Commentary
Chile-USA Player Ratings
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Jan 28, 2015
(@MikeWoitalla)
The USA scored two fine goals but otherwise failed to impress while falling 3-2 at Chile on Wednesday.
With seven men who played in the 2014 World Cup, the USA faced a Chilean team that fielded only one player who saw action in Brazil. Yet Chile played fine-tuned ball while the disjointed U.S. effort resulted in its third straight loss, extending its winless streak to five.
Starters:
RATING PLAYER (TEAM)
GP/G
5 Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) 16/0
Among his tougher saves, blocked with his arm Diego Valdes’ close-range shot after Jones coughed up the ball just
outside penalty area. Gave Mark Gonzalez a two-yard space at near post to fire home the 2-2 equalizer.
3 Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United) 1/0
The debutant was the
right-sided man in a three-man backline and needed lots of help from Yedlin. Almost scored own goal. First two goals came from his side.
4 Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution)
49/3
Started in middle of the backline and failed to marshal the experiment.
4 Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City) 24/0
Wonderful pass split two defenders
to set up Brek Shea’s sixth-minute goal. Failed to mark Roberto Gutierrez, who headed Chile’s 1-1 equalizer, and looked unsuited for the 3-5-2.
6 Mix Diskerud (New York
City FC) 26/5
Covered lots of ground and, after a wall pass with DeAndre Yedlin, set up Jozy Altidore’s goal with a smart pass back from near the goal line – a sequence that
evaded four Chilean defenders.
5 DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders) 11/0
Squandered prime chance with bad first touch eight yards from goal. Combined nicely with Diskerud
to set up Altidore’s goal. Played wide in midfield and also served as right back.
4 Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) 92/12
A shadow of the player Chievo fans called
“The General.” Turned over the ball too often, fouled in frustration, and not till late tried to surge the team forward. Highlight was a shot off the crossbar in the 61st minute.
4 Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders) 111/39
Another veteran who failed to inspire, whether as attacking midfielder or on the frontline in second half.
5 Brek
Shea (Orlando City) 28/3
Scored with an emphatic strike after running on to Besler’s ball. Mis-hit about half his passes and was shaky on defense.
2 Bobby Wood
(1860 Munich/GER) 6/0
Invisible.
6 Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC) 76/26
Scored the 2-1 goal by stroking the ball perfectly from 12 yards just inside far
post.
Substitute:
4 Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution) 5/0
Came on at halftime but didn’t give notice till his
77th-minute shot went just wide.
4 Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew) 1/0
The 59th-minute replacement spent most of the time chasing.
nr Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
1/0
Replaced Dempsey in 68th minute.
nr Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) 26/9
Replaced Altidore in 75th minute.
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
Im not sure we were watching the same match. I realize J Altidore scored, but that was something given to him by another players pass. He was horrific, in my opinion, giving away ball after ball. I think he turned over every ball he touched in the second half. I give Altidore a 3. (and that's with a goal).
Zardes was a nice spark.
Why didn't you rate Zardes? He participated while there, maybe a 5?
reuben, good post
again perhaps we were watching a different game
I don't get why Wondo was in the game. Does he have a future with this team at his age? I guess so with Jurgen and his crazy/wonderful tactics and plans.
Klinnsman is both genius and idiot at the same time. He undercoaches and over coaches. He's lousy and yet wonderfully lucky at times with his decisions, tactics, and player choices.
I will say this about our USA team, and it worries me. We have no system whatsoever. For all Jurgens rhetoric, we are just flying by the seat of our pants....playing different styles everytime, putting players in odd positions, and hoping. I feel that by this time, 5 years into JK's tenure, we should have a better idea of what we are trying to do. I think Jurgen Klinsmann is simply lucky to be the coach of a country deep with good players (no great world class players, but a lot of good athletes and good players) Therefore, no matter what he tells them to do, they're able to get a few goals and keep it interesting......but more often than not we are usually outclassed, outcoached, outsystem'd, and look very unorganized. I give JK credit for taking on really good teams in our friendlies. We don't play any cupcakes, and to be fair, this might account for a lot of our issues. We are trying things on the fly and against strong opponets.....but Chile only had one player from last summers World Cup and we fielded 9 players from last years event. This is why I lean towards blaming JK.
