Impressive 2nd half sends USA to S Africa as winners

It really was a tale of two halves. Still trying to address offensive issues in lacking Charlie Davies, Bob Bradley chose to go with an unconventional 4-4-1-1 formation in which the Americans just could not seem to find any offensive rhythm. You could chalk it up to lack of communication and familiarity between Dempsey and Altidore, or just poor defending mainly on Jonathan Spector and Benny Feilhaber's part, but when the half-time whistle blew USA was lucky to only be down 0-1 to Turkey.

During halftime Bob Bradley made some key substitutions that provided more than just a spark. Gooch came in for Clarence Goodson, Steve Cherundolo came in for the often out-of-position Jonathan Spector, Jose Torres came on for Ricardo Clark, and Robbie Findley for the struggling Benny Feilhaber. The impact was instant. With Dempsey sliding back into a more natural mid-field role, Jose Torres just being an animal in the middle of the field and Findley playing the same role that Charlie Davies would be playing, the offense came alive. The first goal came when Findley found Donovan on the wing in open space who was able to find Jozy just in the keepers box who then buried the ball in the back of the net finally ending his scoring drought. The second and final goal came in the 75th minute where Donovan found Dempsey who, with a beautiful piece of footwork shaking off a defender, just put the ball out of the keepers reach to put the US ahead for good. Although the Turks would launch several dangerous counters on our aggressive defense, they were consistently snuffed out by Gooch, DeMerit and Cherundolo.

This was exactly the win that we needed to send off our boys to the World Cup with confidence having just beaten a very good Turkey side. The final friendly will be next week when we face the Socceroos in South Africa - exactly one week before we kick off our World Cup against Angland.

Observations:

• I'm not ready to say that Robbie Findley is the answer to Charlie Davies, but I think it is at least apparent that this team will find the most success in the 4-4-2 where the benefit is a flexible attack. With two true forwards and Donovan and Dempsey playing to their real strengths as a mid and wing, the offense is able to find legitimate scoring opportunities. Simply put, we have the personnel.
• Jose Torres was the difference maker in the mid field. His defending was clutch, his long ball was accurate, and his left foot is a dangerous weapon for free kicks. This man needs to be on the field next to Michael Bradley.
  
• Benny Feilhaber should not be in the starting 11. He should be a sub.
• Jonathan Spector should not be in the starting 11. He should be a sub.
• Jozy Altidore is more than just a striker. His passing and ball-handling skills have been greatly improved.
  
• Oguchi Onyewu will be fine. He played the entire 2nd half, and didn't look tentative or scared. He and DeMerit were bullies on the backline.
• As stated before I'm not sure if Findley is our man to play Altidore's counterpart, but after watching Findley, Gomez, and Buddle's performances in the last two friendlies, one has to feel much better about our situation.