Lethargy pervaded the United States’ 2-0 win over Jamaica on Friday. With the Americans already qualified, and several seats on the plane to Brazil penciled in, the supposedly strong U.S. lineup had little motivation to find a result.
Against a better team, the first-half laziness could have been punished to the tune of one or two goals, but Jamaica didn’t have the quality to make the U.S. pay. It wouldn’t have mattered even if the Reggae Boyz won by a handful of goals; Jürgen Klinsmann’s men won’t face any repercussions for poor results until June.
The victory secured first place in the Hexagonal, making Tuesday’s match in Panama even more liable to negligence. Klinsmann sent Matt Besler, Tim Howard, Landon Donovan and Jermaine Jones back to their clubs, only bringing in Sean Johnson. In total, 19 players traveled to Panama City.
Klinsmann would be smart to continue the trend of allowing big-role players to take a seat in favor of those on the bubble for Brazil. The only way the U.S. will match Panama’s intensity in the match would be to start players who also have a reason to play well.
Panama needs a victory to keep its World Cup dreams alive, while a good performance in a hostile environment would go a long way toward raising Kyle Beckerman, Terrence Boyd and Edgar Castillo’s stock in the U.S. boss’ mind.
(MORE: Jürgen Klinsmann says Brad Guzan has earned a U.S. start; he most certainly has)
With the players at his disposal, Klinsmann can run out almost an entirely second-string starting 11. A hungry U.S. lineup could look something like this:
Brad Guzan — Edgar Castillo, Clarence Goodson, Geoff Cameron, Brad Evans — Brad Davis, Kyle Beckerman, Sacha Klještan, Alejandro Bedoya — Aron Jóhannsson, Terrence Boyd
If you were in Jürgen Klinsmann’s shoes, what would you do? Would you start the best XI possible, or would you give other players a look? What’s your lineup for Tuesday’s match? Leave us a comment and let us know.