FYI... I don't care about the results right now, just they manner in which we play.
Could not agree more Reuben, Really tired with the mish-mash approach to both alignment and style of play. Certainly, JK has to see what the strengths of our individual players are, yet more times than not lately, he seems to run away from those strengths! Any half wit knew a three back line with this group, although talented, was not going to lead to very much confidence, and it showed big time!! What's the next experiment JK? Let us know a little farther ahead of time, so I can save up my drinking money.
What a mess. Yedlin was lost on defense. He was beaten repeatedly and had no idea where Gonzalez was on Chile's goals nos. 2 and 3. Except for his goal, Shea contributed little; his crosses were awful and his defense was lackadasical. Bradley, as Mike says, made far too many unforced errors. One goal does not an Altidore make. For the rest of the game he showed why Spurs benched him. Jones was zesty, but sloppy. Who knows what JK sees in Trapp or Nguyen, and Besler and Birnbaum ought to be introduced to each other. Wondo and Zardes at least know where the goal is.
I am shocked by how poorly our national teams are playing at every age level. Where is the accountability? We are not making any progress at all under the Klinsmann regime. Our players have no composure with the ball. It's incredible that the players representing our national team programs have such poor technical ability and such a fundemental lack of soccer IQ.
Bradley has become a real worry when it comes to holding possession in the "neutral" third. It cost us two points against Portugal in the World Cup group and he hasn't learned when to distribute quickly. I'd hate to drop him because he is a force in the offensive third but if this pattern continues he may need to sit. The rating and the reasons for it are spot on with him. The result of a match like this is less important than the player performances. Decisions have to be made made for the meaningful competitive matches and friendlies should be geared towards that. Unfortunately, FIFA's "the more you play the higher your world ranking" system, which affects seedings in tournaments, doesn't allow for this. There has to be a fundamental change in this system, which was originally supposed to be for entertainment purposes, not actual rankings for use in competitive tournaments.
Reuben, very good points. I like Wondo, but he's a known quantity and I can't imagine he'll be around for the next WC. Overall, this was a difficult performance to evaluate; Shea was a good example. He had an excellent goal, was pretty good in the air, got forward pretty regularly (and looked pretty dangerous when he did), but his passing left a lot to be desired, and he always looked shaky on defense. I can't decide if I like the 3-5-2 line-up; with teams playing only 1 or 2 forwards, I do think a flat four leaves too many defenders with nothing to do (so I like the concept), but with Yedlin and Shea playing like outside backs (when they could), we actually had a 5-man back line. The switch to 4-4-2 with Altidore and Dempsey up did not work offensively. Neither one has much speed, and neither likes to go forward. If you have Yedlin and Shea getting around the defense on the flanks, there needs to be someone in the middle who is near the goal looking for a 1-time shot, and neither Altidore or Dempsey like to do this. We need to get everyone on the same page. Finally, Zardes certainly played enough (and was in enough action) to have a rating; he seemed to provide a good spark, but his touch looked a bit off (I've not seen him play before so I don't know if it's just not that good, or he was just nervous).
All the Chile offense seemed to happen after we supposedly retreated into the tried and true 4-4-2. Ww simply do not defend well regardless of formation or personnel. You can lead a horse to water but no one can make it drink......These friendlies are the time for experimentation and testing of both lineups and formations. As far as playing style, it certainly is different and much more entertaining than Ho-ruck ball under previous coaches and it is exactly when we revert to that type of play that we get hammered. Athleticism and condition aside, Guts can only take you so far, it is guile and individual expression that will take you up the scale...
