USA-SVG World Cup 2018 Qualifying Player Ratings
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Nov 13, 2015
Nov. 13 in St. Louis
USA 6 St. Vincent & the Grenadines 1. Goals: Wood 11, Johnson 29, Altidore 31, 74, Cameron 51, Zardes 58; Anderson 5.
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The USA went behind on a fifth-minute goal against the part-timers from the Caribbean island nation but rebounded quickly to cruise to a 6-1 win in its first game of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann's team faces Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday.
Starters
RATING PLAYER (CLUB) GP/G
5 Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG) 41/0.
The well-hit shot
on the goal he conceded looked out of reach. The only other shot, after the second-half kickoff, rolled into his arms.
5 DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland/ENG) 28/0.
Beaten by
Oalex Anderson on the Vincy Heat’s fifth-minute goal but he assisted on Wood’s equalizer six minutes later and produced some attacks down the right flank. Started second half with a
defensive miscue that gifted a rare, and harmless, shot to the foe.
7 Geoff Cameron (Stoke City/ENG) 36/3.
His well-aimed header gave the USA a 4-1 lead.
5
Matt Besler (Sporting KC) 27/0.
His presence in central defense was hardly necessary. Won a header in the second half on one the ball’s rare appearances in the U.S. half.
6 Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG) 19/0.
St. Louis hometown boy had no defensive work as left back. Was always composed on the ball.
6 Jermaine Jones (New England
Revolution) 55/3.
Roamed the central midfield alongside Bradley to keep the tame Vincy Heat from the ball. (The USA had more than 80 percent of the possession.) Flicked on the corner
kick that Altidore headed home.
6 Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) 108/15.
Helped set up the first U.S. goal. Did much of the midfield orchestrating. Beat three players
in the 21st minute but shot to the keeper. His other shots went wide.
6 Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy) 18/3.
Squandered a couple first-half chances but finally got his goal
with a hard, low strike to make it 5-1.
7 Fabian Johnson (Borussia M’Gladbach/GER) 41/2.
Left midfielder set up a good chance for Wood in the 15th minute and
sparked several attacks. His deflected free kick made it 2-1.
7 Bobby Wood (Union Berlin/GER) 14/4.
Headed home the equalizer. Missed a prime chance a few minutes later.
Flicked on the corner kick Cameron scored on.
8 Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC) 88/31.
Set up Zardes’ goal. Scored his first on a close-range header and his second after
a nifty move.
Substitutes:
5 Matt Miazga (NY Red Bulls) 1/0.
The 20-year-old central defender made his debut without being
called on to defend.
4 Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers) 1/0
This debutant looked nervous on his early touches and missed a chance to score.
4 Jordan
Morris (Stanford Univ.) 7/1
His touch was off during a 22-minute stint.
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
TRIVIA: St. Vincent & the Grenadines reached this semifinal round of qualifying with one win in four games, prevailing over Guyana on away goals and Aruba 3-2 on aggregate.
Nov.
13 in St. Louis
USA 6 St. Vincent & the Grenadines 1. Goals: Wood 11, Johnson 29, Altidore 31, Cameron 51, Zardes 58, Altidore 74; Anderson 5.
USA --
Guzan; Yedlin, Cameron (Miazga, 64), Besler, Ream; Zardes, Jones, Bradley, F.Johnson (Nagbe, 64); Altidore, Wood (Morris, 68).
VIN -- Mcdowall; Richards, Hamlet,
Francis, Richardson; Mcburnette (Solomen, 60) Anderson, Prescott, Bowens (Edwards, 75); Slater, James (Ledger, 60).
Referee: Jeffrey Solis (Costa Rica).
Att.: 43,433.
Jozy Altidore's an 8, and I'm Clark Gable. He was slow, his touches were awful, his passing success rate was about 25%, and he headed in a gimme, and turned and scored with no pressure. Gimme a break.
Altidore an 8??? Must've been a different game I watched.
Wow, JA an 8 and JJ a 6. Are you using an alias Jurgen? It's a "W", one down.
Granted, the opposition was quite weak, but you can only play against the team on the field. Altidore can be inconsistent and when he was younger, he seemed lazy, but he did hold the ball reasonably well and he was one of the few players who had to deal with a lot of defensive pressure, and his two goals were both solid, smart plays (and while the 2nd one was a deflection, had the 2nd defender not been there to deflect it, I think it would have scored anyway). He deserved a high score.
