In His Defense
Kyle Beckerman is quietly anchoring the heart of America’s defense
Jermaine Jones is having a moment. Michael Bradley is also having a moment, just not the kind he hoped for. And Clint Dempsey would like to remind everyone that he gives zero f’s when he’s on the pitch. That is what we talk about when talk about the U.S Men’s National Team; the rise, the letdown, the grit. What we don’t talk about, are the plays that never happened. How could we? Why would we, when there are an infinite amount of plays that never happened during a match, and only a finite amount of ones that did? But that’s why we never really talk about Kyle Beckerman, the guy that’s just silently blue-collaring his way through one of the most essential roles for the U.S. team in this World Cup—stopping plays before they ever have a chance of happening.
It’s easy to go off the deep end when we talk about formations and tactics. Jurgen Klinsmann has all but dismissed deep dive talk of formations and systems as “useless.” But his comments aren’t so much a condemnation of tactics talk as they are a rebranding of them. He’s more concerned with players’ roles and how those roles supersede formations or shape, which continuously change over the course of the game. Beckerman’s role in the squad is exceedingly clear: defend the back line. So if it’s a diamond midfield, a 4-2-3-1, or a 4-5-1, it doesn’t really matter, his role in any tactical permutation will always be to shield the centerbacks from attacks. He’s there to defend the defense.
Beckerman steadily goes about his business by planting himself about 15 yds in front of a centerback pairing of Matt Besler and either Geoff Cameron or Omar Gonzalez, more or less forming a defensive triangle: the heart of the defense.
He’ll then lumber around the pitch checking runners entering his zone, while always making sure he doesn’t drift too far forward, exposing his back line, or settling too deep to open up shooting and passing lanes. And he’s been excellent in this tournament at positioning himself in the 2nd defender role, shutting down the opposing team’s passing options. And when Beckerman slides laterally, to snuff out attacking plays developing on the flanks, he does so knowing that either Michael Bradley or Jermaine Jones will drop central to balance out the defense. And it’s those two guys who happen to be the main beneficiaries of Beckerman’s inclusion in the starting XI.
With Beckerman in the central defensive-mid slot, Bradley has taken on a more advanced position for the U.S. team to lukewarm results, but he’s still maintained a very high defensive work rate, causing him to damn near run a marathon in the group stage (per FIFA World Cup Statistics), good enough to top the entire field in distance covered throughout the opening round. Kyle Beckerman? He was just 14th. Better yet, through the weekend, Beckerman was 19th in distance covered when not in possession of the ball. Maybe not an astounding fact until you know that 14 of those 19 dudes had already finished their knockout round match. The guy is running ragged all over the defensive third to lock things down and you don’t even realize it. That is the silent genius of Beckerman’s defensive game: he protects the U.S. from the play that leads to the play.
On the flip side, Jermaine Jones has been playing out of his mind, buzzing all over the field performing random acts of kindness:
Jones’ ascension is partly(ok, mostly) due in part to the presence of Beckerman as the only true holding midfielder, the position Jones was tasked with before both began featuring in the starting XI in the lead up to the World Cup. It’s allowed Jones’ aggressiveness on defense to translate into the attack, as well as letting him off the hook for bombing into challenges higher up the field.
But marshaling the center of the defense isn’t Beckerman’s only contribution to the team. He’s quietly placed in the top-3, 2, and 2 in passes on the team in group play, trailing only Michael Bradley each match. If you watch those games, he’s constantly keeping the ball moving, looking to swing it from side-to-side to switch up the looks on attack. And while he hasn’t directly played a part in any goals scored (or goals against, for that matter), it’s that kind of steady pass work a team needs to bridge players with one another.
All this praise doesn’t come without a caveat, Beckerman is still prone to straying a little far from that back line on an unnecessary challenge way up the field. And his recovery pace leaves a lot to be desired, embodied perfectly when he avoided a yellow card for pulling down a soon to be wide-open Bastian Schweinsteiger on the counter:
But listen, you can shock the world with a guy like Beckerman in your starting XI. He’s not there to dazzle you with the ball. He’s there because he’s a rock off of it. And if you’re noticing guys like Dempsey, or Bradley, or Jones having a good game, it’s probably because someone like Beckerman is out there, diligently working in the background. When the U.S takes on Belgium in the knockout round, pay attention to Kyle Beckerman for just a moment. It’ll be easy to spot him on the field. Just look for the hair. After that, see if you can spot how is footprints are silently all over the game.
Update: Beckerman did not start or play for the U.S. in the match against Belgium.
