I rated them a B , Actually, I would have liked to give them a B+ because they were playing a less experienced Mexican side. We played some of the best Defense I have ever seen from a US side. Very impressive, however we just couldn't find the net. To get an A this team would have had to capitalize on at least two other occasions and win 3-0. They dominated from start to finish but couldn't put Mexico away until stoppage time. Not good enough for an A but a great confidence booster. I love the way we were able to see players like Donovan and Matroeni dribble past players with confidence. Our combination play was very good. These are the types of games that are great for teams to build the confidence needed for the World Cup. Good job.
I'll give them a solid B. I agree that we missed some finishing oppotunities (not to take anything away from the Mexican keeper). I also saw a few bad touches. Overall, an above-average performance deserving an above-average grade. Bravo to the Nats on a well played and exciting game.
Hmm, let me think about this one: Goalkeeping: Johnny Walker did a great job of dodging TP and other miscellaneous objects. Postgame reports verified he didn't get tagged once. And he was super classy when he went back and picked up another ball after Mexico shanked their shots. He didn't flip off one Mexican! Good show, Johnny. A Defense: I'm new to this soccer thingy. Is holding the other team to three total shots good? Just a hunch, but I think it might be. Pope scores the goal, and Mastroeni dominates defense. And he gets bonus points for talking trash to the Mexicans in their native tongue. You can't beat that! A Midfield: It was like watching a 90 minute show of "hot-potato" (when the US had possession, which was, like, always) with a little bit of "smear the queer" (the 4 times Mexican midfielders accidentally touched the ball) thrown in just for fun. Plus, I think this Donovan kid may turn out to be a pretty good player. A Attack: Remember that Shakespeare play where Oswald says, "I will not be struck, my lord?" (Or something femmy like that.) My ass, Oswald. You got served. Conor Casey put the beatdown on you not once, but twice, and he still got to run around a while longer and elbow some of your buddies. Big props in my book. OK, so the finishing wasn't so super. But Twellman bumps this up to a B. Tactics and Coaching: Really, is there anything better than the cat and mouse game between Arena and his compadres to the south? Let's see, a straight 442 with a dash of Mathis, a little 352 with some Reyna on the right wing, sprinkle some Cobi in to taste, and top it all of with the cherry of a box midfield 442 we saw last night. Sounds like Bruce Arena's got his own secret recipe for some Whoopass Pound Cake. A Um, yeah. I'm gonna have to go with an A.
A- if only because they should've finished far more chances. If this had been a qualifier and they dominated a team like that for so long and had to get the winning goal in the dying minutes we would be pretty skittish right now.
Finally saw a Bruce Arena team that played attacking football,liked Donovan's distribution from the middle of the field though he tried to thread the needle to often at the edge of the penalty box,thought Beasley was playing on the wrong side of the field,Frankie Heyduk was superb as an attacking right full back but the attack looked toothless until Twellman was brought on.Thought he played really well in the few minutes he was on the field,can't see why the Casey experiment continues.
Solid B to B+ Certainly could've finished better. Dominating performance, though. Might've paid dearly for some of Connor's antics, but damn, it was nice to see us bring some smashmouth football to the Mexicans for a change ! but on the whole, an (almost) all MLS squad that was expected to have trouble here surely exceeded expectations, and helped make up for the uninspired showing against Haiti. Would still like to see some of our Euro brethren for the WC qualifying matches. Looks like we've got some depth after all...
I gave them a B. I would have given an A if they had converted on their scoring chances. They had something like a 15-1 corner advantage. More should have been put in the net. Donovan had some nice scoring opportunities, didn't get any. Conor Casey had a couple, couldn't finish. Biggest negative in the game, lack of finishing.
A. Would have been an A+ with better finishing. Landon was terrific. Where did Kerry Z come from (KC, I know, but I have never seen him play particularly well before last night)? Pablo & Eddie were excellent, Convey looked like a back when needed, Heydude looked like a soccer player instead of a headless chicken... Great stuff.
Anytime you piss off Mexicans after they realize they just lost to the USA--that is a good thing. Grade: A I thought B at first, but thinking a bit more about it brought me to the A. Both teams fielded strong B teams, but we all know that both teams were missing some players. When you consider that, then the A gets awarded. I was at the game and I was shocked that it was about 8-9 Mexican fans for every 1 US fan. I went last year to the game in Houston and it was about 50/50. However, this was a spirited crowd and most of the crowd stood the whole game---oh, and it went by really fast. The moronic Mexican fans who started burning up some of their signs after we scored even drew the ire of their compadres. One other thing, I spoke with a lot of the Mexican fans after the game and the one thing they realize is that the US team has arrived. They respect our team like never before. Some of the younger Mexico fans even started kicking in for the USA chants that floated around on a few occasions. Great matchup and great turnout (even with the rain showers before the game). This thing would have sold out if it was in a new building--like Reliant. We should play at least 2 friendlies against Mexico each year no matter what. The home games should rotate between Texas and California. GO USA!!
I gave them an A. Best US game I've watched since the USA win over Portugal in the World Cup. An idea has occurred to me. Since this was an all MLS team except for Conor, why not play this same team in the MLS All Star game against Real Madrid??? Wouldn't that be fun. Oh, and have Bruce coach it as well, so of a guest coach, or coach emiritus for MLS.
Had Mexico's lineup been better, I would've voted the US an A. They played a solid game though really reserved, as always. -danny.
I like the idea... They may perform better than the "MLS Allstars" just because of team chemistry. I think Arena knows how to pick the right players for the right positions. Players that play well together not necessarily the so called "best" at their respective positions. Kinda like the 1980 lake placid hockey team.
If we play 2 against them, 1 should be down there. I want our boys to have a feel for Azteca before the result actually matters...
I went "A". The speed distictly stood out. However, match grade could easily went to "C" with goal by Mexicans. Coherent philanderer was still quickily adaptively supremely foretoken to motion. On other note, Wolff still looked swell. Production was little but comparable stats gives little.
Alot of you are saying that finishing is a problem. I sort of disagree. Finishing is very minor, in my opinion, compared to other aspects of the game, such as posession (midfield) and defense. If you have solid posession and defense like The States did on Wednesday, the finishing will come. Goals are inevitable if you have 60%+ posession and 10+ corners. The goal did come in the 93rd, but it came none-the-less. I gave them an A, because it certainly wasn't US's best lineup. I'm very impressed with their showing... it really gives Arena a good look on MLS talent. It also shows that the international stars might not have their position on lock-down. We recorded the game on our digital cable box so we could watch the game later that night. It only recorded 2 hours of the game and we missed the goal! Ugh! Good game, though.