Jurgen Klinsmann could very well run into some issues in the US men's national team’s Copa America Centenario quarterfinal against Ecuador on Thursday night (9:30pm ET; FS1, UniMás, UDN).
Who to start at right back shouldn’t be one of them.
Klinsmann will have to change his starting lineup for the first time all tournament on Thursday, as regular right back DeAndre Yedlin got himself suspended for his Seattle homecoming by picking up two yellow cards in one minute in the win against Paraguay on Saturday. Losing Yedlin is definitely a headache, but choosing his replacement should be an absolute no-brainer.
Klinsmann has to go with Michael Orozco.
Soccer is a game of relationships, and the US defense is in a groove right now. They’ve posted shutouts in two straight games and four of their last five and have not allowed a goal from the run of play in their last 498 minutes.
Center backs Geoff Cameron and John Brooks and defensive midfielder Michael Bradley have been particularly important to the Americans’ solid defensive showing in the Copa. As our own Matt Doyle wrote after the US-Paraguay match on Saturday, the US’s current stability comes from that trio. They’re all talented, they all understand each other and, apart from a couple of moments against Colombia, they’ve been defensively stout all tournament.
You don’t want to break up what those three – and, to a somewhat lesser extent, left back Fabian Johnson – have going. Inserting Orozco in a straight-swap for Yedlin is the best way to manage that.
Some folks have floated the idea of bringing in Matt Besler or Steve Birnbaum at center back and pushing Cameron out to the right. For me, that’s a non-starter. Breaking in a new center-back tandem in the knockout rounds of a tournament is asking for trouble. Cameron and Brooks must be kept together.
Others have suggested keeping Cameron and Brooks together, moving Johnson from the left to the right and bringing in Edgar Castillo at left back. That idea is a bit more intriguing, but I’d be more comfortable with Johnson – who, of course, is a natural left winger – staying put. Why make two changes to a back line when you can get by with one?
Orozco didn’t see too much time for Tijuana in Liga MX this year and certainly doesn’t get forward like Yedlin, but he is an experienced international who won’t be awed by the occasion. The 30-year-old also has experience playing against dangerous Ecuador left winger Jefferson Montero.
Most importantly, Orozco's presence wouldn’t disrupt the understanding that Klinsmann and the US back line have built over the last two weeks. That defensive familiarity will be critical against a team that move as well as Ecuador, and keeping it intact is reason enough to go with Orozco.
