France is in the midst of its World Cup preparations. The United States has no such agenda (le sigh), but will give Les Bleus their final tuneup match before Russia 2018 gets rolling in less than a week(!).
The essentials
Opponent: France (No. 7 FIFA World rankings, No. 4 ELO,
Time, Location: Saturday, June 9. 2:00 p.m. CDT • Lyon, France
Event: International friendly (France preparations for WC2018).
Watch: ESPN
The French
The timing means that France has a full-strength squad in its camp, and will likely run out is Best XI, at least to start the match, giving those players a bit of familiarity before the games count (France’s first game is next Saturday at 5 a.m. Central).
Look for the United States to be tested by international superstars like Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud, Barça’s Ousmane Dembélé, and PSG’s Kylian Mbappé. Keeper Hugo Lloris of Spurs has been the team’s keeper.
France will face Australia, Peru, and Denmark in the group stage, and while the Americans have historically similar in style to the Socceroos, I think it’s fair to say that nobody really knows what the USMNT identity is after an interesting seven years or so. France’s other pre-World Cup friendlies have been a 2-0 win against Ireland (which you may recal beat the United States 2-1 last weekend), and a 3-1 result over fellow shocking World Cup non-participant Italy.
With the top team likely to see the field tomorrow, the Americans will face a major, major test. It’s also a major, major opportunity to prove something.
The Yanks
The United States was not good in Dublin last weekend.
The defenders were a disappointment (particularly right back DeAndre Yedlin and centerback Cameron Carter-Vickers, who have high expectations – Matt Miazga was fine is uninspiring and Jorge Villafaña basically is who we expect each time out). Keeper Bill Hamid had a decent first half despite them, but was shaky enough overall that it served as another piece of evidence to confirm my hesitance to ever project him as the No. 1.
There were some bright spots: the three-man central midfield of Wil Trapp, Weston McKennie, and Tyler Adams was solid defensively, if a little too focused on the defensive side of things in lineup selection (I think McKennie and Trapp are a little too similar stylistically at this point, and while McKennie may grow into less of a pure holder, their skillsets are sort of redunant at this point). Bobby Wood scored on a set piece after a header from Miazga set the table for him. Of course, Wood largely struggled to make much happen, and continues to lack confidence in the final third (he really likes to dribble out of a good look to try to find a better one, and gets stuck recycling the ball backwards, instead). Tim Weah showed a bit of a spark going forward.
All told, though, this was a team that’s not playing in the World Cup, needs to build chemistry and develop players for the 2019 Gold Cup and beyond, and looked the part of one wanting no part of the best teams in the world (or Ireland). That spurred several “the kids aren’t alright” takes, which strikes me as unfair given that it was a mediocre-not-poor performance, and it was unfortunately veterans like Wood, Yedlin, and Hamid who impressed the least. The kids will get better. Yedlin is probably better on the vast majority of days. This team isn’t a finished product, but there’s, uh, not exactly a market for said product any time soon. I dunno, strained the hell out of that metaphor there.
Anyway, I’d like to see a strong/youth lineup for the France contest. Here’s my desire:
That back six is, without question, my view of what the strongest side available is (and, give or take a healthy John Brooks, possibly the best available in 2019-2022). Adams and Weah are in that book to me, as well. Novakovich, Parks, and Rubin (the main question mark to me, since I consider him more a central player, but Joe Corona could fit in there just as easily) are deserving of a chance to prove themselves.
I’d like to see Josh Sargent, Corona, maybe Trapp depending on how the game is playing out (if it’s hyper-competitive, I’d like to see McKennie get the full run), Shaq Moore, and (similar situation to Trapp) possibly Erik Palmer-Brown as the substitutions.
Prediction: France wins 3-1.
Club and Country 