Guzan - answered when called upon. Cameron - outstanding. Gonzalez - MOTM tie. Besler - MOTM tie. Beasley - always seemed to do just enough. Bradley - solid. Edu - good game, not clean but active. Zuzi - better defense than I expected. Gomez - showed good pace. Dempsey - a few sparks of danger. Altidore - starved of service. EJ - we couldn't service his pace. Davis - poor foul, odd sub, did ok. Shea - added a few mins of size to our left side.
Of course I'm game.... Guzan - 6.5...actually not at much to do. liked how he came out to draw foual once, and punch away another Cameron - 6... really not a factor one way or another Gonzalez - F it... 9... legend Besler - 7.5...2nd half was as good as it gets Beasley - 6... up and down, but got it done Edu - 6.5... solid, solid, solid Bradley - 6... O.k. Zusi - 6.5... one of his better efforts though nothing really dangerous Gomez - 6... can't complain, but not much going on. Dempsey - 5.5... didn't see much Altidore - 5.5 or maybe NR Jonhnson - 5.5, meh Davis - 5 - meh minus Shea - NR
Guzan - 6.5 Cameron - 6 Gonzalez - 7 Besler - 6.5 Beasley - 6.5 (actually fantastic considering how he was knocked around) Bradley - 6 (but what a 6!) Edu - 6 (but could have easily been a 4.5 if the pk had been awarded) Zuzi - 5.5 Gomez - 5 Dempsey - 6.5 first half; 5 after Jozy went out Altidore - 6 should have been left in the gaem EJ - 6 Davis - 5 Shea - nr
Gonzo 7.5 Besler 7 Guzan 6 Bradley 6 Edu 5.5 Dempsey 5.5 Cameron 5 Beasley 5 Zusi 5 Gomez 5 Altidore 5 EJ 4.5 Davis 4.5 Shea n/r Klinsmann 7 The thing I take away from this match is that the US got a very hard-earned point for a disciplined, simple, performance. Nobody had to stand on his head to make miracle plays. Just do your job and work hard. Just about every player made some mistakes, but teammates were around to clean up. Gonzo and Besler were the big winners individually, and a pairing that I hope we see more of. Could be the most important development of 2013. Guzan proved he's ready to challenge for #1 these last two games. Zusi exceeded my low expectations with what I think was his best overall performance for the US. His defensive work rate and discipline were really solid. I thought he was the weakest link in the XI, but I was wrong about that. (If I were rating the Mexicans, I'd give mostly 4's and 5's for a toothless, uninspired effort. Lamest Mexican performance I've seen in a long time. No spark. No leaders.)
Gonzalez - 9 (Holy cow, what a game.)Besler - 8 (Massive)Guzan - 7 (Did everything he needed to do. Great command of his area.)Cameron - 7 (Locked his side down, though everything came up the other side.)Bradley - 7 (Amazing defensive work and good distribution.)Edu - 6 (Would have been right there with Bradley but for the horrid non-called PK.)Zuzi - 6 (Nice defensive work rate and great first touch all night.)Gomez - 5.5 (Good defensive work, not called upon much offensively. Ridiculously bad corner kick)EJ- 5.5 (Great work rate buzzing around up top. Just what the doctor ordered.)Altidore - 5 (Starving.)Beasley - 4 (My God, that was abysmal. Ball-watching time after time and completely lost his mark on at least a dozen occassions. It's a miracle he didn't concede 3 goals. A MIRACLE.)Dempsey - 4 (Unacceptably poor defensive work rate, especially in the dying minutes. Lost possession almost every time he got the ball.)Davis- 3.5 (Outclassed, completely. Looked completely out of his depth. Sad, really.)
Gonzo and Besler were incredible. Boca who? Also I will maintain this till 2014. Guzan is our best keeper right now and will be our best keeper. Howard is not as good as he was in 2009. I think Guzan has earned a chance to beat out howard.
Honestly I agree completely. Howard is on a better team so people will throw the stats of goals given up but honestly Guzan has been villas MOTM in most games. I think his positioning and reading of the game are better. he gets off the line well.
Probably needs its own thread, but I agree that Guzan has made his case that he deserves to be #1 on form right now. His manager at AV chose him specifically b/c of his command of the area and communication with his backs. One of the things that really gets under my skin with TH is how he berates his defenders if they make any error or perceived error in positioning or judgement. Sometimes you need a stick, but others you need a carrot. TH always seems to use the stick. I do think we need to see how he would do in games that aren't farcicle snow games and games in which the Mexicans didn't have too much to ask the GK, but BG looks like a very very good keeper and on form alone right now, the #1 choice, IMO.
I urge you to go back and watch Dempsey for the last 10 minutes of the game. He was just standing in the middle of the field. Just standing there. There were several times when Mexican players got the ball five yards from him and he just watched. I realize he was gassed, but you can't just stop playing with 10 minutes on the clock in a 0-0 game in the Azteca. Seriously, watch the tape. I was literally screaming at the TV.
