Player Ratings vs Morocco

May 24th, 2006 | by: Daryl |

As always, player ratings are up for debate:

Kasey Keller: 6 -possibly could have made himslf bigger for the goal. definitely needed to wipe that stray bit of granola off his lower lip.

Steve Cherundolo: 5 -put in a few good crosses, but… got beat once or twice and is almost entirely to blame for the goal after losing possession cheaply.

Cory Gibbs: 5 -got beat far too often, and looked out of position (which technically he was). was willing to join the attack but his crossing was dire.

Eddie Pope: 7 -central defenders are a bit like referees. sometimes they have such solid games that you don’t really notice them. lots of intelligent defending. only complaint was that he seemed to be caught somewhere upfield for the goal.

Oguchi Onyewu: 6 -looked strong as ever, but failed to mark El Karkouri for that header that only just missed. also absolutely skyed a shot.

Claudio Reyna: injured early

John O’Brien: 8 for 45 minutes he was the best player on the pitch. lots of smart passing, and managed to split a crowded Moroccan defence with intelligent passes more than once, including the chance donovan should have scored.

Landon Donovan: 7 -too much is expected of donovan sometimes, and though he didn’t sparkle tonight he worked extremely hard, held onto th eball well in some tight situations and showed a lot of good, if not necessarily deadly, passing. major complaint was his shooting. once in each half he tried for finesse when he should have just hit it.

Josh Wolff: 5 -struggled to hold onto possession, and doesn’t have the defensive capabilities for the wide right role. was subbed off just as he was starting to look a little brighter in the second half, playing up front alongside mcbride

DaMarcus Beasley: 7 -worked really hard and won a lot of ball. also lots of good short passing, which set up a couple of chances. didn’t look quite as comfortable when moved infield second half.

Brian McBride: 6 -another who worked hard but got little reward. won a few headers but his shooting was poor.

Subs:

Pablo Mastroeni: 7 -did some solid defensive work in front of the back four and managed to spread the play with smart passes in a similar way to o’brien (though doesn’t possess o’brien’s killer pass). the sierra mist man of the match, and probably deserved it as much as anyone else (i’d say it was between mastro, dmb, o’brien, pope and maybe convey but the soft drink company has spoken.)

Bobby Convey: 7 -looked a real threat in the second half (has to be pushing dmb for that left mid spot) making penetrating runs, good passes and some nice crossing. nearly equalised with a late free kick that hit the side netting

Eddie Johnson: 5 -got up well for that header but couldn’t direct it downwards. tried (and failed) to beat the left back with his pace, and really sliced that rebound after donovan’s shot was saved.

Clint Dempsey: 6 -limited time. did nothing wrong.

Brian Ching: not enough time to make an impact

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Matt

“got up well for that header but couldn’t direct it downwards.”

Isn’t the key to sending a header down getting above the ball? I thought Johnson did well to nearly pick the top of the goal with the ball as high as it was.
http://usa.worldcupblog.org daryl

The key to sending a header down absolutely is getting above the ball, it’s all about technique and timing

EJ got up high enough to beat the defenders and meet the ball, but not enough to head it downwards.

In fairness to him, not many players would have got there at all.
PK

According to these ratings, one would think we won 3-1!! Our mentality is still that of an outsider. We should not be looking to belong but to win with invincible spirit a la Koera in 2002. We play like the girlie-girls of soccer moms. Instead, we should be playing more aggressively like Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, England, and Turkey. Yet, we always haev such a high opinion of ourselves…nice 5-0 victory over Battery…who?!?!

I should shocked if we scored more than two goals in the first three matches

My predictions:
Czech 2 USA 1
Ita 2 USA 0
Ghana 3 USA 1

Sorry, but it looks like 1998 all over again…
Cajun Nick

Daryl,

I think you’re spot on with your player ratings. If Bobby Convey is going to stay in the form that we saw him, then he needs to stay on the pitch.

As for Josh, I think that he started playing better when he realized that he was coming off.

We need to get an extended look at Brian Ching Friday night.
Seamus

As I’ve been saying for awhile, Convey is our best offense threat right now. To leave him off the field would be a travesty.

I concur with the O’Brien assessment–he was stellar when the rest of the bunch was asleep.

Donovan was non-chalant when he needed to be ruthless–will he remain that way?

Gibbs was beaten routinely, Gooch was out-of-position on key plays, and ‘Dolo didn’t know where he was in the second half (right mid and then last man back in a 1-7-2 formation!)

The second half was a freaking joke. The initial 3-5-2 was a questionable approach, especially pushing Cherundolo forward. And the mad scramble for the last 20 mins with only one guy back was pathetic in a 0-0 game. We were always going to concede…
Max

I agree with most of the ratings but I take issue with a few of them.

