Denmark-USA Player Ratings
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Mar 25, 2015
The USA scored two goals against the run of play and led 2-1 for 17 minutes in the second half, but lost 3-2 to Denmark in Aarhus on Wednesday.
Nicklas Bendtner scored the final two goals of his hat trick in the 83rd minute and in stoppage time. Goals by Jozy Altidore and Aron Johannsson earned the USA fleeting leads against a Danish team that controlled most of the game.
USA Player Ratings
Starters
5 Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) 19/0.
Saved the easy ones.
4 Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER) 18/0
Served the long, high cross-field ball that set up Jozy Altidore goal. Went missing on Denmark's
first goal.
4 Michael Orozco (Puebla/MEX) 14/3
Among the many befuddled on the Danes’ first goal, central defender was part of a backline that needed Michael
Bradley to come back and help them bring the ball forward.
4 John Brooks (Hertha Berlin/GER) 9/1
Burned by Nicklas Bendtner on the stoppage-time game-winning goal.
Seconds later missed a close-range header on the other end.
4 Greg Garza (Club Tijuana/MEX) 6/0
Like the entire backline, struggled to take Danes out of their rhythm and
unable to spur counterattacks.
4 Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy) 3/0
Wide midfielder looked uncomfortable with the ball and provided no wing play.
5 Michael
Bradley (Toronto FC) 94/13
Curled a perfect left-footed pass through Danish defense for Altidore to set up Aron Johannsson’s goal. Failed to marshal his midfield troops.
4 Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/FRA) 38/2
Partnered in central midfield with Bradley for first 45 minutes without delivering the ball to the frontline.
3 Fabian
Johnson (Borussia M’gladbach/GER) 30/1
Pulled after 45 fruitless minutes wide left in midfield.
7 Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC) 79/27
Beat two Dane
defenders to crush ball home from the edge of the goal area to give USA a 1-0 lead. Nicely served up Johannsson’s goal.
5 Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar/NED) 10/3
Invisible in the first half but poked home the USA’s 2-1 goal.
Substitutes
3 Brek Shea (Orlando City) 30/3
Replaced
Johnson wide left in midfield at halftime. Hit one cross.
3 Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt/GER) 7/0
Fourth German product to take the field on Wednesday failed again to
reveal what Jurgen Klinsmann sees in him.
3 DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham/ENG) 13/0.
Struggled for 23 minutes after replacing Zardes.
3 Rubio Rubin
(Utrecht/NED) 3/0
Made no impact after subbing for Johannsson in 67th minute
3 Ventura Alvarado (Club America/MEX) 1/0
Getting thrown into central defense
for the final 10 minutes is a tough way to debut and Alvarado made the worst of it -- beaten on header before tying goal, crude yellow-card foul led to threatening free kick.
(1=low;
5=average; 10=high)
----------------------------------------------------------------
March 25 in Aarhus
Denmark 3 USA 2. Goals: Bendtner 33. 83, 90+1; Altidore 19, Johannsson 66.
Denmark -- Andersen; Wass, Kjar,
Sviatchenko, Bollesen (Busk Poulsen, 53); Kvist (Christiansen, 46), J.Poulsen (Delaney, 46), Vibe, Eriksen, Krohn-Dehli (Schoene, 78), Bendtner.
USA --
Rimando; Chandler, Orozco (Alvarado, 80), Brooks, Garza; Zardes (Yedlin, 67) Bedoya (Morales, 46), Bradley, F.Johnson (Shea, 46); Altidore, Johannsson (Rubin, 67).
Yellow Cards: Denmark -- Kvist 25; USA -- Altidore 78, Alvarado 89.
Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland).
Att.: 10,505.
The so-called german american players were awful. So much for that failed experiment!
I only caught the first half, and saw the highlights, but our defense looked so soft and Rimando is not commanding in the box. Only Altidore had a decent game, Klinsmann's 4-4-2 didn't look good with the personale on the field. I personally thought Klinsmann would have gone with a 3-5-2 with Johnson and Shea, but thinking about tactics isn't klinsmann's high point.
