A deeper diagnosis of the U.S.'s late-game defensive affliction
Another United States men's national team, another lead blown late on.
If Wednesday's 3-2 loss at Denmark, courtesy of 83rd- and 91st-minute goals by Arsenal's onetime chance-fluffer-in-residence Nicklas Bendtner – to complete his hat trick no less – felt like a déjà vu, it's only because it was.
[FC Yahoo: Denmark vs. United State – Look back on the action as it happened]
Many times over.
Going back to June 1 of last year, the USA has given up 13 goals after the 80th minute in the 14 games they've played since then. In their last seven games, they have given away three wins and a tie in the last 10 minutes of regulation.
On January 28, the Americans gave away a 2-1 lead against Chile to 66th- and 75th-minute Mark Gonzalez goals – so that game doesn't even count towards the above statistics.
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Before that, on November 18, the USA shipped two more late goals to Ireland's glorified B team in the 82nd and 86th minutes to make it an embarrassing 4-1 loss to close out 2014. Four days earlier, Teofilo Gutierrez put Colombia ahead 2-1 in the 87th minute, even though the Americans had taken the lead early in the game.
On October 14, Maynor Figueroa's 86th-minute tally saved a 1-1 tie for Honduras. Four days before that, Ecuador's Enner Valencia relegated the Americans to the exact same fate with an 88th-minute equalizer.
Go back further and you come across Belgium's two extra-time goals that sent the Yanks crashing out of the round of 16 at the World Cup. Two games prior, Portugal had eked out a draw with a 95th-minute Silvestre Varela goal. And in their opener against Ghana, Andre Ayew's 82nd-minute equalizer had threatened to rob the Americans of the points they so badly needed before John Brooks came through with a late winner.
But this trend dates back to before the World Cup. In the last two American send-off games, 2-0 leads were cut in half by Nigeria's Victor Moses in the 86th minute and Turkey's Selcuk Inan in the 90th minute, both coming on penalties. Those were wins, certainly, but the habit of giving up very late and often costly goals began then.
Call it the Late Goal Syndrome.
The odd thing here is that under Jurgen Klinsmann's predecessor Bob Bradley the pattern had been the opposite. Around the 2010 World Cup, the Americans customarily gave up very early goals before rebounding and finishing games strongly – often getting late results. Klinsmann's team has the reverse problem. In their last seven games, the Yanks have scored six times in the first half hour, four of which came in the opening 10 minutes.
Klinsmann has pointed to fitness issues, arguing that his teams run out of gas later on in the game. But this streak of late surrender dates back to a time last season when all of his squad should have been in mid-season form.
Other possible causes could be concentration problems, or Klinsmann's habit of mixing up the personnel along his back line, with this unfamiliarity eventually catching up to them late in games. Or indeed his habit of bringing on many substitutes in the second half, disturbing rhythm and cohesion. Or perhaps it's merely a fluke. Scientists would tell you that the sample size here is very small.
But whatever the reason happens to be, this is a deeply disconcerting phenomenon.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
