Tactical change was good fit for Kljestan
Sacha Kljestan doesn’t care what the formation is. What matters is he’s involved.
After three consecutive appearances as a substitute for the U.S. during the group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Kljestan made his first start of the tournament and had one of the strongest performances of his career in last weekend’s 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Jamaica.
Along with Alejandro Bedoya, who also made his first start, and Clint Dempsey, Kljestan helped the U.S. create a second wave of offense just behind a lone forward and in front of midfielders Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones.
| SEMIFINALS |
| U.S. vs. Panama |
| Where » Reliant Stadium, Houston |
| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. |
| TV » Fox Soccer/Univision |
“You can call it a five-man midfield,” Kljestan said. “You can call it three attackers in between the lines. Whatever it is, I felt really comfortable. … I think the interchanging between Clint and I, and later Landon [Donovan] when he came on, the three guys in front of the defensive midfielders, the movement was really good.”
The tactical adjustment, instead of U.S. coach Bob Bradley’s traditional 4-4-2, fit the 25-year-old from Huntington Beach, Calif., but he’s also benefitted from spending the last year with Anderlecht in Belgium. That experience has helped him grow into a more complete player, one that doesn’t cower under the national team spotlight.
“Right now I feel like I’m at the height of my game,” Kljestan said.
Bedoya’s energetic impact against the Jamaicans was similar, but he’ll be more likely to relinquish his starting role to Donovan in Wednesday’s rematch with Panama, which handed the U.S. its first ever loss in Gold Cup group play 11 days ago. The U.S. owns three consecutive wins over Panama in the Gold Cup knockout rounds and has never been eliminated in the Gold Cup semifinals.
“He’s been good every time he’s come in during the tournament,” Donovan said of Bedoya. “He’s been great, and you have to remember, he was the last guy to make the roster. Everything we’ve asked of him, he’s done, and he’s been fantastic.”
With forward Jozy Altidore undergoing an MRI on his strained left hamstring Tuesday in Houston, Bradley could be encouraged again to utilize a single striker at a sold-out Reliant Stadium. But there’s a sense that the longer the current U.S. team is together, the less it will matter how he sets up his players on the field.
“As a tournament like this goes on, you start to build team unity,” Donovan said. “It doesn’t happen right away. We’re all with our clubs for long stretches of the year, and you can’t come in and expect that after a week or two that everything is going to be clicking and going well, but you can see guys are starting to trust each other.”