Another poor performance for the USA. Bradley and Altidore were the only decent players on the field. The Germans were awful across the board but Klinsmann will keep playing them. It's amazing how far this team has regressed in such a short amount of time. We can't even play simple passes and possess the ball. I'm sure he'll try and put some positive spin on this...
There was not a single standout, it was not only the German Americans that sucked the xenophobia is palpable and ridiculous!!!! Grow up people.
Altidore, excepting 2 instances, stank. Even Bradley although he put in miles was mostly ineffective....was anyone watching the game?????
Everyone was pretty bad except for Altidore and, to some extent, Bradley. The Mexican Americans certainly were no better than the German-Americans. Garza was repeatedly beaten up his wing and Alvarado picked up where he had left off against Herediano in the CCL.
I don't recall seeing a worse international defensive performance (whole team) since Germany dismantled Brazil. Is anyone else tired of watching BS step on the ball? The reason Altidore stood out from this crowd is that I think his goal and assist were about the only decent US first touches all day. "Possession? We don't need no stinking possession."
Yes indeed, notwithstanding the awful weather and field conditions, two teams faced each other, us and the other guys, what with the other guys showing us how to play in such conditions.Any excuses? Well pilgrim, maybe, as the team - I believe - did not train together for more than, what for at least 1/3 rd us, about two weeks? I think, pilgrims, that MW was way too generous with his rankings all around but, come on man, a 7 for Jazzy and a 5 for MB?!?!?!
Not training together is an excuse? Players who lack ball skill and game understanding could train together for a month and still not be able to play at the international level. So what we know now is that we have two players who can (let's give Altidore the benefit of the doubt), 6 veterans who cannot (Rimando, Johnson, Bedoya,Chandler, Orozco and Shea (what in the world does JK see in him?),and 7 rookies and a debutant who look like they can't
The German american that failed the most was Klinsmann. He is the one responsible on how the U.S. conducts itself on the field. You need more direction than just saying work harder and be in better shape. I knew this day was coming, but I never thought things would be this bad.
Those executives who hired Klinsmann must be saying, "what heck did we do". Klinsmann has fiddled so much with lineups that nothing makes sense anymore. One win in nine months, is this a nightmare? No team is suppose to lose 90% of its friendlies. You probably have to go back to the seventies to find a similar losing streak for the USMNT.
A snoozer performance.
Joe Linzer, It is NOT xenophobia, the German-Americans are just Americans in my book so couldn't possibly be xenophobia, don't be RIDICULOUS. What most people here criticize is the stubbornness and contempt of JK towards MLS or American developed kids. HE struggles with the idea of giving American developed kids an opportunity because he flagrantly despised and underestimates US soccer, he truly believes that if he had a small choice of succeed is by foreign developed American players, which is absolutely ludicrous, because Bob Bradley reaching the 2009 Confederation cups semi-finals beating Spain, or Bruce Arena reaching 2002 WC Quarter-finals were success stories using 80% players developed in-house.
Gulati hired the JK,he's just as guilty of the craziness that goes on with all the German-American (players) of the USMNT
Ridiculous bias in these articles. Bradley the best in this game is crazy even by your own analogy. Altidore assisted in one goal and fully created the other great goal but Bradley gets a 94?
So I guess the European league fitness is questionable since it was our European team who let 2 goals get scored on them late in the game?
Ivan Hunter, 94 was not the rating for Bradley, 5 was (same as Rimando and Johannsson; Jozy got a 7.
I am guessing the 94/13 is some statistic, maybe international caps/goals, it would be nice if the article said.
So many areas where US was weak but today was lost by keeping Rimando in goal. Just watched the goals on dvr several times. Although Rimando is technically amazing, he is simply to short and slow. We have the best new keeper in the world yet we have yet to start him. Cody Cropper is tall and fast. That last goal would have been easily stopped by this incredible talent. If Klinsman sticks with the politically correct path and keeps Rimando then he isn't the coach I thought he was.
oooooo. LOL
Heard Twellman and his sidekick commentator use the "GREAT" multiple times in the 2nd half. This type of disinformation only belongs in some news media, not sports.
