Howard 7.5 Made up for the El Salvador game and stood tall. Bornstein 6 Vast improvement from Saturday's game but he is an own goal waiting to happen. Bocanegra 5 Had several sloppy mistakes that could have ended up in the net. Onyewu 6.5 His battle with Jones was fun to watch. Spector 6 Did a nice job on the much faster Edwards. Dempsey 4.5 Up until the goal it was a lazy, apathetic performance. The goal seemed to energize him. Clark 6 Didn't impose his will on the game....until he hit a 30 yard bender. We need more from him....and more of those. Bradley 5.5 Up and down, kinda like his club career this year. Donovan 6.5 Yet another assist but his corner kicks were shocking. He has carried this team on his back through qualifying. Davies 5.5 This guy is a total pest to defenders and his workrate was excellent but he was relatively quiet. Altidore 6 Hit a hard azz shot right at Ince. If only he could find the corner on those. Was a handful for T&T. Subs: Feilhaber 6 Suddenly, Benny looks like he is adding defense to his already nice passing and technique. Holden 6 Came on and did the job. Brought some energy. I vote for him to start on the wing instead of Dempsey. Ching NR Meh, blah
I agree about Dempsey being energized. Dempsey had a bad game but I found it hilarious how much Harkes hated Dempsey during this game. At times the play had nothing to do with Dempsey and he mentioned how Dempsey did something crappy earlier that was totally unrelated!
harkes has never been a fan of clint, even in the confed cup when harkes was announcing, he was always hating on dempsey the whole time.
This game was pretty lame but I got great fulfillment counting how many times Harkes remarked on Dempsey's crappyness. Dempsey was bad but c'mon man! lol
In his hey-day, Harkes was a hard charging, hard working mid-fielder of fairly weak technical ability. I remember his English team coach Ron Atkinson was once asked about a play and Harkes' touch. His reply, meant to be a little humorous, was :"his touch? My mother has a better first touch than Harksie". Harkes crappy technical skill was why Sampson was always trying him at outside full-back, leading to their famous feud. So this is the context in which Harkes is hating on Dempsey, a very technical, slick player, who is sometimes way too casual with the ball and his work-rate.
harkes is just another fan like us we know what demps could do we seen it with Fulham and when he plays like crap we all get upset with him but its time for him to feel the pressure like we give it to Donovan he has to step up
I would rate Donovan a little higher, his deliver on the set pieces was a little off tonight, but there was a good stretch of the second half where he owned his side going forward and stole or broke up anything T&T had going forward. Just a quick aside, if we have someone else in the game that can deliver the set pieces they should be given the job over Landon. I feel his shot from the top of the box(ex. shots like his MLS goal of the year) and speed to run down loose balls that are headed out make it a better option to station him there during set pieces. He could also send in secondary crosses.
Howard - 7 - solid overall Spector - 6 - average performance Onyewu - 6 - average performance Bocanegra- 4 - another sloppy game Bornstein - 5 - good game for him, but still not good enough Dempsey - 4 - poor effort, a lot of poor passes Donovan - 7 - another solid performance, assisted the goal Clark - 6- scored a great goal, did little else Bradley - 4 - poor passing, poor decisions Altidore - 5 - did little Davies - 6 - worked hard, offsides a lot, should have made some better passes Bob Bradley's sweatpants - 0 Holden - 7 - work rate was great, created some opportunities, better than Dempsey Feilhaber- 6.5 - knows how to hold the ball and distribute Ching - 2 - seriously, he's not in the top 30 available players
The sweatpants were ridiculous. I don't think it is totally necessary to wear a suit, but when you represent the National team as a coach maybe try to look like you just didn't just finish up on the cardio machine at the gym. Holden has played well in his last 3 cameos. He really is unlucky to not have gotten an assist (Davies inches away @Azteca, Torres rocket header, Donovan miss last night).
