Player Ratings The US-Mexico (2/6) Thread

Re: Game Ratings The US-Mexico (2/6) Thread

Howard -- 6 (two goals against, but some good saves and no real errors)

Corrales -- 3 (out of his depth defensively, very lucky that Mexico didn't start Giovanni on the right)

Bocanegra -- 4.5 (rusty and too much fouling -- his giveaway of the corner that led to the 2nd Mexican goal was totally unnecessary)

Onyewu -- 7 (great finish and minimal fouling [for him]and one great clearance -- not saying he can't be beat by clever, quick play, but he did the job today)

Moor -- 4.5 (great, great assist on the Altidore goal, but struggled with Vela, though most would)

Convey -- 4 (tried hard but simply not able to compete, would like to have seen Lewis earlier)

Lewis -- 5 (active and threatened some)

Clark -- 4.5 (didn't team well with Bradley)

Edu -- 5 (better positioning than Clark)

Bradley -- 4 (not much positive and some really wayward passes)

Feilhaber -- 5 (provides some badly needed ball control, please get him some playing time somewhere, even Israel)

Donovan -- 5.5 (one great stretch at the end of the first half, but had to help back a lot, though he didn't do much wrong)

Dempsey -- 6 (very active game even, was sorely missed when he exited)

Adu -- 4.5 (completely ineffective until the last minute, though the style of play in the 2nd half wasn't conducive to his game)

Altidore -- 7 (nice goal, Mexico had to hack him to prevent another)

 

US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

there were some good performances tonight, and some of the worst performances ive seen in a US jersey.

Howard (8.5): Johnny on the spot today, the guy is World Class i dont care what anyone says. And the choke hold.....oohhhh the choke hold

Gooch (6.5): The guys hitting a consistant streak and looking good, its good to see. fantastic finish on the goal. And give the central defense credit they cleaned up A LOT of mess today. Solid game by Gooch

Bocanegra (6.5): Same with Bocanegra, theyre starting to click back there and feel one another, it was like two men on defense today and they looked really good.

Moor (3.5): The lord giveth, the lord taketh. After assisting one goal, dude gets absolutely torched all freaking day, horrible performance. Clearly out of his element. Spector would have been an immense help today. Cherundolo, if healthy, a no brainer.

Corrales (2): The worst player on the pitch, and the worst player ive seen in a US jersey in a long, long time. Gave away set pieces galore in dangerous territory. Next time you bitch about Bornstein on the pitch, better think twice . Id chalk up Johnny S as our starting left back as of today. our two outside backswere our poison today.

Bradley (5): some good, some bad. Put down some bone crunching, smart tackles, and some bad, some silly passes and silly fouls. Picked up the obligatory MB yellow card. Completely neutral performance.

Clark (5): hopefully this can put the Bradley-Clark pairing rhetoric to rest, didnt work. Both good players, but the same kind of player. you wanna complain about Donovan being invisible, look at this guy.

Convey (3): WOW, i am ashamed to call myself a Convey supporter after that performance. I know you have the injury excuse but YIKES. Convey was absolutely abused today and was completely useless, very dissappointed with Convey after that one. Holden, Alvarez, Rogers, and even Zizzo loom.

Donovan (5.5): he absolutely abused Salacido once he made the switch, made some influential runs and influential passes, but was blanketed in the second half.

Dempsey (6): Dempsey made a few silly dance moves that were uncalled for, but had a great GOAL. a well taken GOAL.

Altidore (6.5): Twellman, sit down. Ching, sit down. EJ, sit down. You have just been erased. Jozy Altidore is here to stay. scored and remained influential WITH shotty service, created his OWN chances. We finally.....finally, have a forward i feel confident in again.

Subs:

Adu (5.5): Was invisible up until the very end, but then gave Mexico a sign of things to come with some fancy footwork in the end and gave the US a great set piece look closing. I like Adu as forward depth.

