It's a problem that has existed for as long as Jurgen Klinsmann has been in charge of the United States men's national team: filling the back positions. In the 47 games he has managed over almost three years, the German head coach has used 17 different players at either right back or left back. And he has deployed them in 24 different combinations.
None of the pairings has gotten a longer consecutive run than the Steve Cherundolo-Timmy Chandler couple, which played five games in a row in Klinsmann's third through seventh games in the job. And with just over three weeks remaining until the USA kicks off its World Cup against Ghana, those spots are hardly resolved.
That much was clear when the USA's 30-man preliminary World Cup roster was announced on May 12 for the 3 ½ week training camp. For it included four players who can play left back and a whopping six who are either right backs by trade or have extensive experience playing there. But finding the right mix of backs to bring to Brazil is complicated.
Let's start on the left, the simpler of the equations. DaMarcus Beasley has been playing there consistently for the last year and change. He is a converted left winger and has oodles of international experience. As a defender, he's come a long way, relying on the legs and lungs that haven't yet let him down at age 31. His positioning is reliable, yet his one-on-one defending remains suspect. As such, his selection isn't automatic.
The alternatives, however, are imperfect as well. Klinsmann had no use for his predecessor Bob Bradley's left back Jonathan Bornstein and tried out Edgar Castillo several times, without much success. That leaves him with Fabian Johnson and Michael Parkhurst, and perhaps Chandler.
Johnson had a run a line higher up in midfield and seems to suffer from the same deficiency as Beasley -- namely that he's better, and more interested in, going forward. Parkhurst is a capable central defender who can play anywhere else along the back line. He's a tad more conservative, but there exists insufficient evidence that he's quite up to the level. Chandler, finally, played on the left early in the early months of Klinsmann's reign, but hasn't seen action there since. What's more, he'd been out of the picture for 15 months following a poor performance, some apparent commitment shortcomings and a knee injury.
Over on the other flank, Brad Evans is the incumbent. But he's really a central midfielder and never plays in defense for the Seattle Sounders. He has held up well enough, but there are doubts here too -- which would probably explain the number of defenders on the camp roster.
Chandler seems like the natural alternative here, courtesy of a good -- albeit injury-shortened -- season as a right back with Nurnberg in the German Bundesliga. But his reintegration into the team isn't a given, considering his long absence. Parkhurst is an option here too. As is Johnson. Geoff Cameron, meanwhile, is a regular at right back for Stoke City in the Barclays Premier League, but Klinsmann prefers him in central defense for the USA -- probably owing to his good distribution out of the back but his limitations pushing forward. Then there's the wild card, DeAndre Yedlin, the 20-year-old Sounders upstart, who has a seemingly bright future but a short track record.
If this sounds like a lot of fuss to be making over relatively -- and literally -- marginal positions, consider that the daunting slate of group stage opponents in Brazil are all exceedingly strong on the flanks. Portugal, of course, has Cristiano Ronaldo, the finest player in the world, who gives even the best backs fits. Nani will play opposite him. He may have had a down year at Manchester United, but can still be devastating when given the chance.
Ghana, similarly, is liable to deploying Andre Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah or Christian Atsu out wide, all of whom require significant attention. Germany has a huge pack of attackers who can play on the flank. Likeliest starters Thomas Mueller and Marco Reus could be spelled by Andre Schurrle, Julian Draxler or Lukas Podolski -- all of them top tier forwards.
Also consider that whoever Klinsmann selects along his back line, World Cup experience -- or international experience on the whole -- will be in short supply. Beasley was a midfielder in his three previous World Cup appearances. And of the other 10 defenders in camp, only Clarence Goodson, who plays centrally, has been to a World Cup -- but he never saw the field. Behind those two, no other player has more than 25 appearances for the USA.
Granted, in 2010 the Americans traveled to South Africa with just three defenders who had played at a prior World Cup, but all three of them -- Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu -- were starters for a second time around.
Klinsmann, as is his wont, says he is unconcerned. "There's always a first time in life whatever you do," he said in a press conference at the start of camp. I'm not worried about the inexperience. I just hope that they can get up to the task now quickly in the next couple of weeks and that they feel confident in themselves.
Goodson isn't much bothered either. "People make a little bit more out of, "Have you been or haven't you been [to a World Cup]?" he told SI.com. "What kind of games have you played in? I think that's what's most important."
Central defender Matt Besler, the surest bet to start in defense, even though he has only been a USA regular for just over a year, argues that fretting over his inexperience has no use. "It's something we can't change," he told ESPNFC. "We can't change the fact that not a whole lot of us have World Cup experience on the back line. In our minds, it's not an issue. It's just something that forces us to come together and concentrate a little bit more."
Sifting through all of these options, Klinsmann will have to finally find some solutions to his problems. Ones capable of overcoming the sizable challenges of the elite opposition and their own inexperience. It's probably a good thing he has so many choices.
