USA v. Ukraine

Jasontammyrobert Poole

over 10 years

Howard--kept team in a game they didn't deserve to be in. Castillo--gets a point for his offensive contributions. His defense is positively offensive. He has to have played his way off the plane right? Brooks--See Castillo, minus the offensive contributions. Onyewu--not the kind of performance he needed to make the WC squad. Individually wasn't too bad, but clearly not on the same page with Brooks. Cameron--Needs to get better at crossing, otherwise a very solid performance. Should be the #1 at RB. Jones--not terrible, but not good either. Kljestan--Just doesn't seem to fit with the MNT. It seems odd that a CL starter has no spot on the team, but he doesn't. Bedoya--similar to Jones. Looked like a player who should be a WC backup, not a starter. Johnson--Looked like a WC starter at either position. Dempsey--Can we start talking about sitting him yet? Rather than leading the offensive push, he was MIA. Altidore--Did some good things, just not around the goal. Shea--this was a very Brek Shea type of performance. Showed initiative in taking on and beating defenders, totally clueless once he had done so. Unfortunately, that appears to be who he is at this point in his career--skilled but clueless. Williams--better than Jones or Kljestan, still not a performance that will improve his national team standing. Johanssen--Continued his recent form and looked like someone who probably should be in the starting lineup for the full team. Agudelo--Incomplete. Klinsmann--5.0--Not one of his better performances. I am assuming he was using this game as a disqualifier for Castillo. Otherwise, this drops a full point for starting him. Castillo's abject failure defensively was completely predictable. Not starting Johanssen and to leaving him on the bench so long made no sense.