Feilhaber (6.5): Did ALOT more good than bad today. The field got alot more fluid and moved more efficiently when he got in. If you were questioning the intrinsics of Feilhaber's game, i hope you watched the second half. That is why you need a midfielder like Feilhaber in the game. We do have alot of destroyers like Bradley, Clark, and Edu, but Feilhaber is a unique commodity from them. Guy looks pretty good when he's not forced out right doesnt he?

Lewis (5): Ehhh.....he was there i guess.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

I would give Boca and Gooch 7's. They did a very nice job for essentially playing with 2 men in the back. Everything else looks good. Did you forget EDU or just not rate him. I dont really if there was enough to rate him but he looked like he covered the pitch better than Bradely or Clark.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

I might give a 9 to Howard.

Agree on Convey, Moor and Corrales.

Thought Landon was more like 6-6.5.

Thought Altidore was more like 5-5.5. Goal was great, but he was pretty much a nonfactor the rest of the time, and not much effort.

Adu 4.5-5. Slow, and like you said, was invisible until the final 30 seconds. Unable to keep posession, no runs etc.

As a team, I don't think you can say they were better than 4.5. Mexico had their way with us, taking the ball, keeping the ball, moving the ball.

 

Re: Game Ratings The US-Mexico (2/6) Thread

Howard - 7: Athletic and strong presence. Someone get him a megaphone.
Gooch - 7: Knows how to play mexico now. Solid and imposing on both ends of the pitch.
Bocanegra - 6: Battled, as always. Covered for poor outside backs numerous times.
Corrales - 4: Nervous. Is a beeter player than he showed tonight.
Moor - 2: You can't lose the same man on the same set play twice. Nice cross.
Bradley - 3: Lots of hustle, but very poor passing. Kudos to Dad for replacing him.
Clark - 4: A hair better than Bradley. Still, failed to control the midfield.
Donovan - 6: Wasted out on the right. Shone in a few moments in the 1st half, then faded.
Convey - 4: Offers very little.
Dempsey - 5: Looked dangerous at times, but no service. Tired and faded in 2nd half.
Altidore - 8: Great goal. Played a great physical game, but the ref hampered him.
Adu -5: Some nice touches. Should have started.
Feilhaber - 6: See Adu. Immediately settled the US midfield when he entered.
Lewis - 5: Didn't see much of the ball. Almost got free once.

Bob - 4: The empty bucket must go. This team needs to ATTACK. Oh, and let me run a few names by you... Spector, Simek, Pearce, Wynne, Dunivant. All better options at outside back than the outclassed deer in the headlights pair you sent out there tonight.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

just overlooked, completely my fault. I guess that just says i didnt see enough of him on the pitch to make a good eval.

point now is though, Bradley, Clark, and Edu are the same type of midfieler. Edu MAY be the only passable one that can work as a quote unquote holding midfielder. I still like feilhaber better in that role though.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

Yeah, thought Onyewu deserved a 7 or 7.5, played really well. Hope he can transfer soon, thought that all your ratings were all pretty spot on though.

 

Re: Game Ratings The US-Mexico (2/6) Thread

Howard-7 goals not really his fault
Moor-4 would have been a 3 had he not had the assist. Out of his league here
Gooch-7 nice goal, played strong
Boca-6 fairly steady
Corrales-3.5 schooled way too often
Convey- 4 basically invisible
Bradley-4 way too many bad passes and poor first touch
Clark-4.5 not much better than Bradley, didn't team well
Donavan-5 didn't impact the game much
Dempsey-6 was robbed on the bad call, but didn't do much else
Altidore-7 Nice finish and was dangerous Clearly on the way up!

Adu-5 showed flashes of being dangerous. Plus he's killer on set pieces
Feilhaber-5 midfield got better when he took over for Bradley
Lewis-5 didn't do much, but didn't hurt the play
Edu NR

MOTM Altidore Just because I like the kid

 

Howard- 8 (MOTM)
He played really well, neither of the goals were his fault, he kept us in it with many huge saves. Great game I thought. It was also good to see him not taking any crap from the mexican player who tackled him hard.

