I've again compiled ratings from a few sports media outlets and taken an average. As you'll note below, Bradley and Altidore garnered highest ratings while Zusi, Gonzo and Diskerud found themselves at the bottom of the grades. Interesting that some of the lowest graded players from the Turkey match, Green and Davis, did not play at all, while the other low-rated player, Chandler, made a cameo appearance. I wonder if Zusi's, Diskerud's and Gonzo's mediocre performances will limit their game time in Brazil? Will Green and Davis see the field? Soccer America - http://www.socceramerica.com/article/58594/us-player-ratings-altidore-strikes-bradley-and.html MLSSoccer - http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/news/article/2014/06/07/usmnt-player-ratings-heres-why-jurgen-klinsmann-deserves-high-rating-Michael ESPN - http://www.espnfc.us/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/1867938 Highest 2 rated – Bradley 8.2, Altidore 7.7 Lowest 2 rated – Gonzelez 4.3, Zusi 4.8, Diskerud 5.2
Unless Cameron, Besler and Brook are injured, I don't think Klinsmann has the confidence in Gonzalez to put him out there and it's awfully hard to argue with that, the kid just looks shaky and unsure of himself.
The fact that Jermaine Jones isnt higher is why these ratings are stupid. Easily the best player we had last night. Defending and going forward. He covered ridiculous amount of ground and gave nigeria everything they could handle. Bradley was in no way appreciably better than Jones.
Agree. Since Gonzo got sizzled for both Tri goals in February (he was picked in the Rafa Marquez goal & simply lost his mark at the far post on the 2nd goal because he was ball-watching), he's been in Klinsi's dog house. He was already on shaky ground, but that match really was a huge nail in his coffin. Last night didn't help either.
Which means he probably start at least one match lol. Seriously, I wish we could make some late alterations: -Gonzalez for Goodson -Green for Donovan -Davis for Edu (if we are going to play a 4231 instead of 4-1-3-2)
Note: 5 is my average! Howard - 6.5 (made the saves required of him... Note I'm deducting half a point bc sometimes he would make the pass out of the back when it put pressure on our defenders) Johnson - 7 (great offensively, and defensively) Besler - 6. 5 (although not his fault, had to still deduct half a point for final foul) Cameron - 7 (solid) Beasley - 7 (good both offensively and defensively... Needs to get a little cleaner on his pass though) Jones - 8.5 (spectacular performance) Beckerman - 7 (also really good but not as good as Jones.) Bradley - 8.5 (world class performance) Dempsey - 6.5 (good game but I'll say he looked tired towards the end) Bedoya - 6 (great engine and really helped the team defensively... Has a nose for being in the right spot, but the problem is that he's lacking in ability to quickly respond and get off the right pass) Altidore - 8.5 (beast mode. Love it for him) Diskerud - 5 (not his best performance... Seemed like he struggled to get into a rythym but didn't suck by any means) Wondolowski - NR (don't even remember seeing him on the field) Chandler - 6 (better performance but not as good as Beasley) Zusi - 5 (meh... Didn't really pay attention to him much) Gonzalez - 1 (worst sub appearance of any player in USMNT history... Gets a single point because with Gonzalez, I guess it could always be worse)
I like all three changes. Even if we end up not using any of these three "new players" and we win with them sitting on our bench and never needing to get into a match, I'd feel much more comfortable knowing that Goodson, LD and Edu are on our bench, than Gonzo, Green and Davis.
Altidore scores both goals and Bradley is rated higher than him with one half-assist ... jeez, some of these people are idiots.
I'm still surprised that Edu was cut, but it obviously came down to him and Beckerman and we know how much Klinsmann loves Beckerman even WITH Edu's World Cup experience AND position flexibility. The Donovan decision was the correct one and Goodson is who he is at this point which is a big guy who has had about as many headscratching gaffes as Gonzo in the last couple of years so you go with the younger guy which is of course, Gonzalez. So I guess the only alterations that I would make is Edu for Davis.
I would have definitely liked to have seen Edu for Davis and Donovan for Green. Both huge upgrades coming off the bench. Although not as strong of a feeling, the way Gonzalez has played in the past few months, I would think that there is no way that Goodson can do worse. Although Goodson can be mediocre at times, I just haven't seen the total collapse that was Gonzo in the Mexico game a few months ago (when JK lost faith in Gonzalez) - Since then, any time he has gotten USMNT minutes, he just hasn't looked good. Goodson, as mediocre as he can be, would be an upgrade to Gonzo.
That was LA Galaxy night in Glendale, Arizona because both Gonzalez and Donovan looked like totalt sh!t that night and I think both sealed their fates in Klinsmann's mind that evening.
