I score on a 6 point "average" scale: Howard - 7 Hejduk - 6.5 Onyewu - 6 Bocanegra - 6 Beasley - 5.5 Mastroeni - 7 Bradley - 6 Dempsey - 6.5 Donovan - 9 co-MOTM Altidore - 9 co-MOTM Ching - 6 Torres - 6.5 Kljestan - NR
Seriously, what impressed you about Mastroeni? Altidore - 8 Donovan - 8 Ching - 7 Dempsey - 6 Bradley - 6 Mastroeni - 5 Beasley - 6 Hejduk - 7 Onyewu - 6 Bocanegra - 6 Howard - 6
Beasley a 5.5? Ching higher than Dempsey? Why only "average" for Bradley? I agree that DOnovan was MotM, but JOsy was not a 9. He had a lot of poor touches and dribbled too much a lot. Great finishes, great future, but I go with 7.5 tonight. I also agree that Mastro had a good game.
He was the rock in the center. He was also largely responsible for breaking up T&T's little early 2nd half surge, calming the field and swinging the balance of the game back to the USA. He pretty much played a textbook DM role match.
Mastro gave the mid a spine it didn't have Saturday and allowed Donovan and Dempsey to attack. Seriously underrating his performance, I think.
I agree- he looked like a wily seasoned veteran, playing against a bunch of inexperienced kids. For me, it was more than his passes or defense. His body language said, "Follow me boys, I know what to do out here."
Dempsey was very active, but not that effective but for a few very nice touches in the final third in the first half. He created very little on his side. He didn't hurt us either, he was pretty solid, and I rated him slightly better than average. Part of Altidore's big day was Ching absorbing the brunt of the defense's challenges. It wasn't a big day for him, but it was a solid day, and I gave him an average rating. Bradley was fairly average (though he did have one great attacking pass in the first half). Again, certainly not poor, but Mastro had the bigger day today, and I don't say that often. On any other day I'd give the MOTM honestly to Donovan, as he was the best player of the match, but c'mon, today was Jozy's coming out party. Managed to flub a golden opportunity inside the six, but a WCQ hat trick's a WCQ hat trick, and at age 19? Damn impressive.
Based on your own description, I think Ching did more. As for Josy, he can do more. But of course...he WILL do more!
Pablo was great defensively. My only slight complaint is when he got the ball in an advanced position he didn't really know what to do with it. But I will take a tiny bit of that for defensive domination of a midfield. I think this line-up could work well for us. I would like to see Torres and Bradley play a longer stretch of time together, same formation as tonight just have Torres be the more forward of the 2 CMs.
Howard 6 Not much to do. Hejduk 6.5 Tireless. Shut down a good counterattack opportunity from behind when it was still 1-0. Gutsy but timed to perfection. Bocanegra 6 Not too bothered. Onyewu 6 Same. Beasley 5.5 Somewhat suspect defensively, beaten on a few occassions, but linked up well with Donovan, particularly in the 1st half. Dempsey 6 Held the ball well but didn't offer much going forward. Mastroeni 7.5 Controlled and marshalled the middle of the field. Fantastic performance. Bradley 6.5 Solid. Got forward well. Had some cheap giveaways however. Donovan 8 Best player on the field. Virtually all positive build-up play went through him. Would have scored had Bradley played him in rather than behind. Ching 6 Great flick on for first goal. Better in the air than Altidore. Did his job. Altidore 8 Somewhat rusty in general, often not putting enough weight on passes or finding the right angles, but you can't argue with 3 goals. Torres 6.5 Lively, probably the most technically gifted with the ball at his feet based on limited evidence. Kljestan NR
I concur. Maybe that's why I was underwhelmed by Mastroeni's play. Personally I think Bradley could have done everything that Mastroeni did tonight. I also like it more when our two central midfielders are rotating going forward instead of one always going forward and one always staying back. Bradley/Mastroeni might be good against the bottom 3, but Bradley paired with Kljestan or Torres is likely to be more successful against Costa Rica, Mexico, and in the Confed Cup.
