Boyd - nice assist and some hold up play. devoid of service at times Gomez - similar to Boyd, lacked service, mostly did OK when had it --------------------- Donovan - not his best night but fine D.Williams - not his best night Torres - didn't find the game Jones - took 70 mins to get a yellow! Beckerman - for sure one of his best USMNT games. nice to see. Beasley looked better in the Torres role than Torres Shea - game changing moments of brilliance Zusi - sparky Corona - got a cap --------------------- Castillo - as good as I've seem him play F.Johnson - solid. Cameron - a beast. MOTM Edu - some confused positioning; athleticism and activity more than made up for it Orozco Fiscal - GOAL!!! I'm still not sure how he got in the 6 yard box ---------------------- Howard - some awesome saves. MOTM #2.
Good: Cameron: MOTM. The next task is finding a guy who can work with him. Howard: As usual. Shea: made things happen. Bad: D.Will: as usual. Torres: didn't play his role(control the ball and make clear passes) well. Edu: As a CB, play like a DM.
Boyd 5 Nice heel, some failures to hold when he clearly could have Gomez 6 Worked arse off A little to selfish when he did get service Donovan 4 I think he was hurt Torres 4 Set up to fail But that's on the coach Torres cannot play on this team unless he is deeper and circulating, and that is situational and opponent specific Wiliams 4 Zero attacking talent. Either he plays a pre DM or not at all Jones 2 Horror show He's better than this Turnover machine Beckerman 7 Had he not had the miscommunication in the back and the pass back to corner kick he's been rated higher. He set up Shea who..... Beasley 5 Energy but no brains and no touch really Shea 7- creator and game changer Zusi 6 worked very very hard Corona --too little time to rate. Should have come in for Jones at Minute 60 --------------------- Castillo 6 Good, not great defending. Refused to dribble and attack even when he had the space That's all confidence or instructions not to. But a LB needs to attack more F.Johnson 7 But he is more effective at LB Cameron 8 only one mistake. Even if the little pea had scored, I would still rate 8 under the circumstances Edu 6 Not bad JK needs to leave him there or not Im afraid He's not a good enough footballer to slide in anywhere at anytime Orozco Fiscal 7 Played well and scored ---------------------- Howard 9 Zero mistakes and came up big when necessary
Boyd 6.5 Gomez 5.5 --------------------- Donovan 6 D.Williams 3 Torres 3.5 Jones 4.5 Beckerman 4.5 Beasley 5.5 Shea 6.5 Zusi 6 Corona NR --------------------- Castillo 6 F.Johnson 6.5 Cameron 8.5 Edu 7.5 Orozco Fiscal 7 for the goal ---------------------- Howard 8
Everyone gets a 10 because they just won in Azteca and I drank too much beer. Need to watch a second time to make any objective observations.
Howard - 9 Cameron - 10 Edu - 7 Johnson - 9 Castillo - 8 Orozco - 7 Donovan - 3 Torres - 2 Williams - 3 Jones - 5 Beckerman - 8 Zusi - 6 Shea - 7 Beasley - 6 Gomez - 6 Boyd - 7 Corona - _ something like that. Tough match to do ratings for
Howard - 8 Came up big in the end Johnson - 6 Quiet night Cameron - 8 Lost Chich a couple times, but under duress for 90 minutes, and came out the other side Edu - 6 Not great, but can put it on the resume Castillo - 7 Shocker really. He still scares me (what was with the unnecessary slide takcles in 1st half?) but overall, he was excellent Beckerman - 5.5 Poor touch a few times. But did his job really. Jones - 4 Too many give aways. And when you lose the ball...Get the F Up. Williams - 4.5 I just don't see it in this guy. Donovan - 5 Maybe he was hurt. Not aggressive enough. Torres - 3 What the hell position was he playing? Worthless. Poor touch too (which is supposed to be his strong point right?). Gomez - 5.5 Hard worker, but it wasn't a night when the striker is gonna get superlative marks. Boyd - 7 Nice assist/shot. He was pretty active all 45 minutes out there. Beasley - 5 Drifted around to not much effect. Zusi - 5 See Beasley Shea - 7.5 Don't really need an explanation. We need THIS Shea. MOF - 7 I'm not really sure WTF he was doing in that position, but god bless him. Acquitted well defensively also. Corona - NR Dd make one Defensive play I think.
