USA v. MEX

Jasontammyrobert Poole

about 11 years

Overall good performance. Not going to get into all the ratings, but they are high. No one field player really stood out positively, but neither was anyone terrible. Howard--my MOTM. He still could be more decisive coming out, but when asked to lay out there are few better. Beckerman--Showed some signs, cutting out balls intelligently. But his distribution (particularly in the first half) sometimes had me wanting to pull out his hair. And his lack of speed was an issue. Bedoya picked up his card because Beckerman got caught out of position and lacked the speed to recover. This was a best-case scenario performance for him and his weaknesses still endangered the result. Jones--A bit of a mixed bag. I saw him jogging a couple of times in the frist half when he should have been sprinting. This is becoming a pattern. On the flip side, he was more secure with the ball and his normal defensive rock. He also deserves some credit for the first goal. He set up inside the 6 and refused to be moved. He was clearly inside Corona's head (Corona was leaning on him as the ball was played). When Corona came out it was too far toward the back post, giving Jones room in the center. Jones also held his temper when the ref missed an elbow to his face. Altogether a very solid night; his rating would be higher if he had been more involved offensively and put in a more consistent effort. EJ--A holy terror on set pieces, but brought little else. Seemed completely disinterested in helping recover the ball. If he had directed the first header to the front post, and away from Corona, would have scored sooner. LD--Had a goal and an assist in a relatively quiet game. And was probably the most effective American attacker again.