Cory Gibbs a “5″ he looked like the most solid defender out there. He made no mistakes and frequently shut down Morrocco’s attack.

Beasley does not deserve a “7″ at all. His touch was incredibly heavy and he definitely was struggling when he moved to the middle of the field. He never used his speed to get out wide.

Josh Wolff deserved a 4. He proved that he cannot and does not know how to play right midfielder. That was his position. Instead he decided to play as a striker the entire game. Wolff simply adds nothing to the U.S. attack. In every U.S. game this year he has had no impact. Yesterday was no exception.
Seamus

Max,

I suggest you rewatch the match and key in on Gibbs. Crosses routinely floated over his head and the Moroccan on the right created a cushion of space almost everytime he went straight at Gibbs. Granted Gibbs made some nice recoveries, but he was out-of-position or beaten at first and made some plays to make up for that. I don’t think any of the defenders played well, so maybe Gibbs was the most solid. Unfortunately that’s not saying much.
Mark

Keller — 3. He didn’t convert on the only dangerous opportunity the Moroccans had.

NOTE: Hard to rate the defenders since Morocco wasn’t interested in pushing the ball that far …

Gibbs — 4. Look slow out there. Agoos ‘02 reincarnate.

Onyewu — 6. Did well enough.

Pope — 5. He’s an unforced error waiting to happen. Nearly had one last night.

Cherundolo — 2. Impotent on offense and what the hell was he thinking trying to maintain possession on 1v1 in the 90th minute?!? Send it to the 30th row.

JOB — 6. His pass to Donovan was errily similar to the assist on Mathis’ goal v. Korea in ‘02. Beautiful. Other than that, decent, not spectacular.

Mastro — 6. Thought he played well. Good passing, good defending, settled the team down when he was in possession.

Donovan — 4. We need shots on goal. Not cute passes to somebody else that can’t finish.

Beasley — 1. Never have seen a more worthless performance. I hope he never sees another minute of MNT time.

Wolff — 3. Always seems to be in the right spot. Never gets any mustard on the ball. No wonder he can’t score.

McBride — 2. Looked every day of his 34 (?) years old.
chuck

We’ve got to have J.O’B.

He was the only one out there that seemed capable of a (for lack of a better term), a “brilliancy.” He can make the incisive pass that shreds the defense… the decisive pass that someone else can finish. He was about the only one last night that showed he could do that consistently.

Reyna can do that, too, though I don’t think quite as often. Once in a blue moon, I’ve seen Maestro make that type of pass.

I’ve haven’t seen Landon make those kind of passes — Landon always seems to play the “by the book” pass, or the most obvious/safest pass. I think that’s why he’s in MLS. Frustrating.
Joe

I agree we need Convey on the field but I think he can only play outside left. Why not play DMB at outside right, I know it’s not his natural position but he can use his speed and is right footed. If they’re gonna play five midfielders Gibbs can get by at left back but if we’re four across the back they need Lewis for his crosses. Wolff doesn’t belong on the field, I’ve never seen him do anything positive in about 6 years. I thought Pablo did a very solid job filling in for Reyna, not quite as offensive but he moves the ball quickly out of the back which we need.
Boston

Why does everyone think Pablo had a good game? I think he is the most over-rated players on our team. Yes he brings tough defensive stops occasionally but more times than not he is out of position, trying to catch up and he never follows his man through the box. He may see the game well but he has no touch to his passes. They always go long or are giving so hard that other players cannot control the speed. In my opinion he should not play in the Cup and possibly not even be on the team.
bossimo

This thread is as sloppy as last night’s game:

- Daryl, the commentary is pretty solid, but did FIFA help you with the numerical ranking? Either that or you were ranking on a 5-10 scale.

- Matt, check the TiVO sir, the Johnson header was not that high; he was free and didn’t time it well enough to go for the perfect angle as he did.

- PK, are hallucinagins readily available in Singapore? If so, try switching to something a little more mello and relax about our current competition and how significant it is to our WC chances. Morroco was better, by far, that Japan’s first team, for example. I thought they played us just like Italy will — at least 8 behind the ball, try to score on the counter — so it was a good training exercise, nothing more.

- Cajun Nick, you’re typically sound, but an extended look at Ching is not my idea of a good way to start the weekend.

- Seamus, like Dolo, you commit a rare error: we started in a 4-3-3 (though ESPN: “4-2-1-3″)not a 3-5-2. Though I agree, it was completely sloppy and without shape and had even me longing for the 4-4-2. Convey was arguably our best player last night, have always been on your bandwagon there…

Max, Wolff was not a midfielder; he was definitely intended to be on attack no matter what you call the formation, though nobody is gonna argue with the lack of punch in his play.

