{"id":23775,"date":"2014-02-01T23:56:45","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T04:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=23775"},"modified":"2014-02-02T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T19:19:42","slug":"player-ratings-u-s-mens-national-team-vs-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=23775","title":{"rendered":"Player Ratings: U.S. Men\u2019s National Team vs. South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019Connell and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the\u00a0USA\u2019s 2-0 win over South Korea<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nick Rimando<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0– Average Rating: 7.25<\/b> (Brian 6.5, Sean 8)
\nMade nice goal line save early, and rescued his backline on a handful of occasions in the second half. Quality performance from a quality keeper. (Brian) \u2026 Made some great saves both on South Korean shots and his teammates\u2019 errors. Has a #3 \u2018keeper ever been more of a lock to go to the World Cup? (Sean)<\/p>\n

Brad Evans<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 3.5<\/b> (Brian 3.5, Sean 3.5)
\nBeaten early and often as Korea exploited the left flank. A step too slow too often. (Brian) \u2026 If the fullback positions were still up for grabs before the match, Evans certainly didn\u2019t do anything to stake a claim for the spot being his. South Korea focused much of their attack down their left flank and Evans struggled with it. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Omar Gonzalez<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 5.75<\/b> (Brian 6, Sean 5.5)
\nHis usual strong self in the air; at his best on Korea\u2019s attacking set pieces, and often rescued Evans and Davis. (Brian) \u2026 Some shaky distribution out of the back early, but held up strong against Korea\u2019s attack and in defending set pieces. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Matt Besler<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 5<\/b> (Brian 5, Sean 5)
\nConnected well with midfield early before passes through the midfield went out of vogue in the second half; sound game, made all the plays he needed to. (Brian) \u2026 Made a key sliding block to stop a dangerous South Korean attack and overall had a solid, if relatively quiet, game. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Michael Parkhurst<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 6.25<\/b> (Brian 6.5, Sean 6)
\nPadlocked the right channel by reading Korea\u2019s attack well; passes often on point and played a smart brand of football throughout. (Brian) \u2026 Very strong game defensively and made smart, safe passes throughout the game. Limited a bit in what he could do offensively as a left back as far as crossing, but still made smart runs forward. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Kyle Beckerman<\/b>– Average Rating : 6.5<\/b> (Brian 6.5, Sean 6.5)
\nBest player in the midfield; directed traffic, held the ball at the right times, and took some of the spotlight off of a less-than-stellar Diskerud. (Brian) \u2026 What you\u2019ve come to expect out of Beckerman in these types of games. Controlled the midfield acting as the connection between the backline and the attack, playing smart passes all afternoon. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Mix Diskerud<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 4.75<\/b> (Brian 4.5, Sean 5)
\nDisplayed calmness and good vision early, but his form eroded as the game progressed; a non-factor in the second half, and tentative on the two chances he found inside the 18. (Brian) \u2026 Decent effort in the center of midfield, but didn\u2019t have nearly the same impact as Beckerman and didn\u2019t impact the attack as much as he\u2019s capable of. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Graham Zusi<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 6.5<\/b> (Brian 6, Sean 7)
\nGood cross into box to Davis on the goal sequence, and strengthened the attack with smart runs and passes. Shame that he was forced to defend more in the second half. (Brian) \u2026 Continues to make a strong case for starting in the World Cup. Fantastic cross to set up the first goal and quality contributions to the attack all afternoon. Put in a strong effort defensively as well. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Landon Donovan<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 6.25<\/b> (Brian 6, Sean 6.5)
\nShowed his usual attacking instincts, but disappeared for stretches as backline started to lump balls forward in order to avoid Korea\u2019s midfield. (Brian) \u2026 Played key roles in both U.S. goals. A few misplayed passes and not his most involved game, but his contributions to the final score couldn\u2019t be missed. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Brad Davis<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 4<\/b> (Brian 4.5, Sean 3.5)
\nNot a good showing; struggled to get on the same page with teammates; dangerous passes emboldened Korea as game progressed. (Brian) \u2026 Fantastic effort to get on the end of Zusi\u2019s cross and get an effort on frame that led to the first goal. After that, there weren\u2019t many bright spots as Davis often didn\u2019t seem on the same page as teammates and had far too many passes intercepted leading to dangerous chances for South Korea. (Sean)<\/p>\n

Chris Wondolowski<\/b> \u2013 \u00a0Average Rating: 7.75 <\/b>(Brian 7.5, Sean 8)
\nTrademark Wondo performance; you forget all about him until he puts the ball in the back of the net. Two goals \u2013 both of the right place, right time variety \u2013 show that his knack for scoring is just as strong as it was during the Gold Cup. (Brian) \u2026 Finished both goals nicely and nearly had an assist with a dangerous low cross that was just out of the reach of Donovan. Didn\u2019t get that many chances, but was extremely efficient with those he had. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub) Clarence Goodson<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 5.25<\/b> (Brian 5.5, Sean 5)
\nPut out some fires, and helped frustrate Korea in and around the 18. (Brian) \u2026 Solid job defensively holding off the Korean attack after Besler subbed out. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub) Eddie Johnson<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 5.5 (Brian 5.5, Sean 5.5)
\nGave the midfield some added stability with low-risk passes; too bad his teammates didn\u2019t let him get many chances to go at goal. (Brian) \u2026 Helped the team keep possession after coming on, but didn\u2019t get much of an opportunity offensively. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub) Benny Feilhaber<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 4.5<\/b> (Brian 4.5, Sean 4.5)
\nReally didn\u2019t add much off the bench; made a couple of forays forward, but a non-factor for the most part. (Brian) \u2026 Failed to make much of an impact after coming on. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub) DeAndre Yedlin<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 4.25<\/b> (Brian 4.5, 4)
\nLooked flustered in his National Team debut; coughed the ball up in dangerous areas and seemed to force the issue too often. (Brian) \u2026 Really rough debut for Yedlin, but it\u2019s understandable for a 20-year-old. Good to get the first experience under his belt. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub)Luis Gil<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: 5.25<\/b> (Brian 5.5, Sean 5)
\nDidn\u2019t look half bad in cameo; linked with teammates and showed composure. (Brian) \u2026 Didn\u2019t have time to make much of an impact, but looked calm in possession. (Sean)<\/p>\n

(sub)Eric Alexander<\/b> \u2013 Average Rating: N\/A<\/b> (Brian 5.5, Sean NR)
\nBolstered midfield despite finding few chances in the closing minutes. (Brian) \u2026 Not enough time to make an impact. (Sean)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mostly favorable ratings for the U.S. win over South Korea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Parkhurst1.png?fit=488%2C257&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23776,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23775\/revisions\/23776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}