KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Jurgen Klinsmann promised to bring an attacking style to the U.S. national team when the former Germany striker took the reins of the program more than a year ago.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Jurgen Klinsmann promised to bring an attacking style to the U.S. national team when the former Germany striker took the reins of the program more than a year ago.
His approach won’t change even when a draw would suit the Americans just fine.
The U.S. merely needs to draw with Guatemala today for both teams to advance from Group A in World Cup qualifying, while a result one way or the other would give Jamaica an outside chance of squeaking through to the final round.
Don’t expect either team to bunker down, though.
Especially the Americans.
“Our approach to the game is clear. We want to win this game. You can only win a game if you attack and go forward, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Klinsmann said before a final training session at Livestrong Sporting Park on Monday. “We’re not going to look for a tie.”
Even though that might be the prudent move.
The U.S. set up the enviable situation with a ragged 2-1 victory over Antigua and Barbuda on Friday, a game that was played on a tiny cricket pitch-turned-quagmire.
The performance wasn’t a thing of beauty, either. The Americans struggled through the wind and were hampered by the tight quarters of the field, and they needed a pair of goals from Eddie Johnson to beat the last-place team in their group. Johnson’s header in the 90th minute secured the victory.
“We’re honest enough with ourselves to look at things and say, ‘This needs to be better,’” midfielder Michael Bradley said. “I can assure you the mentality, the spirit within the group is really good. A quality of a big team is to come away with points, to come away with wins, on days when you don’t play your best, when conditions aren’t perfect. We take great pride in that.”
The fact that Johnson played the role of hero Friday night was a testament to Klinsmann’s approach to building the U.S. team. He sat popular forward Jozy Altidore while making the move, even though Johnson had not played for the national team since May 2010.
Johnson’s last goal had come in an 8-0 romp against Barbados in 2008.
“We always have an open-door policy where something can open and we’ll see where it leads. Eddie Johnson is part of that,” Klinsmann said. “He got his chance, and he took his chance.”
Johnson’s slide from promising young superstar to overlooked has-been can be traced to his ultimately unsuccessful move to Europe. Now that he’s back in Major League Soccer with the Seattle Sounders, Johnson has slowly managed to regain the confidence that had been lost.