Williams was playing out of position and has been pretty much everytime he's been in a USMNT uniform. He's a CDM for Hoffenheim and does VERY well there but JK has used him as an attacking/winger which is obviously not his position, thus why you probably don't see it in him. Give him a chance at CDM and he will do well. I'd like to see him take Edu's spot.
Here are my player ratings: STARTERS *********** Howard - 8 Man of the match. Two great saves and one really good one. Loved him wearing the captain's arm band. Johnson - 6 Did okay at RB but it's clear playing him here really kills us at two positions. Needs to go back to LB from here on out, unless JK wants to give Lichaj another look (which he definitely should). Cameron - 6.5 Was steady Eddie for most of the night, but got beat a few times and only some very sloppy finishing by Mexico saved him. Edu - 7 Really impressed with Edu tonight. This guy is SO versatile! JK has to find a spot for him somewhere. Castillo - 5 Best game in a US shirt and I thought he was still the weakest link on the back line. Got beat repeatedly. Not sure what else JK wants to see here. Why not bring in Lichaj? Jones - 4.5 Not a great night - again. Plenty of options for JK to look at here, hopefully Stu Holden gets healthy soon. Beckerman - 5 Still think he's got some work to do before he's the last man on the WC2014 roster. On the plus side, he's very secure with the ball. On the negative side, he's not very dangerous either. Williams - 4.5 Single-handedly killed every forward attack he got a touch on. Not sure he's going to be a long term option here. Donovan - 5 Is this guy bored with national team duties? Maybe he really did take a knock, but I'm kinda glad he watched the historic win from the bench. He needs to know we can win without him. Torres - 4 Bad night. Usually does better with set pieces, but was very quiet and a non-factor tonight. Gomez - 6.5 Great work rate. Always hustling. Got unlucky with the push in the box, would've been a pen on a neutral field. Could figure in the striker pool for a long time. SUBS ********** Boyd - 7 Impact player. Back heel almost went it and probably should've. Orozco Fiscal - 5 Right place, right time and great reaction to tap in the sitter. But I really don't like it when LBs try to poach goals during open play. Had he not scored, Mexico was poised to quickly counter down his side. Shea - 8 Sounds crazy, but we do not win this game if Brek Shea doesn't play. The goal was 90% on his run to the backline and nutmegged his defender. Impact player of the match. Zusi - 5.5 Great service into the box on set plays. Definitely a player worth calling back into camp. Beasley - 5 Not sure what he was doing half the time he was out there. He's a sub on the B team, end of story. Joe Corona - N/A Didn't see enough to rate him. Takeaways - enough w/Castillo, let's see Lichaj. Same w/Danny Williams. We need Stu Holden or we're living and dying w/Jermaine Jones.
Howard: 8.5 - Responded brilliantly when called upon. Castillo: 6 - Performance has been a tad overblown, but Castillo was active and competent. Cameron: 6.5 - Dominant performance until the last 15 minutes or so. Edu: 5.5 - Performed admirably at different position. Could have future at CB Johnson: 5.5 - He's simply a very good player. Belongs in the Donovan-Dempsey-Howard-Bradley echelon Donovan: 4.5 - Worked but couldn't get it going Jones: 4 - Lost the ball again and again. A poor performance. Beckerman: 5 - Was just as bad as Jones until he settled down as the game went on. Positioning was a plus but nothing dynamic here. Williams: 4 - Lacks any ability to attack or even maintain possession on the flank. Was horrible when the US had the ball. Torres: 4 - Invisible. Simply not an attacking mid. Gomez: 5 - Lacked for inspiration but worked tirelessly. Boyd: 6 - Assisted on the goal and worked like a dog. A caveman, but a likable one. Beasley: 5.5 - Involved in some positive sequences, but not overly influential in any part of the game. Zusi: 5.5 - Barely touched the ball but covered ground and defended ably nontheless Orozco-Fiscal: 7 - Big, big goal.
