The Drubbing

Watching yesterday’s FIFA Confederations Cup championship match and cheering for the USA team was a brutal experience. Surprise, joy, elation, cautiousness, nervousness, fear, disappointment, sadness, disbelief and ultimately devastation all played out on the face of every American soccer fan I saw at Dempsey’s Pub. If you weren’t drinking when you got there, you certainly were by the time Brazil knocked in their third (fourth to be honest) goal. What happened?

I don’t know what the analysts have said or what the coaches and players have attributed the loss and more-so the monumental collapse to. But in my mind it seems pretty clear. It was a failure of strategy. The U.S. played the first 26 minutes nearly perfectly. I honestly don’t know what else they could’ve done better. But then things turned. Team USA went straight from “let’s get up early” mode and right into “oh crap we can’t lose this” mode. They were paralyzed by the fear of giving up a two-goal lead in the championship to Brazil. And when all you’re thinking about is not losing, you’re going to do just that, lose.

The U.S. executed a flawed strategy flawlessly

For the remainder of the first half and the majority of the second half the U.S. was in pure defense mode. They played nine guys back and when they did gain possession they quickly gave it back. Brazil had 24 shots, 11 on goal, and nine in the first half. Team USA had a measly eight shots, four on goal and only four total in the first half. You don’t have to be a math whiz to know those numbers aren’t in your favor. 

So not only did their strategy allow Brazil to play almost 3/4 of the entire game on the U.S. side of the field, and constantly give them scoring opportunities and keep the U.S. on their heels, but it also didn’t give them any opportunities to attack. In any given match, each team has to battle their opponent, occasionally the officials and the clock. And by failing to press forward at any point, the U.S. neglected to retain possession, taking time off the clock, keeping the ball off of their side of the field and taking the pressure off of their defense.

Team USA played the soccer equivalent of the prevent defense in American football. And any football fan knows, the only thing the prevent defense does, is prevent you from winning. Hopefully the coaching staff has learned their lesson and won’t coach so tentatively the next time they have an early lead.