Well, I suppose it could be worse, but that was not an attractive half of soccer. US comes out in a 4-4-2 against Denmark's 4-5-1. Here is my take so far with ratings:
GK: Reis, 5, Not called upon much; had no chance on the Denmark goal.
RB: Albright, 3, One decent cross early; laying off too much defensively led to Danish goal; picked up a deserved yellow card for a late tackle; decent header off a corner kick; sloppy passing.
CB: Boswell, 6, Probably the best US performance in the half; hardly had his name called as he was all over his defensive responsibilities.
CB: Conrad, 4, Pretty good most of the half; worked well backing up Bornstein; beaten badly on the Danish goal.
LB: Bornstein, 4, Real shaky early; settled down and chipped in a little offensively, getting a good strike on goal; nutmeged pretty easily once.
RW: Donovan, 5, Tentative for much of the game so far; corners have been ok; free kicks have been erratic; has made a couple probing runs; got the goal on the PK, but it should have been stopped.
CMF: Mastroeni, 4, A bit of a non-factor so far; clogged up the midfield nicely; hasn't been a link getting the balls through to the forwards.
CMF: Clark, 4, Almost merited a 3 because of near total disappeance in first half; redeemed himself with a hustle play to earn a (fairly dubious) PK; too passive; not finding the forwards or making good runs himself.
LW: Rolfe, 4, Seems a little out of sorts on the wing; had a couple looks at goal, and gets bonus points for actually taking a couple of shot, one of which was almost misplayed by the Danish keeper into a goal); didn't get a single decent cross in.
F: Johnson, 4, Some good running, but is dropping too deep into midfield because of lack of service; some terrible passing and giveaways; made good defensive header.
F: Jaqua, 3, Worst performance of any in first half; total non-factor; one wonders if the speed of play is beyond his abilities.
GK: Reis, 5, Not called upon much; had no chance on the Denmark goal.
RB: Albright, 3, One decent cross early; laying off too much defensively led to Danish goal; picked up a deserved yellow card for a late tackle; decent header off a corner kick; sloppy passing.
CB: Boswell, 6, Probably the best US performance in the half; hardly had his name called as he was all over his defensive responsibilities.
CB: Conrad, 4, Pretty good most of the half; worked well backing up Bornstein; beaten badly on the Danish goal.
LB: Bornstein, 4, Real shaky early; settled down and chipped in a little offensively, getting a good strike on goal; nutmeged pretty easily once.
RW: Donovan, 5, Tentative for much of the game so far; corners have been ok; free kicks have been erratic; has made a couple probing runs; got the goal on the PK, but it should have been stopped.
CMF: Mastroeni, 4, A bit of a non-factor so far; clogged up the midfield nicely; hasn't been a link getting the balls through to the forwards.
CMF: Clark, 4, Almost merited a 3 because of near total disappeance in first half; redeemed himself with a hustle play to earn a (fairly dubious) PK; too passive; not finding the forwards or making good runs himself.
LW: Rolfe, 4, Seems a little out of sorts on the wing; had a couple looks at goal, and gets bonus points for actually taking a couple of shot, one of which was almost misplayed by the Danish keeper into a goal); didn't get a single decent cross in.
F: Johnson, 4, Some good running, but is dropping too deep into midfield because of lack of service; some terrible passing and giveaways; made good defensive header.
F: Jaqua, 3, Worst performance of any in first half; total non-factor; one wonders if the speed of play is beyond his abilities.
Comments