Moor- 5.5
Really bad game. Got burnt on mexicos first goal. Only reason he wasn't a complete diaster was his great assist on Jozys goal.

Boca- 6.5
As a unit the defense struggled, but boca had a few good tackles and played pretty strongly

Gooch- 7
Was really strong on defense, good in the air, and our best defender by far. What an unbelievable finish on the header goal, and he set it up with a great throw in.

Corales- 4
Who is this guy and what he is doing playing on the national team? I'm sorry, but does he have naked pictures of Bob Bradley or something? Shockingly bad performance.

Convey- 5.5
Really didn't have an impact on the game, we missed Beasley here

Bradley- 6
Played well in the begining, but then began to struggle. The yellow card wasn't really deserved, but it forced him to be subbed out because he looked likely to pick up a second. With how well he has been playing in the dutch leagues, this was a dissapointing performance.

Clark- 5.5
This was one of the days biggest dissapointments. Really struggled early, and never clicked with Bradley. Played a little better towards the end with Fielhaber. I think Clark and Bradley are too similar to work well together.

Landon- 6.5
Made a few good plays, and had some nice runs. Good play for the assist on the Gooch goal, but was overall pretty quiet today, not a usual mexico game for him.

Dempsey- 6.5
A little too agressive at times, really inconsistent, had some great plays and then some terrible plays. His best play by far was the stunning goal that was called off. that was a world class goal.

Altidore- 7.5 (2nd best MOTM)
A really strong game for Jozy. He was really aggressive, got back to break stuff up and looked really dangerous in the box. He had no fear going against mexico and Rafa Marquez in only his 3rd cap. Great to see him get his first goal. A strong performance tonight.

Fielhaber- 6.5
I thought he played better than he had in a while

Adu- 6.5
A really strong impact for a sub. It was good to see him take that one corner, he can be dangerous on set pieces- he was in the U20s. An amazing play to set up the stoppage time free kick.

Edu-NA
not enough time

Lewis- NA
not enough time

 

Re: Game Ratings The US-Mexico (2/6) Thread

Howard:7 Brilliant except for some inability to get people organised on set plays. Admittedly, that wasn't all his fault, but it's hard to rate him higher when he gives up two goals. Probably the man on the pitch I'm least worried about though.

Moor:5 Defensively he was a liability and he didn't link well with Donovan or the CMs. Also liable for one of the goals. That cross on the Altidore goal was world class though. Saved him from a very low rating.

Onyewu:8 My MOTM. In addition to being very dangerous on set pieces, he had to deal with cross after cross from our weakened flanks and never let Mexico get a clear shot from them. Some of his interceptions showed incredible athleticism.

Bocanegra:7 As solid as Onyewu defensively though lacking the flash he showed.

Corrales:3 Liable for the other goal and contributed almost nothing offensively. Our left side was bad.

Bradley:5.5 Great one minute, then giving the ball away the next. Never got into the flow but was very disruptive on defense.

Clark:4.5 Saw less of the ball than Bradley and when he got it seemed to always rifle it to the feet of someone five yards away. Disruptive on defense, but somewhat wild.

Convey:4 He was a virtual non-entity on offense and not good on defense.

Donovan:6 Was dangerous at times and linked well with Dempsey. Those two were the only pair linking well on the field. OK on defense, and once again subpar on set pieces.

Dempsey:6.5 Underrated performance today by the announcers. Was able to stand up under pressure, then feed the ball to Donovan or Convey when they came to support. I must admit, his goal that was called back is somewhat included in this feeling of him just being dangerous.

Altidore:6.5 Showed so much promise and a couple deficiencies. His passing leaves much to be desired and he also looked out of control on defense. Both can be fixed. I'll be astounded if he isn't our top forward by 2010.

Adu:5 Took awhile to get in sync (which is bad for a potential supersub), but fought hard and was one of the most aggressive players on either side in the second half.

Lewis:4.5 He is what he is. He'll give adequate support on the left wing against most opponents in both directions but nothing more.