Howard 5.5 - only sub-average for the punt straight into the striker. Beasley - 5 - got caught upfield too often and still can't hit a cross to save his soul. Bocanegra - 5.5 - won the ball in the air well, but had no distribution and was constantly hoofing it upfield to nobody while under zero pressure. Onyewu - 6 - Like Boca, only a little better. Mastroeni - 6 - Solid game, but not spectacular. Poor passing but he did his job of shielding the back four. Bradley - 6 - Moved the ball along pretty well, but didn't really do anything creative at all. Dempsey - 7 - He was aggressive, he was into the game, and he was smart with the ball. When Donovan's playing well, that's all Dempsey has to do. Donovan - 8 - Three assists and plenty of dangerous running with the ball. I'd like to see more of him on the left. Ching - 4.5 - Was he really even on the pitch except for the flick on the first goal? Waste of space on the pitch. Time to blood some new forwards. The difference between him and Altidore was astonishing. Altidore - 7.5 - Three well-taken goals, even if the last one was soft. He was always available to receive the ball, he used his body to great effect, and he timed his runs really well. What more could you ask of a 19-year old striker? Torres and Kljestan - not enough time to give a rating.
I for one would take Mastro over Kljestan in a HEARTBEAT at Azteca or Saprissa and not even have to think about it. I'd have to think about taking him over Torres, but at this point I'd probably keep Torres in the bench and think about subbing him on at some point around the 60th, depending on how the game's going. The way Mastro plays is never going to look impressive. That's not what his game's about. It's about keeping our team in a position to be able to get the ball to the guys with skill and letting them look good, while our opposition never gets to really get us on the back foot too much. I've been critical of Mastro in the past, and there are games when he's been distinctly underwhelming. Tonight he was very strong, the strongest in the midfield, apart from Donovan, who was simply a terror tonight.
Agreed, those environments are exactly where you need Mastroeni. Also, I'm going to have to go back and rewatch the match because I can't recall any "bad passing" from him.
All I can say about Mastro is he has the touch of stone. It was really obvious watching in person that he just doesn't have the same skill level as the other players in the midfield. He did do a good job shutting down their attacks but what good is that when he shut down our attacks too.
If there's one coaching decision I really blame strongly on Bob in El Salvador, it was giving Sacha the start over Mastro when it was clear that their game was going to be all about the speedy counter on the flanks. Thus, playing a game with a young midfield prone to giving the ball away was playing straight into their hands. Kljestan has his moments, to be sure. There's no contest which of the two (between him and Mastro) is the more technically gifted. And he did it right against Mexico, though he wasn't "looking" good doing it. But he laid an egg against El Salvador, and it shouldn't be too surprising. El Salvador was building their gameplan to do exactly what they did, and Sacha (along with some others) played right into it. It's the sort of inconsistency you expect from young players on the road. Those qualifying matches in Central America are tough matches to play.
just got back from the stadium... Howard - 6 - easy night Hejduk - 6 - runs all night, final ball let him down tonight Gooch - 7 in the air, 5 distributing the ball Boca - 7 - composed beasley - 5 - still a liability on defense, had a free header from 5 yards out and stuck it in the keepers chest landon - 7 - obviously 3 assists, but watching in person you can see how he gets lost for periods - he drifts back to the inside of the park and just becomes hard to find against teams who are defending in numbers - as a result we rely on beasley too often overlapping to provide the telling ball bradley - 1st half 7, 2nd half 6...bossed the middle of the pitch, but seemed to tire and fade in the 2nd pablo - 8 - my MOTM...for me the most impressive player in person - tracked all over the field, absolutely bulldozed the TnT midfield - looked like a guy trying to stake a claim to that spot - for those who knock pablo and bradley with their passing forward, there was literally nothing there - with LD and CD tucking in with altidore and ching at the top of the box, the only space available were the overlaps which we went to time and time again dempsey - 7 - like landon, he tends to drift inside and clog up the center of the park, also like landon, i think we are starting to take him for granted...he does turn it over from time to time, but he may be the best Yank ever at possessing the ball in tight quarters...he relieves pressure and maintains possession for us on plays where others would goof a first touch and give it away ching - 5 - still not sure i get it - tireless effort, can't fault that - but he doesn't establish himself as a true target forward altidore - 7 - needs to play all his games in nashvegas...really could have scored 5, great run for the 1st, great composure for the 2nd, mishit the 3rd and got lucky - just keep him away from eddie johnson - he needs regular club games somehow someway crowd - great number, i thought the atmosphere was solid...ussoccer get that stupid big banner out the endzone where sams army is housed...also would be great if we could somehow always attack that end in half 2, it seems we are 0-for-2 so far in home qualifiers in that regard
I'd say his skill level, including his touch, vision and especially his passing are significantly better than either Bradley's or Dempsey's. Plus he can play D.
