Two weeks before the American soccer team is set to play the World Cup opener, the team is still reportedly "tinkering" with their formation for the game, according to The Associated Press.
"There's no such thing as a best system," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said, the AP reported. "It's the whole team, how it shapes up and how it works as an entire unit, how it attacks collectively and how it defends collectively."
After replacing Bob Bradley as the Americans' coach in July 2011, Klinsmann most often used a 4-2-3-1 formation: four defenders with two defensive midfielders in front of them, according to the AP.
Jozy Altidore usually was the striker when Klinsmann had his full player pool available, and Clint Dempsey was in the central attacking midfield role or advanced to a withdrawn forward, the AP reported.
But Klinsmann switched to a 4-4-2 for last month's exhibition against Mexico with a diamond midfield that pushed midfielder Michael Bradley into an attacking position and moved Dempsey closer to goal, where he could link better with Altidore, according to the AP.
In Sunday's 2-1 exhibition win over Turkey, Bradley set-up Fabian Johnson's goal with a brilliant chip on a one-two exchange, the AP reported. Dempsey scored the second goal when a defender failed to clear a cross by left back Timmy Chandler.
With Bradley farther up the field and Jermaine Jones alone in front of the defense, Turkey had a half-dozen good scoring chances in the first half, but Klinsmann then told Bradley to drop back into a flat four midfield alongside Kyle Beckerman in the second half, according to the AP.
"My role? Is in the center of the field, in the center of the midfield," Bradley said,according to the AP. "I try to do as much as possible to help the team, whether it's scoring goals, setting up goals, winning tackles, intercepting balls. I try to have as big an impact on the game as possible. I think when you look around the world now, midfielders who can do everything are so important for their team, so that's what I try to do."