Feilhaber:6 Most solid of the CMs, we could not maintain possession until he was in the game.

Edu:NR

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

I agreed with most of the initial analysis, except I think the most important thing is missing. We were simply outcoached. Sub an ineffective convey for an even more ineffective lewis? Man I miss Beasley and hell atleast Mapp would have brought some more skill. Not subbing out Corrales when Heath Pearce is on the bench? Rendering our entire left side inoperable especially when Dos Santos is a fresh pair of legs. Bob didn't do his job tonight except finally putting in Altidore.

Benny was a good change of pace, but he wasn't that great. He had a hard time connecting some solid passing. He needs more playing time or he's not going to grow. The whole team was erratic and not at all organize for large stretches of the game and it showed. Donovan normally shows very well for Mexico, but this wasn't a game where he fell asleep. He was taken out by tactics because we couldn't spring together solid passes to get him into space. Considering the man is money on these games he should have been closer to the goal at later stretches.

I'll give the benefit of the doubt that this team needs more time to gel, but Bobs got a lot of work to do because we don't make it out of the first round of 2010 with this play.

 

Howard - 8

Corrales - 2
Bocanegra - 4
Onyewu - 7
Moor - 1

Convey - 3
Bradley - 5
Clark - 4
Donovan - 7

Altidore - 8
Dempsey - 7

Adu - 5
Feilhaber - 7
Edu - N/A
Lewis - N/A

I'm not kidding on the Moor rating, either. It could very well be the worst game I've ever seen a US player play. And I don't give a shit about the assist. I'll subtract the one goal he helped create and the two he gave up and take the win instead.

And while the central defense did a decent job of defending, they were terrible distributing the ball, which only leads to unnecessary loss of possession and more Mexican pressure. The only reason Onyewu is rated so highly is because that was a kickass goal.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

Would say you're generally on the mark there Own(yewu)ed. Adu got a few quality touches and runs in immediately after entering, and then was a nonfactor. Probably would have given him a 5.

Both Convey and Corrales struggled badly. And Bobby Convey is a player I have alot of respect for.

Heath Pearce was missed big time, and if Steve Cherundolo plays the U.S. most likely wins this 1-0. Moor was terrible defensively in this game. Donovan continually had to track back to try to cover for him.

It should be a while before an MLS defender gets a shot at outside back again. Even Bornstein, as inadequate as he is defensively, is not nearly as poor as Corrales.

Dempsey needed more service, and should have been playing a bit more withdrawn instead of on the shoulder of the last defender so often.

Howard gets an 8 for me, and man of the match.

Feilhaber looks so much more comfortable in the international game, its a dramatic difference. I still prefer a tandem of he and Bradley together.

 

I use the 6 point "average" system.

Howard (8)
Moor (5/5.5)
Corrales (5)
Onyewu (7)
Bocanegra (6.5/7)
Bradley (6)
Clark (6/6.5)
Donovan (6.5)
Convey (5)
Dempsey (6.5)
Altidore (6)

Subs:
Feilhaber (6.5)
Adu (5.5/6)
Lewis (6)
Edu (NR)

 

Howard (7.5) Solid performance with some big saves and command of his box.
Corrales (null) I could list everything bad, but I don't have that kind of time. Everything he did was god awful.
Gooch (6.5) Nice finish and one of his better performances. His size is as much an asset as a liability, but the other defenders should compliment him and be able to cover for his weaknesses.
Bocanegra (7) Solid in almost every facet of the game.
Moor (1.5) Terrible marking. Terrible general defense. Sweet cross.
Donovan (6) Decent first half. Disappeared for most of the second.
Bradley (6.5/4.5) Good first half. Showed better defensive skills and had some nice touches. Needs to get his head up. Different player in the second. Still like him.
Clark (5.5) Tenacious, but over commits too much. Good with the ball at his feet, but needs to get his head up. Needs to mature. Still like him.
Convey (3.5) Flat out bad.
Dempsey (6) Showed some great flashes, but disappeared far too much. Off game for him.
Altidore (7.5) Impressive first showing. Great presence on and off the ball. Showed flair and some fearlessness and an ability to play physically. Looking forward to more of him.

