USA-Puerto Rico International Friendly Player Ratings
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, May 22, 2016
May 22 in Bayamon
Puerto Rico 1 USA 3. Goals: Betancur 42; Ream 20, Wood 34, Arriola 56.
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Rarely will the USA play as low-key a friendly as a 3-1 defeat of Puerto Rico in Bayamon on Sunday, but it was notable for a few milestones.
Paul Arriola, who grew up in Southern California near the Mexican border and plays for Tijuana,
celebrated his first cap with a goal and an assist tucked away by Bobby Wood. Left back Tim Ream also scored his first U.S. goal by capitalizing on a rebound.
A strong game
by DeAndre Yedlin at right back further assuaged fears of U.S. fans regarding that position.
The Americans play their next pre-Centenario friendly Wednesday against Ecuador.
USA Player
Ratings:
Starters
5 Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG) 43/-.
Collected a couple of threatening balls easily, no chance to prevent the goal.
7 DeAndre
Yedlin (Tottenham/ENG) 32/0.
Played shutdown defense for the most part and constantly opened up the left side of Puerto Rico’s defense. Very sharp one-v-one, timing and selection of
passes was good.
5 Michael Orozco (Tijuana/MEX), 23/4.
Sound positioning, passed the ball well, reacted too slowly when U.S. lost possession on the lead-up to Puerto
Rico’s goal.
6 John Brooks (Hertha Berlin/GER), 19/2.
Played a solid game but didn’t always win the ball as cleanly as you’d expect of a Bundesliga
veteran.
6 Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG), 21/1.
Followed up a saved shot to score his first U.S. goal. Lost the ball a couple of times near the sideline and was caught upfield on
occasion without cover.
5 Perry Kitchen (Hearts/SCO), 4/0.
Connected the dots in midfield, found Yedlin in good spots several times, probably should have been cautioned for
committing several rough fouls. Lost track of Joseph Marrero on occasion.
5 Danny Williams (Reading/ENG), 19/2.
Tracked back twice to halt attacks with strong tackles. Closed
off the middle to entry passes. Jorge Rivera evaded him a couple of times.
6 Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/FRA), 46/2.
Drifted in and out of the game but usually made good
decisions when on the ball. Timed and angled his run perfectly to chase down ball he served up for Arriola.
6 Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt/GER), 13/0.
Blasted a heavy shot
keeper Matthew Sanchez could only knock down for Ream to put away, and hit another shot on frame. Like Bedoya, plagued by occasional defensive glitches.
7 Paul Arriola (Tijuana/MEX),
1/1.
Killed a great opportunity by straying offside, then slid a through ball that Wood took to the house for the second goal. Capped off his first cap by tapping in a centering feed
from Bedoya.
7 Bobby Wood (Union Berlin/GER) 17/5.
Active and committed with and without the ball. Created opening for first goal by escaping pressure to feed Morales. Calmly
and elegantly dinked a shot over the keeper as he and two defenders closed in.
Substitutes
6 Tim Howard (Everton/ENG), 108/-.
Dove right to smother a
Manolo Sanchez skimmer.
5 Matt Miazga (Chelsea/ENG), 2/0.
Worked through a few nervy moments when tested by Betancur and Co.
5 Emerson Hyndman (Fulham/ENG),
2/0.
Hit a low shot on frame to force a save, played a nice ball up the wing for Ream.
5 Julian Green (Bayern Munich/GER), 6/1.
Forced good save by Matthew
Sanchez, then missed the target twice, the second time with a free kick.
6 Eric Lichaj (Nott. Forest/ENG) 11/0.
Made his limited minutes count by darting up the left wing to
hit good passes and crosses.
5 Fabrice Picault (St. Pauli/GER) 1/0.
Debuted with a shot on goal.
TRIVIA. Puerto Rico is a
U.S. territory, and never before had the nations played an international soccer match. Native-born Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens eligible to play for either country.
May 22 in Bayamon
Puerto Rico 1 USA 3. Goals: Betancur 42; Ream 19, Wood 33, Arriola 56.
Puerto Rico -- Matthew Sanchez;
Martinez, D'Andrea, Velez, Lopez (A.Rivera 46); Hall, Clark (Fernandez 57); Manolo Sanchez (Rios 77), J.Rivera (Soto 67), Marrero (Caban 85); Betancur (Ortiz 67).
USA -- Guzan
(Howard 46); Yedlin, Orozco, Brooks (Miazga 46), Ream (Lichaj 62); Kitchen (Hyndman 46), Williams, Bedoya (Green 62), Morales; Wood (Picault, 70), Arriola.
OK, ok, ok. Saw at least 2/3 of the game and all I can say is that it was ho-hum, weather looked great. It seemed to be more of a "let's get an easy game to get rid of the kinks and cob webs," kinda day. I must say though that Hyndman was less than impressive, and Arriola looked and acted as if would've preferred to have been subbed out in the 80th minute. An ok game then, BUT, why does the rater give players an equal rating even though they did not play an entire match?
Hola Ric. Not sure of criteria used in ratings, but like so many things its subjective and a starting point for conversation. What wasn't subjective was a poor surface and technically flawed telecast. We never really looked in sync, well for most of the match. Yes, Yedlin looked solid for the most part, but numerous times he was at a standstill with the ball at his feet. Strange seeing that so many times. Perhaps options weren't showing quicker. Hope Bedoyas injury isn't much. Sure enjoyed watching the Del Ray though.
Boring...the minnow made the trout look quite mediocre.
Agreed I w. Sort of expected. Zardes up top in the Copa? Well the 23 will give us topic. Wondo? Reluctantly building for qualifications. Pulisic I like.
I think JK's plan for this was to try a new tactic by boring the opponent to sleep. It worked on me. This should have been won by quite a bigger margin.
It's not the margin of victory...it's about efficacy, speed of play, and execution. If this was a 10-1 game...it wouldn't change my opinion of a mediocre performance.
How about a score for the coach?
I momentarily stopped drinking while in Laughlin to make sure it wasn't the alcohol that made everything look so lethargic and uninteresting as it relates to our "attack". Shortly later I drank even more because it wasn't caused by the alcohol as I first questioned. Yikes!
I "think" this was simply a "consolation" game for the players that will not make the team. As such, it was fine. Have to agree that with a couple of years experience Yedlin is looking vey good