Altidore an 8? Zardes a 6? I used to think that comments about these players were "unfounded" or "in bad taste" but I've changed my mind. After watching today's game, and seeing the bad passing and the lack of first touch by both of these players, makes me think that this writer gives good ratings because they "score" a goal regardless if they sucked in everything else. These players are in their 20's---didn't they ever learn how to make passes to their own teammates? Or, to control the ball when it is passed to them? I'm also getting on JK for constantly bringing these players to the USNT and starting them--speed and physical power is not everything in futbol, technique and ball control is. I sure hope one of these days, we'll get players, especially forwards that can pass and control the ball expertly, maybe then we'll start winning tournaments. After all these years, we definitely are due.
Don't hold your breath. Those types of players are out there but the USMNT never invite them to camps. They're "too small", "too slow" or something else "undesirable".
R2 Dad: who are those players? Where have you seen them?
Incredible ratings.... Altidore contributed more negativity than creativity and his two goals, an invalid could have scored... who the heck gives these ratings... downright silly?
Oh me-oh my! I can't agree more nor less on the comments, and claro que si, Jazzy was just out there and someone out there sure as heck likes him! But a 5 for Yedlin? Jeepers, he was getting banged about as was Wood! Hey David M, re: R2Dad's comments, R2 really doesn't have to give names, all y'all gotta do is to go to the inner city fields and high schools, weekend leagues, and you'll see them and then find them, ID them, but carefully now, or Liga MX and other countries might get them "steal" them from us!!! Hey Joe L, usually if not always, the SA writers give the ratings...
Glad to see Miazga getting a cap, but I don't think the narrowing of the player pools should start so early: "But at the end of the day, I grew in the U.S., and I've been with the U.S. since the U14 national team. I've always envisioned and dreamt of being with the full team." This is why players and parents are so adamant about getting their kids to the highest levels of play as soon as possible, regardless of if they are ready. The USMNT appears to favor/fastrack those already vetted at U14. You can't teach tall, but what about late bloomers? We seem to be missing them. Were there better ball handlers/better IQ players at U14 that were shorter? Again, only hypothesizing since end results (in general, not in MM's case) are bearing the fruit we would expect given the vast numbers of that cohort.
I can't see high ratings based on a couple of good plays and a goal or two. It's the whole package that matters whether it's a strong or weak opponent. I just can't see Jozy on this squad. I've watched him play at club level and I'm not impressed. NOTE: today watched a group of kids U-7, U-8 & U-9 at an indoor academy...60 minutes of drills with ball...not one second of small sided games.
Altidore scores goals and that is all that matters. Fancy touch means nothing if you don't have a nose for scoring.
The USMNT has to get better and younger players in 2 or 3 key positions at midfield and upfront. JJ is getting too old,and it shows with higher caliber teams,than the "part timers" St Vincent & G. JA still cant control balls with his feet at first touch,and his decision time is seconds too slow; (by the way his first goal was not valid because he willingly left the field and came back to head the ball in). JK has to get younger players starting time to get international experience, or we will be embarrassed at the hexagonal,if we go throu.
Suggestion - can we maybe have someone qualified to score these players? Spending weeks of my life in Bradenton, FL for USSF Coaching Schools and thousands of hours coaching and playing - I'm shocked you can't find one person that can accurately rate these players. Zardes and Altidore should have been 4's (for the reasons listed above)- but it all comes down to who is coaching the USMNT - JK. Let's start scoring him, the tactics and strategy of the game, who he rosters, etc. It's all a reflection of him - so why isn't he ranked. And why we are at it - if you rank him - why not rank the oppositing coach and how they prepared?
I hereby highly recommend and/or nominate Dan Eckert to rate the players, BUT while we're at it, rating players, now the coaches, how about ALSO rate the game officials?
I didn't think the US played a bad game, but they were essentially playing against a very young mostly amateur side missing several starters. I don't see how you would rate professionals over a 5 (average game) under the circumstances. The US will need to play better in the next match.
Cameron & Yedlin made a complete mess of opening goal from decisions to angles to techniques ... cover defender watches as Yedlin gets beat inside although wide player was marked otherwise = atrocious ... & otherwise did not have much defending to do ... Yedlin had a couple of other awful giveaways that would have spelled doom against quality opposition ... sure, glad we won, but let's not fool ourselves
Andrew, yes JA has nose for goal and is what 4th all time now. But, I had hoped by this time his inconsistency and occasional diva antics would have compelled JK to go with a more dependable attacking duo. It is hard to maintain possession and establish a rhythm with his more than 50% of bad touches/passes. When looking at our team what should we expect of our players in terms of a percentage of quality touches. For me we are hanging on to several players that regularly give the ball away. And, why are we still so enamerd with this idea of a target player? With two smart forwards there isn't a need to have a big guy that can shield and handle a regular pummeling from behind.
don't play a formation with a single foward. Size alone, has no place in soccer in any case. It has to be paired with skill in all other phases of the game. Unfortunately JA is plain one dimensional and depends on size alone.