Feilhaber (5) Some good touches, some bad. Had less an impact that he should have. Expecting more out of him.
Adu (5.5) Largely ineffective, but showed some nice flashes. Curious to see what he develops into.
Lewis (4) Didn't do much. Had a few decent passes and some good moments of defense, but had a few bad as well.
Edu (5) Looked physical and confident. Overall, not a huge impact, but he's got some real potential.

 

I use the 6 point "average" system.

Howard (8)
Moor (5/5.5)
Corrales (5)
Onyewu (7)
Bocanegra (6.5/7)
Bradley (6)
Clark (6/6.5)
Donovan (6.5)
Convey (5)
Dempsey (6.5)
Altidore (6)

Subs:
Feilhaber (6.5)
Adu (5.5/6)
Lewis (6)
Edu (NR)

Overall a poor effort, as Bradley/Clark (particularly Bradley) lost control of the park (Torrado had his best game against us I think I've ever seen him give), and our flank play both in attack and defense-aside from Donovan against Salcido, who was forced further back as the game went on to cover for the out-manned Moor, was horrific. Play up front was good in spurts, invisible in spurts. Central defense was very good, and goal-keeping was excellent.

The good news is that we'll never see Moor or Corrales in a game of this intensity against a team of this magnitude ever again. If there were any doubters, this one proves that neither of these guys can play against quality opposition. And they really gave it their best, the both of them, you could see the effort. Moor in particular played his heart out. They're just not good enough.

 

Re: US v Mexico: Player Ratings (R)

Team performance - 5.5
Howard (7) Good stuff

Gooch (6) Most consistent, solid game in a long time.

Bocanegra (6.5) I guess he has benefitted from the time off at Fulham.

Moor (4.5) as a third stringer, he did great, but....

Corrales (4.5) outclassed.

Bradley (5.5) did some great things, only to goof it up; never got control of the game the way he should have.

Clark (5) I think his somewhat scattered approach to the game disrupted central midfield organization, and MBradley, in particular. I really wanted Edu in earlier for Clark.

Convey (4) not sure he purposely did anything useful; a shadow of himself from 2 yrs ago.

Donovan (5.5) hard for Donovan to get going when Moor couldn't play the short passing game with him, and the central midfield was so disorganized.

Dempsey (5.5) too bad he stepped offside in advance of the pass leading to his "goal" (nicely taken anyway). He was a bit slow to hit passes before pressure got too great.

Altidore (6) good 90 min. Needs a lot more time to approach his peak. Needs to become more mobile and get on the end of more passes. However, he had a great first full game against a tough opponent.

Subs:

Adu (4.5) very disappointing except for his late dribble run leading to a DK. Held the ball too long; tried to be creative in situations demanding patience and quick clean touches to someone else.

Feilhaber (5.5) another mediocre midfield performance. Not particularly bad, but not particularly good, either.

Lewis (4.5) No longer Nats material. I'd rather have seen Adu on the left, with Noonan in for Dempsey.

Edu (5) Needed more time to show more. In his few minutes (too few, IMHO), he showed about an equal number of positives and negatives, like the rest of the central midfielders.

 

Howard - 8 good game, the goals were not his fault at all.
Moor - 4 a good assist, but was beat twice on some very good runs in the box. Still, unforgiveable at the national team level.
Onyewu - 7 played well, and even had a goal.
Bocanegra - 6 played okay, but both center backs have to make sure that their D-mids are marking up better.
Corrales - 5 was getting beat far too often in the second half.
Bradley - 5 not his best game.
Clark - 5 not his best game.
Convey- 5 virtually invisible.
Donavan - 6 played good towards the end of the first half, but has to play a bigger role overall.
Dempsey - 6 short game and tried to do too much for the most part. Hard to judge with the short performance though.
Altidore - 7 The future, nice goal, but could improve with some checking runs and I have seen him quicker than he was tonight.

subs
Lewis - ehh, whatever, would rather see younger talent out there.
Adu - 6 did okay considering that he was getting little help by the time he got in the game.
Feilhaber - 6 slightly better than Adu, was a positive substitution.
Edu - Didn't see enough to judge him.

