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Sacha Kljestan is ready to start for the USMNT in the Hex, but is there a spot?
Perhaps the best American in a lackluster 1-1 draw to New Zealand on Tuesday was Sacha Kljestan. It's good for the U.S. men's national team to have someone who is a skilled and in-form playmaker, but it also creates difficult line-up choices for coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Klinsmann has a lot to think about after Tuesday, and he is probably thinking a lot about how Kljestan was at the center of just about everything the Americans got going in the attack. Kljestan did well to create dangerous moments for the USMNT, even amid what was a low-energy outing with an experimental makeshift lineup. Not everything he tried worked, but he was the best chance-creator on the field with well-placed balls to spring Americans into space and off-the-ball movement to serve as a quick outlet. Kljestan's vision as a playmaker is simply unmatched right now by anyone in contention for a starting spot on the USMNT.
Given how well he's done since re-joining the USMNT for World Cup qualifiers last month, it's almost hard to believe Kljestan wasn't called in for two straight years before then. But moving to the Red Bulls last year to become an attacking metronome. His good performance on Tuesday was a continuation of his run of form for the New York Red Bulls, where as a No. 10 he leads MLS in assists at 17 and is an MVP contender.
"He took his opportunity in just the perfect way," Klinsmann told reporters after Tuesday's game. "He was hungry for that moment and he knew he had to come in here and make a difference."
There's one problem though. The 4-3-3 that the USMNT played with on Tuesday, a formation that creates an extra spot in the midfield for Kljestan, generally looked messy and ineffective. The safest bet is that against Mexico next month the Americans will come out against Mexico in a battle-tested 4-4-2 with two strikers and two central midfielders. But where does that leave Kljestan?
Klinsmann could pair Kljestan with Michael Bradley, who is an automatic starter under Klinsmann, but that would leave the USMNT vulnerable defensively. A players like Jermaine Jones, 34, feels close to being aged out of his USMNT position, but the USMNT midfield has worked its best in recent years with him there. Asking Bradley and Kljestan to share the responsibilities in a double pivot, or even just asking Bradley to hold while Kljestan is the playmaker, is a risky proposition against Mexico.
Bradley and Kljestan have started to develop a partnership that is worth looking at regardless, though. Even in the messy 4-3-3 on Tuesday, Kljestan and Bradley eventually started to figure things out and were able to combine well. The ability to create good chances and proactively win games may be worth the potential vulnerability in defense, especially if the Geoff Cameron-John Brooks centerback pairing is able to perform like it did at Copa America. Kljestan did track back and do some defensive work against New Zealand, and although it wasn't an enforcer-type presence of a Jones, Kljestan is an adaptable player.
It's clear, however, that Klinsmann is hopeful that Jones will be back to form by Nov. 11 as he went out of his way to mention Jones when asked about the USA-Mexico roster over the weekend. Jones returned to training last week for the Colorado Rapids for the first time since a knee injury he sustained on July 4. If Jones does return and is match-fit, it would hardly be a surprise to see him and Bradley together in the midfield.
But if there's a player who is worth creating a spot for, it may be Kljestan. He might just be the most in-form player on the USMNT and certainly the most in-form central midfielder. There's another month for Klinsmann to figure this out and some of it may rest on the status of Jones, who is a Klinsmann favorite. But if Kljestan's great form with the New York Red Bulls continues to the end of the MLS season, he is going to force Klinsmann to make some tough choices.
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