Trying something a little new here. We have a player ratings thread which sometimes includes people posting their MOTM. I thought having a poll with 4 outstanding players from the match to choose from might lead to a good discussion. If your choice is none of the 4 listed, please select "Other" and write your response in a post.
Jozy. Best game from him in qualifying since... maybe ever? Dare I say *fighter*? Really battling for every ball. I loved it.
Bradley, he created the goal at the end and helped set the tone to start the match by hitting the post.
Zusi. I said early on in qualifying he would be a good one for us and it was only a matter of time. I'm glad to see him reward my trust when I know some were counting him out for some rough games in this round as well as last round.
I went with other. Though I'm hard pressed to decide between Besler and Bradley. I think I'll go Besler if pressed. Though Zusi and Jozy were also very good. And Evans' goal was awesome. Jones not playing the last part of the game due to the concussion knocks him out of it for me.
MLS ! Actually, the best players IMO were three MLS guys: Besler, Zusi and Evans. And Gonzo wasn't half as bad as some say. The local league is proving a real asset. That is very, very good.
40% of the starting field players were MLS (Zusi, Besler, Evans, Omar), and by the end of the game, 50% on the field were MLS (EJ). If you count recently departed Cameron, it goes up to 60%. Getting a win, in a WCQ, in a place the US has "never" won before, and with MLS'er and USMNT legend Landon Donovan not even on the roster (i.e. potentially more firepower waiting in the wings).... This is what MLS wanted their USMNT influence to be when they started the league in 1996. It took a generation to get to this point, but I like the trend, however slow it is. (Of note, 3+ of JAM starters were MLS too).
Players on the current roster that have played in MLS: Altidore, Jozy (New York Red Bulls) Beasley, DaMarcus (Los Angeles Galaxy, Chicago Fire) Besler, Matt (Sporting Kansas City) Bradley, Michael (MetroStars) Cameron, Geoff (Houston Dynamo) Davis, Brad (MetroStars, Dallas Burn, San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo) Dempsey, Clint (New England Revolution) Evans, Brad (Columbus Crew, Seattle Sounders FC) Gomez,Herculez (Los Angeles Galaxy, Colorado Rapids, Kansas City Wizards) Gonzalez, Omar (Los Angeles Galaxy) Goodson, Clarence (FC Dallas) Guzan, Brad (Chivas USA) Hall, Tally (Houston Dynamo) Holden, Stuart (Houston Dynamo) Howard, Tim (MetroStars) Johnson, Eddie (FC Dallas, Kansas City Wizards, Seattle Sounders FC) Kljestan, Sacha (Chivas USA) Parkhurst, Michael (New England Revolution) Zusi, Graham (Sporting Kansas City) Players on the current roster that have not played in MLS: Boyd, Terrence Castillo, Edgar Corona, Joe Johnson, Fabian Jones, Jermaine Williams, Daniel Jones has expressed that he would like to play in MLS eventually.
I really like the idea of this kind of poll after each match. Repped. Unfortunately, I don't think any single player stood out above the others. All of Besler, Jones, Bradley, Zusi, and Altidore had good games and each contributed some very good plays. Evans and Bradley combined on the most exciting moment of the match. Nobody stunk, either, although Beasley was running on thin ice and Fabian Johnson was largely invisible. This wasn't the best match to begin an otherwise good idea.
Liked Bradley overall, but he looked poor for the first, i don't know, 30 minutes or so. Zusi seems to be the consensus, and I'm fine with that. BTW who had Matt Besler emerging as our best CB? He's Baller.
Rearranging XSOSX great list another way, here is how many players each club has been associated with (some players on multiple club's count). This is just a stat count - it doesn't say whether it was a good or bad club association/player development. Example: SKC has been great for Besler/Zusi, but I'm pretty sure Herc Gomez would never say a good thing about KC (and I don't blame him), or any other MLS team he was on. EJ was a WC roster player while in KC, and left on good terms so EJ could try to develop at Europe, but Seattle is what has turned EJ around recently. NYRB/Metro Stars: 4 Houston: 4 Sporting KC/Wizards: 4 LA Galaxy: 3 (and Landon is not one of these 3) FC Dallas/Burn: 3 (and Shea is not one of these 3) New England: 2 Seattle: 2 ChivasU: 2 Chicago: 1 Columbus: 1 SJ: 1 (although this is Davis relocated to Houston with the original Earthquakes move from SJ to Houston), however Wondo and Gordon played roles in prior WCQ's this cycle. That's 11 different cities/clubs involved, just for this WCQ roster. So your chances are good that if you follow an MLS team, one of that team's players will someday be in the USMNT for important matches.
From start to finish. He had more touches, covered more ground and had the highest % of completed passes.
And he barely played in the MLS. He was certainly built by eredivsie and now serie A into the player he is.