Excellent tactical analysis of England-USA - in particular, how Dempsey and Donovan playing central took England’s full-backs out of the game so much, while Clark and Bradley’s defensive mindedness rendered the Gerrard-Lampard question null and void.
But praise particularly goes to Landon Donovan, who I thought was excellent all night, and how by occupying Cole & the England defence, he was a key reason why their creativity was thwarted:
In particular, Donovan’s advanced position made it very difficult for Ashley Cole to get forward, and he rarely had an influence in the attacking third. This is a key part of stopping England – with no left-footed attacking player, they rely on Cole for attacking width on that side, and with the right-winger Aaron Lennon asked to hug the touchline and generally not being involved in build-up play, England found it difficult to create chances, especially with Bradley and Clark patrolling the midfield side-by-side and tracking the runs of Gerrard and Lampard well (after the goal).Source: zonalmarking.net
