Player Ratings: U.S. Men’s National Team vs. Guadeloupe

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the United States National Team players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O’Connell and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA’s 1-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C victory over Guadeloupe.

Tim Howard – Average Rating: 6 (Brian 6.5, Sean 5.5)
A few frustrating sequences ahead of him, but really wasn’t tested often; communicated better this time around. Solid performance. (Brian) … Little to do. Caught a bit off guard on a deflected early corner. (Sean)

Eric Lichaj – Average Rating: 6.5 (Brian 6.5, Sean 6.5)
Strong game for the attack-minded back; defended OK, added fire to the attack; early hiccup on a sloppy ball deep his only glaring error. (Brian) … Looked confident in the attack and added a lot going forward. (Sean)

Carlos Bocanegra – Average Rating: 6.25 (Brian 6.5, Sean 6)
Anchored the defense; effective in the center, linked with the midfield; Bradley would be wise to keep him there for the rest of the tournament. (Brian) … Added the leadership and stability the U.S. needed in the center of the defense. Wasn’t tested often. (Sean)

Clarence Goodson – Average Rating: 4.75 (Brian 4.5, Sean 5)
Allowed an early Guadelope corner to squirt into the box; aside from that, could have done better to mark the ambitious Guadelupe attackers. (Brian) … Hard performance to judge with a general lack of pressure, but at times looked shaky defending set pieces. (Sean)

Steve Cherundolo – Average Rating: 7.75 (Brian 8, Sean 7.5)
A one-man wrecking crew; did everything but put on the goalie gloves; injected life in the attack, solid in the rear, excellent communication and ideas.  (Brian) … Fantastic performance. Played a huge role in the attack and shut down his side on defense. (Sean)

Landon Donovan – Average Rating: 5.25 (Brian 5.5, Sean 5)
Should’ve given it a go on the weak goal kick early; effort was there, but unfortunately, the execution was largely absent. (Brian) … Back-to-back average performances from Donovan. Had some chances, but the finishing wasn’t there. (Sean)

Jermaine Jones – Average Rating: 6.5 (Brian 6, Sean 7)
Offered support to the rear, made smart passes; very few mistakes made. (Brian) … Credit where credit’s due: Jones’ Gold Cup performances had been underwhelming until this point, but outside of a couple misplayed passes in the first half, Jones did an excellent job keeping the ball moving and came up big on defense a few times. (Sean)

Michael Bradley – Average Rating: 5.5 (Brian 5.5, Sean 5.5):
The ambitious shots were thankfully missing, put in a good effort everywhere on the field, but never really factored into the offense. (Brian) … Assisted Altidore’s goal and should’ve had an assist on a Dempsey chance had his finishing been better, but overall didn’t have the impact on the game he has recently. (Sean)

Clint Dempsey – Average Rating:  4 (Brian 4, Sean 4)
Talk about a game to forget; found a ton of chances, but missed on each of them; clearly fell asleep on the open netter in the 76th. (Brian) … Dempsey should have had a hattrick fairly easily with the chances he had, but his finishing was dreadful and combined with another lackadaisical effort tracking back, it wasn’t a great night for Clint. (Sean)

Jozy Altidore – Average Rating: 7.25 (Brian 7, Sean 7.5)
Scored a wonder goal to put Guadelope on notice; matched well with the physical Guadelope center backs; one of the best performances we’ve seen from the 21-year-old (other than, you know, his hat track against Trinadad & Tobago in ’09). (Brian) … Fantastic goal and set up Dempsey for what should’ve been a sitter. Earned some dangerous free kicks for the U.S. and battled hard all night. (Sean)

Chris Wondolowski – Average Rating:  4.75 (Brian 5, Sean 4.5)
Poached a couple of early chances, but seemed to fall out of the picture in the second half. (Brian) … Finishing was lacking again and Wondolowski didn’t have enough of an impact on the match. (Sean)

(sub) Alejandro Bedoya – Average Rating:  6 (Brian 6, Sean 5.57)
Another good cameo for Dempsey, Jr; unafraid to enter offensive forays; almost put one through via the header in the waning minutes. (Brian) … Put in the effort a coach wants from a substitute and added needed energy to the attack as the U.S. was slowing down. (Sean)

(sub) Sacha Kljestan – Average Rating: 5.75 (Brian 6, Sean 5.5)
Fit right into the attack, gave Dempsey a beautiful ball late; would’ve like to have seen him get more involved despite the limited minutes. (Brian) … Nice set-up for Dempsey, but the U.S. didn’t have enough offensive forays to showcase his talents during his time on the pitch. (Sean)

(sub) Maurice Edu – N/A

2 Comments

1. 

   Crafty Bernardo

   June 15, 2011 at 10:05 am

   If you’ve got a 1-10 scale, how about using it? Dempsey’s performance was a “4”? What in the world does it take to earn a “2” then? Does he have to score three own-goals and break Donovan’s arm during the game or something? I love me some Deuce, but last night was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen on a national team level. He was not only bad, but lazy and lackadaisical to boot.

   The spread here should be more than “4” for Dempsey’s embarrasing performance and “7.25” for Altidore’s brilliance all night (and I’m less of an Altidore fan than a Dempsey fan). Dempsey deserves a 2 at best and Altidore should get an 8 for one of his best games in the US kit.

   Wondolowski was horrendous as well… 4.75? That’s just a smidge under average for his full night of wasted chances and p*ss-poor touches?

   Reply
2. 

   Eric

   June 16, 2011 at 3:31 am

   Look these are the same guys that were in the world cup it is time to let some other people try. These guys can barely beat teams that won’t even be in the world cup, so why do they get another chance to play in the next world cup. When they won’t even let others even have a chance to play to try to prove their worth. We seen most all these guys and they couldn’t get it done. I think the Olympic team had real juice and a concept unique to them, let’s try something exciting and new. 60 yard passes is just not going to make it happen, you are playing to all defenses strength with that type of play. Let’s get the ball in the middle with space and create opportunities not hope for them.

   Reply