Five U.S. matches over the last month has generated significant movement on the U.S. depth chart – perhaps more shuffling than in any month-long stretch in Jurgen Klinsmann’s time in charge, which is now approaching two years.
Over the last few days we have examined the U.S. depth chart, making our best educated guesses at how things stack up on Jurgen Klinsmann’s big board inside the manager’s Southern California offices.
Next up: STRIKERS
How different would a listing of U.S. strikers looked just six weeks ago?
Jozy Altidore looks so firmly in place today, it’s hard to remember how tenuous was his hold on the top striker spot before that oh-so-telling four game stretch. A month of “Wow!” saw the AZ man plant his flag and work it into the ground, but good.
Score a goal in four consecutive games at international level and you have seriously rung the bell of achievement. In Altidore’s case, he removed all doubt that, at 23 years old, the starting striker position is his to lose ahead of Brazil 2014.
It’s not just the goals, either. Altidore is finding useful ways to be involved, drawing praise from teammates not only for infectious confidence but for his running at defenders, for the neat-o combo interaction with Clint Dempsey and others, for the tough-nosed hold-up play, for chasing defenders, etc.
As I asked in this piece, where would the United States be in World Cup qualifying without his timely and technical contributions? (As some of you clevers responded, “They’d be Mexico.” Brilliant!)
As with the other current U.S. locked-in men – Michael Bradley and Dempsey, specifically – the depth chart situation leans significantly to the unsettled side once past the no-questions-asked starter of the moment.
We could have a good debate about whether Herculez Gomez or Eddie Johnson is slotted in at No. 2. Only Klinsmann could say for sure – and he does tend to value Gomez’s work rate and ability on the “little things.”
Terrence Boyd has the raw talent, but with so little inexperience at any high level he’s probably not a factor beyond late-game sub at this point. Boyd is 22; he’ll be in a much better spot at age 26 by the time Moscow 2016 rolls around.
The wild-card scenario that seems worth talking about – unlikely as it might be, with several dominoes needing to fall, but intriguing enough to discuss – is this:
If Stuart Holden or Landon Donovan round into past versions of themselves, that gives Jurgen Klinsmann another great option to work beneath a striker. If that happened, and if Altidore were to get hurt or lose form (it does happen with strikers, after all), we could see Dempsey move 20 yards forward in positioning and become the primary striker.
No, that is hardly Dempsey’s best spot, and it’s probably not even worth listing him in the striker options if Altidore remains healthy. Then again, seeing such a thing happen isn’t such a wild stretch, either.
U.S. STRIKER ordering
- 1. Jozy Altidore
- 2. Herculez Gomez
- 3. Eddie Johnson
- 4. Terrence Boyd
- 5. Alan Gordon
- 6. Chris Wondolowski
In review:
U.S. attacking midfielders / second strikers
