Real Salt Lake midfielder Ned Grabavoy joined The Bill & OC Show on ESPN 700 yesterday, to get his take on the U.S.’s dramatic 2-1 win over Ghana. The RSL veteran had some great insight and analysis of the match and of course had nothing but praise for teammate Kyle Beckerman. Below are a few snippets of the interview but the whole thing is worth listening to here.
On Kyle’s performance:
“I think he was the best player on the field. I know I’m biased but coming from a position that is a little bit of an inglorious position for me, Kyle was absolutely unbelievable in that game. I think he plays the position a little bit differently for the U.S. because the players around him, but a guy that has to stay home a bit more for the U.S. and really clean up things, and can’t really get involved in the attack like he likes to for RSL. But at the same time maybe that’s asked of him a little bit more for the U.S. and I thought he did an unbelievable job in there and did everything that was asked of him and more.”
Grabavoy also approved of U.S. Manager Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to use the diamond midfield formation – the signature of RSL – that allowed what he thinks are the four best two-way midfielders to be on the field at the same time. But Grabavoy wouldn’t be surprised if the German coach mixes things up in the next match against Portugal on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he did especially knowing that a point in the next game maybe gets you through. For me as a coach, I think maybe I would think of switching shapes, but at the same time...he is a guy that claimed to always stay on the front foot and he’s going to try and be as aggressive as he can going forward. So I just think it remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised to maybe see them shift towards a 4-2-3-1. Maybe you play Beckerman and [Jermaine] Jones deep in the midfield with [Michael] Bradley in front of them.”
Even with injuries to Jozy Altidore and Matt Besler, the RSL midfielder claims the Americans “couldn’t be in a better position” heading into Sunday’s clash in Manaus.
