No Landon Donovan? No Michael Bradley?
No problem, U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann said heading into Friday night’s World Cup qualifying match against Jamaica in Kingston.
“It’s something that is normal. There will never be a game where you have everybody at 100 percent,” said Klinsmann, who, in addition to missing his two best midfielders, also might be limited in how much he can use forward Clint Dempsey, who hasn’t played a competitive match in three months. “You always have to deal with injuries, maybe some players being not on form.”
But it might be a bit abnormal to deal with a such wave of injuries in the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying. After two of six games, with a win and a draw each, the U.S. and Jamaica are the only unbeaten teams in their four-country group.
That makes their home-and-home series over the next five days crucial. The teams meet again Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, and if either team totals four points from the two matches, it would be well-positioned to advance to next year’s final round of regional play.
The U.S. has lost only once in nine matches this year and is coming off a historic victory last month over Mexico in a friendly at Azteca Stadium. It never has won a World Cup qualifier in Jamaica, though, playing to a draw in all four previous tries. And it hasn’t played a competitive match without both Donovan and Bradley in more than three years.
Those might not be insurmountable losses if Dempsey, who Klinsmann said has looked good in training, can play. Jamaica, whose roster is full of Major League Soccer veterans, is vunerable on the back line, and while its superior speed, especially in the midfield, could be a problem for the U.S., Klinsmann’s team — with 20 players culled from leagues outside the U.S. — is more physical and far more experienced.
“We’ll try to juggle things as well as we can,” Klinsmann said. “We’ve got a very good group and we know we have to give everything we have in order to beat Jamaica.”