Beasley: 5.5 - Involved in some positive sequences, but not overly influential in any part of the game. I think Beasley is getting a raw deal from some of you guys. I've highlighted a post that I agree with and will say that I thought he was one of the more composed players for the US. He looked like a player who's been there before. I also think he couldn't get too involved in our offensive gameplan because he had to track back to help Castillo. Also, I don't see what Torres brings to the table that Adu doesn't. Torres doesn't play defense, he doesn't win 50/50 balls, and he's not providing much service in our offense. Sounds like Adu except that Adu can take people on and can make the final pass.
Come on. He's absolutely not bored with national team duties. He was hurt. Did you not hear the announcers? He was even unable to complete the team practice the night before and had to begin treatment on his leg. He had to take a late fitness test right before the game just to be in the lineup. My guess is that the hammy tightened up on him in the first half and he didn't want to risk anything. You bet he knowsw the team can win without him - which is a good thing, by the way. It can win without Dempsey, too. And Bocanegra, and Bradley, and....... On topic: The whole team gets an 11. Including the coaches. Not a single player was intimidated out there.
To be fair though, Torres and Williams may not have been intimidated, but if not, what's their excuse for being useless out there? I suppose Williams was out of position, but that's on JK. I give those two guys below average grades...
Very tough environment. Even for a night game (cooler) and a friendly. Our B team vs. basically their A team. Torres didn't have enough ball opportunity and was consciously marked out by a high quality opponent. Williams wasn't as bad as some say. We won the frickin game keep in mind. And the first half when these guys were out there was our better half. Mexico had zero shots on goal.
I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence that you quoted my post and then responded first with a couple of points that have nothing to do with Torres or Williams. Us winning the game doesn't have anything to do with how ineffective these guys were. I get your points and there is some value to them, but both of them get below average grades from me for their performance tonight. There are enough guys who weren't here that deserve to start and guys who played well tonight that neither of those two should be starters again any time soon. Given how much JK likes Williams at least, I wouldn't be surprised if JK gives him a pass and starts him. In a different game perhaps he'll play better, but I'd rather play some other guys.
IMHO I would add that Fabian needs to be included when flashing out a starting lineup. Also, everyone is praising Castillo. I couldn't tell if he was playing great or that Barrera sucked. Both is the logical answer. Castillo has earned himself a few more callups but IMHO I just can't see him as a long-term solution. I;m still not sold on him. Having said that, job well done Castillo.
That's my read. Castillo did very well against Barrera, and was much less effective against Hernandez. However, Hernandez did have the fresh legs and he didn't, so you have to keep that in mind. And Barrera's an inconsistent player himself. I'd say with the way Klinsi lined the guys up, he was doing all he could to make sure that Guardado would't have a chance to dictate the game, and daring Barrera's side to pick up the slack and beat us.
I watch the match again. I didn't realize that LD was dropping back so much to help Castillo. Makes sense why our midfield wasn't doing well in terms of possession. Guardado came over to Castillo a few times and got by relatively easy. Hernandez did get the better of a Castillo that played 45 minutes already but not by much. Castillo has earned himself another callup. Beckerman did better than what I imagined when watching for the first time live. Having said that, this is the best he can give IMHO and we have MB who is an upgrade.
I totally agree with your analysis on Castillo but couldn't disagree more about your conclusion. That's exactly why Castillo SHOULDN'T get called back in. Let's see Lichaj, remember him? The guy starting for Aston Villa?? Yeah, THAT guy.