Tim Howard - 7 Jonathan Bornstein - 6 Carlos Bocanegra - 5 Oguchi Onyewu - 5 Jonathan Spector - 5 Ricardo Clark - 6 Michael Bradley - 5 Clint Dempsey - 4 Landon Donovan - 6 Jozy Altidore - 6 Charlie Davies - 5 Benny Feilhaber - 5 Stuart Holden - 6 Brian Ching - 4
Must have been laundry night. Howard - 7 Spector - 5.5 Onyewu - 6.5, better 2nd half Bocanegra - 5 Bornstein - 6 Dempsey - 4.5 Bradley - 5, better 2nd half Clark - 4.5, 6.5 with goal Donovan - 6 Davies - 5 Altidore - 5.5 Feilhaber - 6, calming presence and improved defending Holden - 6, surgical cross to tired legs Ching - 4, backpass in the box in traffic
Howard- 9. Did nothing wrong, made some insane saves. Donovan- 8. Work, work, work. Nice assist. Bad corners. Onyewu- 7. Welcome back, big man. Clark- 7. Golazo!!! Spector- 6. Owned his side of the field. Still a little sloppy with the ball. Davies- 6. Great work. Should have passed on that one near the end. Altidore- 6. Another fine performance. Feilhaber- 6. Brought great energy to the field. Some nice passes and runs. Holden- 6. Best crosser we have. Bradley- 5. All over the field. Some bad moments. Boca- 5. Started slow, came on strong at end. Still a warrior. Bornstein- 3. Very shaky. And I'm usually a fan. Let's see Castillo. Dempsey- 3. Worst performance since 2007. Gotta leave him on though. Ching- NR
For those of you in the "Spector is slow school" Look at the 5 or 6 seconds just before Jones' shot in the 53 minute. Spector and Edwards are just inside the T&T half and Spector starts tracking back. Edwards grabs Spector's right arm and goes by him on the left opening up a gap of about a yard as he sprints towards goal, that gap didn't get any bigger
I think the Dempsey hate was deserved last night. He was pretty poor in the Confed Cup for 75% of the tourney. I have to ask one question. Would he play like that for Fulham and Hodgson? Hell no because he knows his arse would be in the stands watching the game. The hospital pass that invited the T&T player to break Spector's leg pretty much sums up his performance last night.
Harkes is playa hatin'. I would give the whole team a 4, with a 5 going to Clark for having a 5 second stretch of non-uselessness, a 5 to Donovan for playing 4 positions (LB, LM, CM, Second striker) and benny for being a football playing substance while he was out there. Mexico is getting better with each match and we are getting worse. If you track the progress of all good footballing nations they tend to get better during Quals not worse. France, Argentina, and the US are all looking bad. maradona is a madman, no surprise there, but Domenech and Bradley both play ultra-conseravative game plans and both teams have looked pretty bad. Granted France played Romani and Serbia, two teams that would wipe us out.
Howard - 7.5 Spector - 5.5 Onyewu - 7 Bocanegra -3 Bornstein - 6.5 Dempsey - 5.5 Bradley - 4 Clark - 6 Donovan - 5.5 Davies - 6 Altidore - 6 Feilhaber - 7 Holden - 7 Ching - 10, MOTM, Brilliant defense, brilliant hold up play, should go 90 every game
A lot of fairly average performances; no one really stood out much, except Dempsey whose game was a bit off, ultimately he did have a hand in the goal though, sending a nice ball to Donovan who set up Clark. Howard 6 Bornstein 5 Boca 5 Onyewu 6 Spector 6 Donovan 6 Clark 6 Bradley 6 Dempsey 4 Altidore 6 Davies 5 Holden 6 Feilhaber 5 Ching 4
Howard 7.5 (MOTM) Spector 4 Bocanegra 4 Onyewu 5 Bornstein 6 Clark 6 Bradley 6 Dempsey 4 Donovan 6.5 Altidore 6 Davies 5.5 Subs: Feilhaber 5.5 Holden 5 Ching 5
The everyone is average and no one stands out edition: Howard: 6.5. A couple sweet saves, but is lucky for the crossbar assist. Spector: 5.5. Medicore in the first half, strong in the second. (4.5 1H, 6.5 2H) Gooch: 5.5. Rusty in the first half, strong in the second. (4 1H, 7 2H) Boca: 5. Average throughout the game. (5 both halves) Bornstein: 6. Very determined to put last game behind him. Succeeded. Really the only defender who had a good first half (6.5 1H, 5.5 2H). Dempsey: 4. Yes, he had a crap game, but what did he do to poor Harskie? (3.5 1H, 4.5 2H) Clark: 5.5. Didn't do much in the first half, did a ton in the second. (4 1H, 7 2H) Bradley: 6. Average to solid in the first half, above average in the second (5.5 1H, 6.5 2H) Donovan: 6.5. He was not usual Landon, but still Landon. (6.5 both halves) Davies: 5. Pretty average throughout the game. (5 both halves) Altidore: 6. Solid throughout his 60. Feilhaber: 6. Above average. Ching: 5. Average. Holden: 5.5. Not as good as the ES game, but his crosses are deadly. He's getting an assist one of these days. And he should take corners when he comes in. Basically, the whole team was below average in the first half and above average in the second half.