Can sum it up in one word. DISAPPOINTING.Now Chile B team is still a very good side and would play well against most teams. Having said that, our second half collapses continued as we were up 2 to 1 at the half. Bradley has not looked like Bradley for a long time. I felt that he played poorly in the World Cup. I like the new formation but this extreme change in players makes it seem that JK has no idea what to do to fix our problems. Is it just me but our players never look fired up to play for whatever that is worth.
Kudos to Klinnsmann for TRYING to play more attacking style, however we need players whom can play 3-5-2. Jones looked loss playing sweeper, Birenbaum positionally was horrible in possession, diskerund and yedlin are perfect for this type of formation. Defensively 3-5-2 Should look like a 5-2-1-2, but we didn't have that Bradley and mix lacked discipline to play tandem defensively. Overall, if we are going to play a 3-5-2, the players need to know there roles and in my opinion the player personale was lacking on klinsmanns part.
There are definite merits for the USA playing a 3-5-2 against Chile. Potentially, the system is ideal for the athleticism, speed and attacking mentality of Shea and Yedlin (one of the top five fastest players in BPL). Evidence of this can be seen in the two goals scored by the United States. The problem, which no one has addressed in this post, is that Chile altered their style of play and pushed the outside players forward into attack. In response Shea and Yedlin were forced to drop deeper in defense. In essence, they were no longer outside midfielders, but outside defenders. Missing wide midfield players the central trio of Bradley, Diskerud and Dempsey were stretched across a much wider swath from side-to-side. Presented with space in which to better prepare their attack the Chileans were able to deliver unopposed service to space behind Yedlin and Shea. This was obviously a game from which much can be learned, so there is no need to panic or throw the system, players and coach out the window. Issues will be sorted, the players will gain experience and this group will progress nicely.
Take a look at Birnbaum's rating. Yes, those two goals came from his side, but both goal scorers were Yedlin's men. (through ball, and re-bound)
You can't apply high pressure from the back as your man checks in if the outside mid allows there man to run through or free.
Yedlin deserves credit for his play forward, but he was clearly delayed in his response tracking back.
Yedlin (3 or 4)
Birnbaum (4)
So am I,Jbapper,but with the players JK has at the present time there is little he can do.Altidore,Dempsey,Bradly,they are way passed their time,even BShea,and Diskerud.The US team is so inconsistent,7 out 10 times,they would play like a bunch of idiots,who don't have any notion of how to play the game.Chile has always been a South American power house,so no wonder the result.This was the only thing good about this confrontation.The US was not playing against El Salvador or Jamaica,so aside from the loss it was a good experience.But there is hope.Today there are millions of kids watching and playing the game the way it is suppose to be play.Donovan said it well,"if you did not play the game since a very early age,(5 or 6) you will never be good at it".You can not teach an old dog no tricks.And I believe this is the problem with most of our present players,they turn to Football,(Soccer) at 15 years of age or more,and this not the way.So I do believe that in a five to ten years from now the USA will have plenty of good talented players,that can compete with the world's best.
Craig, I agree with you, however klinsmann switched from a 3-5-2 to a diamond 4-4-2 in the 2nd half, jones was pushed into the middle, which Chile adjusted better than we did and too many times there was no cover for yedlin by our center backs. I think IF klinsmann decided to change the lineup, he would have been better switching to a 4-3-2-1 formation and try to counter, which would clog the midfield and the wings.
Rick, I don't believe that most of our players started playing at 15.
Buy a #3 ball and find some 5 yr olds to play with. This country has so many beautiful green parks, how many groups of little kids do you see running around kicking a ball? Donovan was exactly right, your feet have to learn the ball very early, and that's a 20 yr project. And it doesn't take coaches or lots of organization, just kids and balls and a little encouragement.
I disagree with the negative comments about Yedlin's defense. He did get beat sometimes, but he also made a number of very good 1/1 plays. Wide defending players who focus on attack are always vulnerable, and you can't blame them too much for a built-in problem with the role. Learning how to play that role well takes time. Bottom line: we need more attack from somewhere, and it won't come for free.
Where is the team rating; it probably deserved a generous 4.