Howard 6 - other than the early non clearance - pretty quiet night Hejduk 7.5 - great ball forward for third goal. relentless in attack - many strong tackles Bocanegra 6 - Some position issues but did well to draw the TNT forward to create space for the attack Onyewu 6 - Did well - defended a very highline tonight Beasley 6.5 - Balanced the attack on th left flank - you know you are getting forward when you are getting your head on their 6 yard box Dempsey 6 - Did OK - needs to play more balls into space for the forwards instead of looking to always create for himself by driving inside Mastroeni 7.5 - Strong Bradley 7 - Got forward a lot and didn't make any clumsy tackles Donovan 8 - Best game as outside mid for a long long time Ching 6 - Had some nice flicks Altidore 8 - 3 goals - good runs - great check back for his second goal Torres 6.5 - Got into flow quickly and did well to control the ball Kljestan NR Bob Bradley - 7.5 - His player changes and adjustments from ES were very good
I missed the last 5 minutes, but here are my ratings based on what I saw. Howard 6 Steady. Not much else to say. He's a rock Hejduk 6.5 Looked great tonight. Got a little beat at times and had to recover, but did it well. Bocanegra 6 Solid. Like others, I wish we worked the ball out of the back on the ground a little more, but that may be a choaching issue. Onyewu 6 Ditto Boca. I thought he did well tonight. Looked a tad gimpy at times. I hope he's OK Beasley 5 I thought Bease looked a little out-of-sorts tonight. His touch wasn't great, and he looked iffy on defense. However, I like the idea of having him play left back. Was enyone else surprised by how many times he got beat with speed? Dempsey 5 I thought Duece looked pretty bad tonight. Did anyone else notice that during iour bad stretch early in the second half the ball kept on going to Dempsy, and he would dribble into the middle and lose it? He always seemed to take one touch too many. He also made some stupid selfish low percentage shots. I think he's looked better recently, and I was disappointed. Mastroeni 6.5 Solid breaking up plays on D and getting rid of the ball quickly. As others have said, you don't get much offense from him, but that's not really his job. Bradley 6 Looked solid, if not spectacular. He did what he needed to do. Donovan 8 MOTM - His speed of thought is so great to watch, and I think, more than any other player, he will benefit from the emergence of Altidore. The problem with the US team for the last few years is that LD had to do it all. I'm really hoping that Josie can continue to raise his game, as I think the combination of LD and JA in top form will make us much more dangerous than we've been since John OBrien faded. Ching 6.5 I love Ching's game. He did everything he needed to do to help the team win. I really liked his pairing with Altidore, and his knock-down to LD in the build-up to the first goal was pure class. Josie would not have been nearly as effective without Ching on the pitch. Altidore 8 He only gets an 8 because he scored three goals . His finishing today was very nice on the first two goals. As others have said, he gives us a new dimension. The funny thing is that he's so talented, that he didn't look like he played all that well today, and he still scored three goals. I am way more jazzed about this kid than I ever was about EJ. I just pray that he can get with a club who will give him playing time over the next year. Torres 6.5 I really like this kid. I have high hopes that he continues to develop, and can be our starter with MB in 2010. Kljestan NR
Howard 6 - Lowers my blood pressure knowing he is there, but wasn't tested. Boca 7.5 - Howard wasn't tested. Gooch 7.0 - Misread ball that John chested and shot. However, very active. Hejduk 6.5 - Active on both ends. Too many poor services. Many great tackles. Beas 7.0 - Great offensive impact for a LB. Bad draw having the fastest player in the CONCACAF (Edwards) to try to recover against. Bradley 7.5 - Great through balls to Altidore. Very active defensively. Mastro 7.0 - Like to see Torres, but as long as he plays like that I won't complain. Donovan 7.0 - Thought the offense really struggled when we did not go down the left. Dempsey 5 - some nifty heel passes. But way too much him v T&T, offense stalled down his wing. Altidore 7.0 - Great facing goal, rusty with back to goal. Ching 7.0 - Like Pablo and Boca, warriors that are going to give a consistent performance.
Howard - 6 Nearly a rare blunder from him Hejduk - 6 Needs to listen to the announcers and cross quicker Gooch - 6 Not threatened Boca - 6 Ditto Beasley - 5 Good going forward, but was out of position a whole lot; waaay out. Dempsey - 6 Active, but rarely much of a menace. Bradley - 7 Another ho hum 7 from Jr. Mastroeni - 7 Whether we like it or not, he's what frees up our attack to, well, attack. Donovan - 8 Did about as well as someone could do without scoring himself. Altidore - 8 The best thing about his week with the nats is how stupid it makes Xerez and even Villarreal look. Ching - 6 That MLS assist on the first goal was top shelf. Aside from that, he wasn't flashy, but he seemed to be a good compliment to Jozy. Torres - 6 He could be a star in the making. My guess is he's in La Liga before long. SK 6 - Better tonight, but then, it would be hard not to be.