I usually like to watch the game twice before I rate anyone (b/c it's too emotional the first time around), but I'm not going to get that opportunity this time, so here goes: (5 = average international) Tim Howard - 6.5 - Would be higher but he was beat bad on the chip- slow to react to a complete meltdown by the defense on that play. Great diving stop on the direct kick (which shouldn't have counted if it had gone in b/c it was an indirect foul, but with CONCACRAP refs on the pitch, you can never be sure). Jonathan Bornstein - 5.5 - I don't see him ever really surpassing this grade. He's an average at best player on the international level. He did his job, no complaints though, and that's a significant improvement over last time. Carlos Bocanegra - 5.0 - Captained a suddenly shakey back line. Can always be counted on to needlessly boot some long balls down the field for turnovers. Starting to think that LB really is the best place to play him, but we really need some depth at CB now. Oguchi Onyewu - 6.0 - Would be higher but he had a very shakey start to the match-- his touch and passing was way off. Got burned on an inbounds play that put Tim on a bad position. However, after that he was dominate in the air and really shut down TNT's large forwards. Overall, above average. Jonathan Spector - 6.0 - Locked down his side for the most part while doing a significant amount of 1v1 defending on a speedy winger. Still a turn-over machine on offense but is getting better. He's got a lot of upside still, I think, and consistent play at WHU should lead to better play for us. Ricardo Clark - 6.0 - Graded up a full point for the goal which was world class (the straight-on shot shows how much it bent- the strike started directly at Ince and froze him with that bend . . . positively Beckham-esque). However, there was a real whole in the central US midfield in front of the CBs and that's Rico's responsibility. Gave away too much ground to TNT. Michael Bradley - 6.0 - Asked to do more offensively that Rico and consistently did (Rico's goal aside) and yet still managed to do more defensive work tracking back off turn-overs. However, he still presided over a central midfield that was frequently in no position to stop or even slow TNT counterattacks. Not sure if that's his fault for running too far foward or Bob's for letting both CMs leave space uncovered. Clint Dempsey - 4.5 - Clint showed well above average possession skills, but committed too many needless turnovers in the attack. I don't grade him down for failed passes that were attempts to spring players in good position, but he also had too many passes to noone. That's unacceptable at this level. Landon Donovan - 7.0 - Sure he didn't have a highlight real goal, but it shouldn't come as any surprise that he was involved in our one goal. We don't have offense without Landon right now. Made good passes in open as well as tight spaces. Should have finished Holden's cross. His dead balls are sub-par right now. Jozy Altidore - 5.5 - A handful all night and connected well with Donovan. Had the right idea to take a shot at Ince (a keeper who is well know for not being able to hold on to the ball), but there should have been more of that and more shots when players were in the box instead of crosses (which Ince handled well all night). Didn't adapt to the demands of the game well as the night wore on. Our offense should have created more chances. Charlie Davies - 5.0 - TNT's defensive formation stunted Charlie's speed advantage and I didn't see him play more positionally. Gaining a good understanding of how to play off Donovan and Jozy, but didn't adapt to the specifics of this match very well. Our offense should have created more chances. Subs Benny Feilhaber - 6.0 - Defense is much improved. Typical good passing in tight spaces we've come to expect from Benny. Did his standing on the team no harm with this performance. Stuart Holden - 6.0 - Very active and committed as a substitute. Brought needed energy to the field. His cross should have led to a goal. Brian Ching - 5.0 - Perhaps an odd choice as a sub, given we didn't need offense at the time. Played good defense, made himself available as an outlet, ran slow, couldn't connect on