by Jason Kuenle

For the last few months, we as US soccer fans have seen the effects of a storm. I’m of the opinion that this storm is within the US national team and is Bob Bradley’s doing. Regardless of your view of Bob Bradley, regardless of how much you might want him fired, regardless of how poor you think his coaching decisions are, you must believe that Bob Bradley has always had a plan. You may disagree with his plan, but the USSF would not keep him around if he didn’t even have one. I’m not a Bradley apologist, though I have been accused of being one. I don’t know everything that Bradley knows; but I think Bob Bradley’s plan changed on March 28, 2009 causing chaos around the national team, the effects of which we are still feeling today.

During the early qualifying rounds, Bradley did little tinkering with his lineups. Whenever playing with the “A” team, Bradley employed a 4-4-1-1. In January of this year, the formation and 9 spots in the starting lineup seemed secure. The only questions seemed who was the left back and who would play with little Bradley in the center. Fans questioned the inclusion of Brian Ching in every lineup and began to note that Beasley was looking a step slow, but you pretty much knew what you were going to get every time the national team took the field. Bradley’s philosophy at the time seemed to be "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it".

Then the El Salvador game happened. Bradley again started the 4-4-1-1, going down the depth chart to replace the injured Cherundolo and Onyewu and the suspended Howard. Pearce got the call at left back, Kljestan in the middle. The lineup surprised nobody. An early goal led Bradley to make tactical substitutions that resulted in allowing another goal before scoring two of our own to come out with the draw. It was the first game that the “A” team had not won since drawing Argentina the summer before. The El Salvador result was an opening to do more than simple position for positions substitutions. Bradley could have done nothing, satisfied with a draw on the road in CONCACAF or he could change his tactics. Bradley decided to change his tactics. After that game, all predictability went out the window.

Had he done nothing and continued with the 4-4-1-1, the US likely would have beaten T&T, played a respectable game in Costa Rica that would have resulted in a draw or close loss, beaten Honduras, played a tighter game against Italy, lost to Brazil, and drawn or beaten Egypt narrowly and gotten 2 or 3 points and been done after three games content with gaining experience and playing competitively.

But he didn’t. The next six games did not feature the same formation in successive games. Altidore’s display in relief earned him a start against T&T. To accommodate him and Ching in the same lineup, Bradley went to a 4-4-2, moved Donovan to the wing and dropped Beasley to the left back position. The stated formation for Costa Rica was a 4-3-3, but played more like a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield sliding Dempsey up to replace the injured Ching and slotting Torres into the vacant midfield slot. The Honduras game returned to the T&T 4-4-2 with replacements down the depth chart for the injured Ching, Cherundolo, and Hejduk and the suspended Bradley.

The Confederations Cup began playing Italy with Bradley’s old standby the 4-4-1-1. Against Brazil a 4-5-1 with Altidore alone up top and Dempsey shifted inside. And finally, against Egypt returning again to the T&T 4-4-2. If your keeping track that’s a 3-0 record with 8 goals scored (1 on penalty) and 1 conceded for the 4-4-2 and a record of 0-3 with two goals scored (both on penalties) and nine conceded in the other three formations. While these results are skewed by the quality of the opponents in the games, separating the games by formation yields a surprising trend.

The US has looked more dangerous in the 4-4-2 than it ever did in the 4-4-1-1. Bradley’s experiments along the way have made the US look absolutely foolish at times. But the result looks like it may be a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we will see this formation against Spain to see what it looks like against a world class team.