Mark, please don’t ever hang that moniker on Gibbs or any other current player. In fact, don’t even speak or write that name again until the WC is over for the US. I’m convinced you were joking about DMB.

Chuck, no complaints as long as you can explain the “brilliancy” reference.

Joe, DMB is left footed, but I agree (as Seamus has said repeatedly) that he can play on the right opposite Convey. Wolff is third choice behind Dempsey.

Boston, Arena knows exactly what Masto is good for and so does he. He’s our-protect-a-lead defensive sub in the mid-field.
Seamus

bossimo,

a rare error back at ya: my reference to 3-5-2 refers to the second half, as it clearly follows the sentence “The second half was a freaking joke.”
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Lions Bite

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taylorsfanclub

watching wolff/johnson/ching made one thing clear to me…taylor should’ve made the team.

I also didn’t like hearing that Arena gave donovan the “honor” of telling his friend he made the team. I just don’t like the idea of the captains close friend getting the last spot over someone who i think is clearly a better player. Taylor could get into a game and get lucky and score ching would need a miracle or atleast something that would end up as a scandal.
bossimo

Touche Seamus…

Happy to concede that your clean sheet is still intact (while I probably just took Eto’o down just outside the box).

The 3-5-2 was a shambles. So was the 4-2-1-3. But it’s too early to give up on the fundamental principle: our best attacking formation puts two wingers flanking McBride. So until we see the best two wingers there – Convey and Beasley – let’s not have a knee-jerk reversion to a 4-4-2 that leaves some of out best players on the bench.

I’d love to see this formation on Friday for the first half.

Convey-McBride-Beasley
O’Brien-Donovan-Dempsey
Lewis-Gibbs-Gooch-Dolo

In fact, I’m a little pissed started Wolff on the right wing. Everyone can see that’s a lost cause and that he needs to see if it’s DMB or maybe Dempsey. The set piece goal from DMB on the right against Mexico keeps replaying in my mind…
Seamus

bossimo,

I think that’s as close to a perfect formation as we can get for the next match. I’m really interested in seeing O’Brien and Convey combining on the same side. I think there’ll be fireworks from the left.

Also, Gibbs in the middle is my preference, but I have a hunch we’ll be seeing either Conrad or Bocanegra on Friday partnering Gooch. I believe Arena knows what he’s getting with Pope and will be resting him. I don’t think Gibbs impressed on the left, but it was probably just a stop-gap allowing Lewis some rest too.
Cajun Nick

Bossimo,

Scathing critique in your first post … but laced with enough sarcasm (humor) for us to enjoy it.

Let me tweak your formation just a little. My preference would be:
McBride
Beasley-Donovan
Convey-O’Brien-Dempsey
Lewis-Bocanegra-Onyewu-Cherondolo

I think that O’Brien’s vision and passing touch can be better taken advantage of from the middle of the pitch.

Also, because Donovan seems to want to try to perfect pass too much, I think that he’d be great at feeding McBride the crosses he needs. McBride was, after all, the Fulham Player of the Year for a reason, and it wasn’t his dribbling skills.

Also, I don’t like Gibbs in the middle. I think that we need stiffer central defenders against the likes of Italy and Czech Rep.
Joe

For Venezuela:

McBride

Convey-Donovan-Beasley

O’B-Pablo

Lewis-Pope-Gooch-Cherundolo

I think Donovan should be in the middle of the field floating around instead of held to one side. Once Reyna returns he is interchangeable with either O’Brien or Pablo. Also think Dempsey needs to see some time at outside right whether it’s tomorrow or the next one. Basically some combination of Convey, Beasley and Dempsey wide. Pretty similar to Bossimo I think.
bossimo

Yah, I think the Cajun formation is wondermous. Unfortunately I’m bracing myself for some Ching or even reversion to a 4-4-2, which just doesn’t fit this team.

I keep hearing good comments on Landon’s game v. Morocco but I thought it was terrible. If he’s in the middle then he needs to anchor the team, not get caught out on the wing dribbling the ball out of bounds.
Rick

Gibbs injured!!!! SUCK! Berhalter is the bane of my existence.
DaveS

Shite. Berhalter is a nightmare waiting to happen. Shite, shite, shite
JL

Guys…

I dont know whats with BA, he needs someone smarter/stronger to replace Gibbs. How about Chicago Fire’s Jim Curtin 6-4 205lbs, or Watford’s Jay DeMerit 6-0 190lbs???