Team USA: 5 - a poor game from team USA. We were not sharp at all and the team defense was pretty awful. Still, we saw some good things from Altidore and got some invaluable playing time for all of our youngsters.

 

Howard 8 Mr. Safe Hands came up big. Was clearly having problems communicating with his defenders but came up with the right stops.

Moor 3 An unmitigated disaster from start to finish. Even with a beautiful assist, this was the worst performance from a USMNT defender that I can ever remember. Gave the ball away over and over, out of position again and again, beaten for pace like a rented mule and worst of all lost his man on both Mexico goals. Shocking really.....and Bradley strangely never put him out of his misery with a sub.

Gooch 7.5 Spent the night putting out fires that were started by the awful fullbacks and scored a beauty of a goal.

Bocanegra 7 Helped run the backline with Gooch and did well. Trouble is, Corrales and Moor were more interested in pouring gas on these fires than putting them out.

Corrales 3.5 Diabolical. The less said the better.

Convey 4.5 Was never dangerous, looked slow, didn't dribble anybody.

Clark 5 Looked awfully rusty and should have been pulled sooner.

Bradley 5.5 Not a good performance all around, part of the problem was the tactics. At times him and Clark were too close together, other times could not connect at all.

Donovan 6.5 Did a job on Salcido but faded big time as the game went on.

Dempsey 6 Didn't get alot of service as the US had trouble distrubuting out of the back. But he did score a great GOAL.

Altidore 7.5 Beautiful goal. Got better and more confident as the game went on. Folks, its performances like this out of a player this young that get European scouts out of their seats and reaching for the phone.

Subs:

Adu 5 All but invisible until the last minute

Feilhaber 6 Definitely had an impact and changed the pace a bit.

Edu 5.5 Would have like to see him earlier.


Coach Bradley 4 Why wasn't Moor pulled at the half? Why was Clark on for so long? Why use two central midfielders with the exact same skill-set? Is there another option at right back after Cherundolo and Spector, like, say, a practice cone?

 

When was the last time Clark played a competitive match?

He was suspended for a big chunk of the Fall.

I think he was rusty and it showed.

 

Howard - 8 - Friedel-esque as a massive presence between the posts. Not at fault on either goal and made several crucial saves.
Moor - 3.5 Deserves credit for the nice assist, but was completely at fault for both goals. If Cherundolo's in there, I think we shut them out.
Onyewu - 7 - Well taken goal. Solid in defense. He always steps up vs. Mexico.
Bocanegra - 6 Solid match, had to cover for Corrales a bit too much, distribution needs improvement though, as does OO's.
Corrales - 3 Absolutely abused down Mexico's right flank. Was completely overmatched. Spector, Hejduk, Bornstein, Pearce, Dunivant are all upgrades.
Donovan - 6.5 Nice assist and very active in 1st half. Disappeared in 2nd half as Mexico keyed in on him.
Bradley - 5.5 Adequate. Too many giveaways and at times his defensive positioning was questionable, but good tackling.
Clark - 6 Also adequate. Fewer giveaways than Bradley but questionable defensively.
Convey - 3 Mostly absent. He was about as effective as he was against Mexico in February 2007.
Dempsey - 6.5 Struggled a bit with limited space, but was active and his "goal" was extremely well-taken.
Altidore - 7 Excellent header & showed tremendous strength battling up front. He's a keeper.

Subs:

Feilhaber - 6 Brought some much needed vision and passing ability to midfield, was solid defensively. Only one noticeable giveaway.
Adu - 5 Ineffective till his nice play in the last minute. As Martin noted, though, these weren't ideal conditions for him in the 2nd half.
Edu - NR
Lewis - NR However I will note that he provided BETTER defensive cover down the left side than Convey did.