I would not mind the German players if they were good enough. They were very poor last night, and it was brooks who was responsible for that goal. If Klinsmann has a bias against American players, and it is hurting the US national team, then he should not be coach.
Why were the US defenders standing around like zombies while rings were run around them yesterday?
When the US is ranked 40th next month I think the last Klinsmann defenders will be gone. If the US doesn't win the Gold Cup his reputation will be beyond repair. What is it going to take to realize this is the biggest disaster to befall US soccer in last three decades? Every facet of the US game is in free fall, and it’s Klinsmann at the helm. We have not even talked about the demoralizing effect this has had not just on the players but the national teams many fans.
AMEN Mike and Andrew. I also posted on another article that JK has experimented with the side so much the Team (what team) and the individuals lack confidence. You can see it in all of these games. 2 goals in the last 10 minutes is unacceptable. The trend of second half collapses, no possession that is meaningful is getting old.These players he has to see I know, but the second half subs when your ahead with the backline is the reason we lost. There were about 20 minutes in the second half I thought we played pretty well. The USA program right now is a joke. If Bradley is the best we have we are in real trouble.When is the last time he played say above average.I cant remember. And yes Andrew it is demoralizing to me as a fan. We have no team at this point. We need NEW LEADERSHIP.NOW!
It was an ugly game (the conditions and the field did not help). Tim, you're right, JK has done too much experimenting. While it is nice to keep an open mind and include new faces, unfortunately, with JK, it seems that he keeps searching the world for world class players with US blood, because he has no faith in the players he has (or the products of the country the team theoretically represents). At some point, you have to have a national team, rather than a pool of 60 guys with 3 caps each. Individual results don't matter too much, and it is good to play good competition, but how we play in the games does matter, and we have not been playing well. The team needs more stability. We are not good enough to throw random collections of players against the quality of teams JK has scheduled.
If you can stand it, try focusing on just Bradley during a game. Then do the same with David Silva (Man City) and Luka Modrić (Real Madrid). They pass and then quickly follow up their passes. Even demanding the ball back to set things up again. Bradley passes and than lopes to his next whatever. Also see how many times he comes back to help on defense. Against the Danes, when they scored he was nowhere to be seen in the replays.
On another note, take a look at the replays when the Danes scored. Rimando was always caught ball watching rather than directing his defenders to cover. Bendtner was all alone in each of his goals. Rimando's head should be spinning like a chicken rather than paralyzed on the ball. There's way more to goalkeeping than catching a ball. I remember former MLS keeper Mark Dougherty once commenting after a shutout he recorded. "I played great. Didn't have to save a shot". He kept his defense organized.
Get a recording of the U.S. beating Spain in the Confederation Cup, and you be amazed how much better the US team was then. The passing and ball control was what you would expect from a top six English premiere league team. That was the high point for U S soccer. Klinsmann looks determined to bring U S soccer back to the early 90s. If Klinsmann was a CEO of a major international corporation, his performance would be considered industrial sabotage.
How long is this nightmare going to continue. Is the USMNT going to only have a handful of wins in a years time.
Field conditions should not be brought up. The Danes first three touches were all snappy and perfect. They used triangles to get out of situations and all moved well with the ball at there feet. They look like clones practically. Our players get the ball and need open space in front of them to make a decision with the ball. We have these players in the US. They just got overlooked becuase they werent Brek Shea specimans at 14. Who has the best first 1-3 touches. Find them and bring them in.
If not for John Brooks' header against Ghana in a match in which we were hanging on for dear life, we would not have advanced, and Klinsi would be gone. Time to bring back Bruce Arena like Steve Jobs returning to Apple.
Pointless play, and no one closes down defending to save their lives. Nearly depressing and utterly un-American!
I am really tired of all you Monday morning quarterbacks! Now- in the year after the last World cup- is the time to experiment, to try new players, using the guys in their 30's as mentors, new combinations. What is so startling about using mainly European-based players in a game played in Europe? My memory may not be what it used to be, but I seem to remember the last friendly being played in our hemisphere and Klinsmann being criticized for not using European-based players! It's just too cute the way people cherry-pick facts to fit their opinions!