a few very good passes he tried to make in the box. Typical night for Ching - not great, not poor. Coach Bob - 5.5 - Average at best, but 0.5 addition for getting 3 road points in WCQ. Didn't make adjustments on our approach to offense (we needed more shots at the keeper with players in the box - watch TNT's other games and you'll see Ince spill a lot of balls that turn into rebound goals). Seems to be playing a formation that allows our central midfield to be overrun too easily, but that may be an intentional choice as an attempt to get more bodies up on offense. A stead hand at the helm, though, and I think deserves credit for sticking with Spector and Bornstein who played well. The outfits he wears are a disgrace - he should be required to wear a suit and look like he's taking his job seriously. FANS American Outlaws, NYC Branch - 9.0 - Outstanding group of fans, great setup for watching soccer at Jack Demseys (burger was outstanding). Chants were good, loud and at key moments in the game. Clearly the next best thing to being in the stadium. Free goal shots from the bar well above international standards. Thanks for taking in an out-of-towner for the night. __________________
Mostly for that ugly pass to Spector and not doing much else. You're right though, probably too harsh, could easily be a 5.
Howard 7.5 - Had a good game and kept us alive. Donovan 7 - Same ol' Landy (good thing), but the CK's and Fk's were bad. I saw some rare tight space technical moves that are above what i've seen LD do before. Bradley 7 - Had a good (not best) game and was always involved in the buildup or takedown. All over the place covering for his deficient partner. Altidore 7 - I think Altidore had a pretty good game and was always involved in the attack. Could have done more if Davies was sharper. Onyewu 6.5 - BEAST...Did good job shutting down the other big man. Played good, though I don't remember him using his head much... Bocanegrea 6 - Had a solid performance when comparing some of his recent outings. Really did nothing wrong. Bornstein 6 - Had a much better game and looked solid most of the match. You could even say he looked good out there. Spector 6 - Did good covering the speedster and really never got beat. Provided some help going forward though should have done better on a few. Dempsey 5 - Had a bad game. Simple as that. It seems that when Clark has a bad game so does CD. Sometimes plays progressively when those around him want to play conservatively. Davies 4.5 - Allowed himself to be neutralized and didn't push the envelope. Disappeared...and was guilty of greed on that one play...you know the one... CLARK 3.5 - He only gets the 3.5 because of the goal...I've said it before and i'll say it again...when at least ONE of the CM's have a bad game the WHOLE TEAM suffers...simple as that. And this time Rico was terrible. HE (not MB) looked like a chicken with its head cut off and chased the play way too much. Had probably 10 touches the whole game, 2 in the first half. Should have been subbed even after the goal. I've seen many teams do it before even if the player scores... Holden 6 - Did a good job with his limited time and provided a dangerous cross...however, he is coming in when everyone else is tired and slow...still not a starter for me. Feilhaber 5.5 - Did OK. Nothing special and i'm still not sold that he should be getting so many chances over JFT. Ching 4.5 - Really shouldn't be out there, but not too bad of an option to keep the defense tired and busy. Bob - I've always defended BB within reason, but since i'm a fan of JFT and he doesn't get any time above players I think he is better than (BF and Holden), I am not as pleased with him lately. Plays for a better team, and has better ball control/possession skills. Come on... Also I think Clark should have been subbed much sooner...And don't tell me if Clark wasn't subbed we wouldn't have had the goal...without Clark we would have had more chances to score. People need to remember that Footy is a dynamic sport and players can't be analyzed solely on the space they occupy...the way the players AROUND them are playing greatly influence their own performance. That is why CM's and their performance level is so important.