I think Donovan's fate was sealed with JK long before that and JK's decision was not performance-based. If that February Mexico game guaranteed, in JK's eyes, that he was going to cut LD, why not also cut Gonzo who did 10X worse by being the main culprit on both Tri goals? Moreover, Gonzalez was 100% fit in that game. Remember that LD was coming back from pretty painful tendonitis problems to his knee. Tendonitis keeps Landon Donovan from starting against Mexico http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014...s-landon-donovan-from-starting-against-mexico And if one looks at all of the player's statistics for the past 12 months, or so, it's obvious that LD was one of the most consistently good USMNT players during that time. One would hope that one game, one in which LD was coming back from injury, would not be a match in which a "smart" coach like JK uses to make a decision on cutting a player. 2013 / 2014 USMNT Seasons PLAYER--GAMES--GOALS--ASSISTS--POINTS--PPG Donovan-----12-----8-----9-----25-----2.1 Wondo-----12-----9-----1-----19-----1.6 Altidore17-----8-----2-----18-----1.1 Zusi-----16-----2-----3-----7-----0.4 Johansson-----8-----2-----0-----4-----0.5 B. Davis-----11-----0-----4-----4-----0.4 J. Green-----2-----0-----0-----0-----0.0
I had Bradley rated higher as well but not by much. Some of the passing Bradley had going on that night was phenomenal. Jozy scored a fantastic 2nd goal, but did also turn the ball over a decent amount to kill attacks. That factors into the scores.
What are the stats? Where are the stats? Off memory, I have Bradley with a few wild passes. The overall game stats have Nigeria with a higher number of passes, higher completion percentage overall and in the attacking third. I also wouldn't have credited Bradley with an assist, as it was 95% Altidore. On the other side, his first goal was a 20% Altidore (because he made than run) but it was set for him on the plate by Bedoya and FabJ. And, since Jozy was often facing superior numbers, some turnovers are part of the price of playing that formation.
I saw Bradley thread the needle on a number of occasions and that assist was pretty dang good. So many people that try that pass mess it up. Jozy didn't have to break stride. But Jozy undoubtedly did wonderful on his part as well. I would like to see all of Bradley's touches from that game, but I can't find the energy for all that. I'm not sure at all how he was percentage wise? I'm just remembering some really good decision making and tracking back immediately after turnovers to win it back.
Those are mostly fair ratings. -Jones was a monster and Bradley was back to being Bradley. Together how much ground did they cover? Beckerman deserves some credit for his discipline. -It was so nice to see Jozy get back on track. Great performance. -And Fabian is making me forget all about Cherundolo. -Beasley played as well as I've seen him play at LB
Side footer made statements when bob Bradley was fired that with a new coach Michael would would not even make the squad. That is why I don' t put much creditability on his statements. If you don' t want to give him him an assist on altidores goal maybe you should give him credit for great passes that should have led to goals. Your agenda over the years shows your bias against the Bradley's. I guess that is why you basically disappeared from posting as Michael proved you wrong over and over.
There was a guy on Vimeo who used to do video about Dempsey " every touches" while he was at Tottenham...It'd be nice for someone to do that for at least the key players like Bradley/Jozy so we can see how they did. I actually think that Jozy had a better "all-around" match against turkey than against Nigeria...With the exception of the 2 goals, I thought Jozy was pretty sloppy with the ball at times and had more than a few turnovers...Against Turkey, all his touches on the ball was gold but he simply could not find a goal.
Of course, after Bob was fired, he did not make the squad under JK for some time. So, that was ... you know, correct.
Fabian Johnson not getting nearly the love I thought he earned, he covered as much ground and made as many last ditch defensive plays as Jones AND had the same influence in attack and sweet assist like Bradley. Altidore was MOTM imo, with Johnson, Jones and Bradley right behind him in that order. Bradley had some terrible balls and both he and Beckerman had some terrible moments defending as well. Bradley though can make up for anything when he connects on those 3-4 killer balls per game.
H I think we can all agree that he has made the squad and I think it happened after about a month. And for your referring to him a MB90, when was the last time JK took him out of a game
I am looking for stats. WhoScored doesn't do friendlies. MLS used to have very detailed OPTA numbers but they only have the team totals for this. Squawka is coming up blank. And the reason for that isn't because the Bradley assist wasn't a good pass but that looking up at the player totals for the match fills in the memory gaps ... or selective memory gaps. It's done for the league matches, including MLS, but these various sportswriter grades are usually posted without that reference or knowledge (and the stat based grades do occasionally differ from the subjective scores given by these sportswriters).