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USMNT: Americans Claim Gutsy Qualifying Draw at Azetca as New Stars Shine
Published: March 27, 2013
A week ago, coach Jurgen Klinsmann was in over his head and negativity and pessimism blighted the squad. By Wednesday morning, he was a genius and optimism abounded.
A week ago, the American defense was filled with untested, inexperienced backups who hadn't ever played together in World Cup qualifying. By Wednesday morning, they were rising stars responsible for two clean sheets in as many matches, including one in the most demanding of settings.
Speaking of the defense, a funny thing happened Tuesday night. It wasn't January camp in California, but for 90 minutes, it almost seemed that way.
With Clarence Goodson, who started against Costa Rica on Friday, unavailable against Mexico, Klinsmann drafted Matt Besler into central defense alongside Omar Gonzalez. In this pairing, Gonzalez's handful of career caps counted as experience.
Besler, a 26-year-old Sporting Kansas City defender, was making just his second international appearance—and first in World Cup qualifying—in the cauldron-like atmosphere of the Azteca Stadium. Besler and Gonzalez performed well, keeping Mexico's dangerous attack scoreless.
Curiously, to outsiders at least, Klinsmann wasn't surprised.
"We have to give credit a little bit to our January camp. It gave us the chance to have Omar and Matt work every day side by side," Klinsmann said (via Sports Illustrated). "There was already a great understanding because they trained for a month together. So we were very calm."
Gonzalez, a 6'5" L.A. Galaxy defender, played especially well, cutting out Mexican attacks across the back line. On the right, Geoff Cameron kept ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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