Paraguay vs. USA: Report, Reaction and Analysis

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 30, 2011

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 The 1-0 loss to Paraguay may be sitting poorly with some fans of the U.S. Men's National Team, but don't let the result fool you—it was a positive night for the Yanks.

Remember, the point of these matches is not the result, but the process. Bob Bradley entered 2011 with a lot of questions to answer before the summer's Gold Cup, and last night helped answer a few of those. 

So, instead of taking the traditional game summary of tactics and formations, let's look at what tangible and empirical answers we got last night, starting the good and ending with the bad.

 

The Good

Defense

Timothy ChandlerIf we learned anything from the World Cup this summer, it's that we need a mix up at the back.

That point was further proven Saturday when Bradley trotted out a back line of Model T's—Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu are too slow a pairing in the middle, as are Jonathan Spector and Carlos Bocanegra out wide. Even the best defender from the Cup, Steve Cherundolo, is aging and lacks the pace required of the modern day international fullback.

Enter Chandler.

The 21-year-old (as of last night's match) German-American is chock full of talent and potential. He has been a game changer in both of his first two matches, providing the width in the U.S. 4-4-2 that no fullback has ever given us. He is also skilled on the ball, delivers a very good cross, and defends well. 

Let's not heap too much praise on him yet. He's still got some work to do as far as tackling and positioning goes, but there is no doubt he's the best fullback prospect in the player pool. He followed a great second-half against Argentina with an equally great 80 minutes against Paraguay.

Eric LichajLichaj should have seen more playing time in these two matches. He has the same motor and similar speed as Chandler, and is probably a bit better a defender. He showed well ag...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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