He had two clearances in the 6 in that last 10 minutes. I'm not going to kill him for keeping his shape and not chasing and opening up space for Mexico to exploit at the top of the D, 25 yards out.
The clearances were set pieces that came to him. He wasn't keeping defensive shape. He was letting players run and dribble right past him and not even sticking a foot out to block shots. He was completely gassed, and that's just not acceptable for me. Not a Dempsey hater by any means. Love the guy. But he was terrible last night.
I guess we can agree to disagree. I thought he was clearly gassed and not energetic, but he was working defensively. But I can see what you're saying.
Yes, and his being gassed was totally understandable given that he's been out with injury and played two 90 minute games at altitude. I'm just saying you've got to suck it up and fight through it. You can't just throw in the towel. I'll look for some post-game quotes from him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's saying now that he was rocked for the last 10 minutes. Maybe Klinsmann should have pulled him.
Guzan - 8 (came out to claim the lob vs. Zavala. Howard would have stayed deep and it's game, set and match to Mexico) Cameron - 6 (had to go against Mexico's second best player in Guardado and did well compared to his predecessors at the spot ... contributed little to the offense but that was also on the game tactics) Gonzalez - 7 (showed more pace than I thought he had and managed to double bracket Chich effectively ... kept the ball in front of him but didn't get beat on through balls either ... in fairness, Mexico doesn't have any forwards who are good at running with the ball ... aside of Vela, who's on his own sabbatical) Besler - 7 (a good professional foul yellow, excellent range and physicality ... his distribution wasn't tested, as Mexico didn't press and JK kept Mikey in front of the defense to pick up the ball right away) Beasley - 6 (got beat a couple of times badly, when he should have cleared into Row Zed ... but battled and provided an important outlet) Bradley - 6 ( Mexico's attack didn't test him, as Salcido was content on taking 30 yard bombs into that Row Zed ... showed up for own defenders and played it safe ... no contribution to the attack to speak of) Edu - 5 (at times, covered on the Mexican counters; at others, set them up with his own egregious turnovers ... I thought the PK call would have been very iffy ... no contribution on offense) Zusi - 5 (made one great clearance and a couple of nifty moves far away from goal ... hustled ... helped with possession somewhat ... otherwise, not much in the attacking zone) Dempsey - 3 (basically awful ... horrible turnovers; no key passes; no shots on goal, no headers ... he is not a withdrawn forward due to the lack of necessary attributes ... appears overweight) Gomez - 5 (hustled; played out of position, but it was better than not playing at all, as in Honduras ... should have been a supporting striker to Altidore or, at worst, a right wing) Altidore - 6 (hustled, held up the ball, was not put in a position to succeed by the coaching staff .. playing him on top of Moreno, arguably Mexico's best player, resulted in neutering by own hand) Subs - Johnson -4, Davies - 4, Shea - NR. JK - 6 on on the result (this is not a very strong Mexico team with Barrera and Juarez out or benched), 4 on the style ... the US parked the bus in front of own goal and survived; presented virtually no threat on the other end; the midfield shuffle was pro and con - a bunch of Edu's turnovers were because he had to make plays in the area he is not comfortable in; Dempsey proved again to be useless in his role; Zusi was mediocre at best, Altidore should have been either brought in closer or played over the top, et cetera, et cetera)
I noticed that he didn't seem to have his foot on the accelerator in the last 10 minutes. He was gassed, I guess, but i did yell at the TV for him to suck it up. Funny, he didn't seem to hear me. Maybe he was just ignoring me, the whole team seemed to be ignoring me all night. If you're gassed, you're gassed, ain't nothing you can do. JK had already used three subs. He had enough in the tank to be in right place defensively at the crucial points late on, so for him, job done. Would I have loved to see him charging around after the Mexi back four harassing them in the 92nd minute, sure, but not everyone can do it for 90+ minutes.
Dempsey doesn't deserve the criticism. The guy was chopped down in both CRC and MEX games. It makes one less likely to score or assist in the final third. Playing with no wings suck because there is no service. Playing through the middle has never been one of our strengths.
From my view Bradley's marks are too high for this game. He seemed quite slow and generally was late on the play. If he got beat in the least he pulled up and let someone else deal with it. He wasn't a disaster, but almost, as defensively he just jogged around without much purpose and was unaware of the overlapping runners going by and behind him, which led to some scary moments. Also, he only made one real attacking run. It could have be the formation or the role he was given, but he showed little interest in supporting the US attack and consequently created a gap in the US shape. When that happens you seen the plays go over the top (which we did see a fair amount of last night) as there is really no midfield to play through. I would only give his about a 3.5 as I viewed him to be a large part of why the back line was so busy. I am not a Bradley hater but he is better when he pushes up more and shows a little energy. Good point for the team to take out of a tough environment and against a good team.