA had begun to ease into the game. It was hardly emphatic – appropriately enough given the geographical setting of the hosts, there were times the US attack consisted of the twin islands of Zardes and Altidore, way in advance of a timid-looking midfield line.
It was one of those games where Michael Bradley appeared to be neither one thing or another in midfield. So often the metronome for his team when things are going well, Bradley was skipping too many beats with his final ball, and at times appeared neither far enough up the field to support his forwards, or finding time enough on the ball further back to direct traffic.
The US shape looked a little more defined in the second half and almost got an instant reward, when with 75 seconds gone Altidore floated a perfect ball to the back post, where having done the hard work to lose his man and ghost into space, Zardes should have done better than to crash his header off the bar with the goal gaping.
It didn’t signal the start of an open game, however. The physical battle continued through the heat of the second half, though Klinsmann, if not his more vociferous critics, would at least have been happier to see his side put some patient approach play together. There was very little by way of final product, however, with Zardes particularly culpable with a series of poor touches in dangerous areas.
By the time Zardes was withdrawn for Bobby Wood in the 76th minute, Klinsmann had already introduced Darlington Nagbe for Tim Ream to try and spark something against an increasingly withdrawn T&T team.
The US looked suitably encouraged, if not inspired, by the change in momentum as the game hit its final changes, with Nagbe’s introduction and movement finally allowing Bradley to get into dangerous areas. The US were pressing more and Jermaine Jones fired a shot from distance off the top of the bar in the 78th minute, with the game increasingly being played in acompressed area of the hosts’ half.
Yet the onslaught never happened — the narrow USA attack repeatedly ran into the congested defense, and eventually time just ran out.
A more dramatic and negative outcome from the evening might have redoubled the growing claims from some fans and media that time should have run out on Klinsmann by now. But as it was the result, if not the performance, was probably enough to ensure that the coach gets to turn the page on a difficult year, without adding fresh disaster to the Gold Cup, Concacaf Cup and Olympic debacles.
Klinsmann may have wanted something more emphatic, but perhaps like the fans still waiting for the free-flowing attacking style they were promised, he’ll learn to live with lowered expectations.
