Our defensive-minded midfield really neutered the Swiss GK Rimando: 5.5 - Almost nothing to do, but his distribution was poor again LB Shea: 7 - He gave up so much ground to Shaqiri when he was being run at, I thought it actually WAS Messi out there. But he was solid otherwise, and exquisite on his free kick. LCB Brooks: 4 - He might be able to read both German and English, but he sure can't read soccer. RCB Orozco: 5.5 - Good distribution and recovery defending again, and yet again, he looked very uncomfortable when up against a big CF RB Chandler: 6 - It's fair to say now that Timmy is an excellent crosser. He also took up excellent attacking positions. Defending was only so-so. DM Williams: 6.5 - Looked more comfortable on the ball as the game went on and he was pretty sound defensively LM Morales: 5.5 - He was very good until Jozy got sent off. Then he got exposed again as a horrible defender/player in his own third. Deserves more looks in this role, however. RM Bedoya: 6.5 - Did his thing. Good cross to Zardes and more positive touches than usual. CAM Bradley: 6 - Bad Bradley and Good Bradley. But as the spearpoint of the tactical gameplan, Bradley was awesome. He covered so much ground that he almost single-handidly made Inler disappear. ST Zardes: 5 - Worked his ass off, but showed virtually no skill again. ST Altidore: 2 - Didn't think he did well even before the petulance. If you think that you're getting fouled with back to goal, just flop like you normally do Jozy. Don't just lose the 50/50 over and over again and bitch at the ref. The red was a douche-bag move from a douche. GK Yarbrough: 6 - Thought that Friedel was being a tad unfair on Yarbrough's punched cross. Nothing to complain at or laud. CB Alvarado: 4 - Got turned on the touchline in his own 18. We looked like we had only one CB in the box during the Swiss set-piece barrage RM Yedlin: 5 - Could've been more resolute on the goal, but I don't really want to pan him much for that. ST Morris: N/A - I see some real promise here LB Ream: N/A MOTM: Color Man Friedel - Very, very good.
lShea deserves an 8 and MOTM honors. Perfect 1st half. outstanding Free Kick. Contained Lichtenschtein. Might be the first USMNT LB ever to score in two consecutive games while playing the position (and both goals were lasers). "Release the Brekken"
Did I watch a different game than you? Altidore and Brooks get the two worst scores? Bradley gets a 6?
I only watched the second half, but Brooks was everywhere. I figure Bradley will get his usual praise, but his lousy first touch stopped more than a couple of attacks.
I think we should all be quite pleased about two things in this game. Weight them as you see fit. First, there was consistency across the pitch. Nobody stunk it up; nobody was great; all were pretty good, although some were better than others, obviously. The variance was much less than normal, of late. The most egregious, to me, was Chandler. At times, he was quite awesome, but at others, he looked unacceptably poor. Second, the re-emergence of Williams was a good sign. He looked quite solid and with a few better players around him, may be a major factor going forward.
Chandler loses a full point for me because of the goal. He was a foot from the byline (for no reason), not only keeping the Swiss goalscorer onside but raising his hand for offside while doing so. Let that sink in: he was raising his hand for offside <i> while practically standing on the byline. </i> That the Swiss weren't awarded a penalty on his failed-clearance double-handball-in-the-box minutes early was a minor miracle for the US.
He had jumped for the cross and the attacker had muscled him over to that spot. He should have tried to press back up, but I doubt he could have put the guy offside as it happened very quickly. That said, yes, it was pretty infuriating that he's raising his had for off-side there, when he's the one keeping the guy on by several yards.
From Mike Woitalla at Soccer America: http://www.socceramerica.com/article/63105/usa-switzerland-player-ratings.html
Consolidated media ratings (11): Bedoya - 7.1 Shea - 7.0 Brooks - 6.5 Orozco - 6.1 Williams - 5.6 Yarbrough - 5.6 Bradley - 5.3 Rimando - 5.3 Chandler - 5.1 Alvarado - 4.9 Morales - 4.8 Zardes - 4.8 Yedlin - 4.7 Altidore - 3.8 Ream - NR Morris - NR Thoughts?
This is a serious pet peeve of mine. Defenders put their arms up every time an attacker goes by. I've seen US players chasing their man back toward goal after they've been smoked with one hand in the air. The knuckleheads might be able to catch their man if they were running with their arms chugging along their sides instead. I just want to smack them. I think I'd go Herb Brooks on them if I was coach. Put your hand in the air to "call off-sides" during the game? You'll be doing laps after the game with one hand in the air. Maybe with a weight in that hand as well.
My primary thought is that the folks providing ratings don't know soccer. If the players were truly as bad as those grades as poor as those averages suggest (10 of 14 players rated 5.6 or less), the US should have lost by a 5-0 score, at least.
Only MLS Greg (liz lemon on Big Soccer) did it right. Everyone else mailed it in. I question whether some of these writers: 1. understand football, 2. watch the matches.
The more I watch the more I realise US soccer writers must have an agenda. Williams was particularly good cleaning up Bradley's mistakes and did a fine, excellent job on Shakira all day (wut?). Morales also made life very uncomfortable on his side of the pitch. Don't be surprised if both these players see significant time moving forward. These guys are Berti 'boys.'