A win is always better than a loss. Forgive me though if I am less than enthused. The USMNT beat Honduras 3-0 in terrible conditions borne of their own federation’s decision making. Honduras is 0-3-8 with a -17 goal differential. Their last match was a 0-2 loss at home to El Salvador. It’s a team you are supposed to beat by multiple goals.
The USMNT is going to qualify for the World Cup, but they are very average and generally look like less than the sum of their parts. The silver lining I’m holding onto right now is that WCQ form has very little to do with the performance in the actual World Cup. It’s possible, I suppose, that the team peaks in November and has a fun tournament. It’s not what I’m expecting, but it’s within the realm of possibility.
Grading Beverage: Blade and Bow bourbon – smooth, but overpriced. Comes with a cool metal key around the top of the bottle though.
If you haven’t read one of these USMNT (+/-) Player Grades articles before click here for an explanation of the system.
Grades
MOTM – Weston McKennie (+12)
If you want to look back at the El Salvador grades you could cut and paste the McKennie MOTM section here. McKennie is a level above his teammates atm and several levels above anyone Honduras could throw at him. There’s no Wilson Palacios (tbh – even though he’s 37 & retired he’d still probably be Honduras’ best midfielder) out there anymore to challenge him in the midfield.
McKennie routinely leads the USMNT in “events” according to the way I grade and he’s easily the most influential player. He’s also still adding to his game. Turns like this one are popping up more often:
Add that to his aerial prowess, work rate, physicality, passing ability, and you start to understand why Juventus/Allegri have declared him “untouchable.” He’s a ton of fun to watch and remains the USMNT’s best player.
Other Positive Performances
Luca de la Torre (+10.5)
Fans have been calling for de la Torre to get his shot for a while now. I wasn’t sure how he’d look because he’d only play about 45 total minutes with the USMNT in the last year. Looked pretty good though, didn’t he? Let’s withhold judgement for a scooch longer, since this performance was against the worst team in the Ocho, but you can only play the opponent in front of you. Luca reminded me a lot of Musah, but a better passer and less physically gifted.
This is the kind of play I think de la Torre gives you that Musah doesn’t:
Most players (at least in the USMNT pool) don’t see/hit that reverse pass. It didn’t quite come off, but the ball progression combined with the clever pass is a welcome addition the the USMNT midfield toolbox. The best thing to come out of this match/window might be the clarity of depth in the American midfield. Reasonable minds can disagree, but the midfield depth chart (assuming health) has gotta be this now:
Berhalter was slower to get there than most would have liked, but I’m still not completely convinced that his loyalty is a bad quality. We’ll see when the World Cup roster comes out (*knocks on wood*) in October, but he gets there eventually.
Kellyn Acosta (+9.5)
If you’ve been reading for a while you’ll know I have a soft spot for Acosta. I love that he lost his spot, won it back, and will now kill himself to make sure he doesn’t lose it again. He’s also the USMNT’s best practitioner of the dark arts (with apologies to Miazga/Hoppe). This was less than five minutes into the match:
If you’ve watched the USMNT for any length of time you know that opponents like to give US players a little extra after they’ve released the ball. It also rarely gets called. Acosta exaggerates this, throws his hands in the air, and makes sure the ref takes note. I love this.
In the non-gamesmanship categories Acosta also played well. His set pieces were excellent, defense was good, and his passing was occasionally surprising. This was the pass of the game imo:
He isn’t a Champions League caliber #6 in the way that Tyler Adams is, but as long as he’s not turning the ball over he’s a perfectly fine backup/spot starter when Adams is out.
Room for Improvement
Nobody. The only “low” score I had for this match was Matt Turner at 0, but that was because I literally had nothing written down for him. Seriously. No noteworthy events in 90 minutes for the keeper. I think that gives you a inkling of how poor Honduras was in this match. Their xG for this match came in at 0.05. And no – you didn’t read that wrong. Ugh.
The Last Leg
As long as the US takes care of Panama at home in March, we can start worrying about the World Cup proper. I know the confluence of negative events/performances that resulted in the US missing the 2018 World Cup has everyone gun shy, but we are in good shape for qualification. The March window is Mexico away, Panama at home, and Costa Rica away. Let’s make sure that game in Costa Rica is a formality, okay guys?
If you enjoyed this and would like to be informed of future articles type your email address in the box and you’ll be notified of each new post. Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @blharreld 🤓
PS – I’ll be grading the Canada loss at my leisure and publishing it sometime in the next week or two. Three games in a week are a lot for the players and us poor bloggers alike. lol
I can see why LDLT would have an over-inflated # from this analysis. The objective metrics ranked him tied for 5th & 6th on the team w/ middling #’s. But here you highlighted it as a positive he missed a wide open pass to Pulisic, instead choosing to dribble way too long (as he’s accustomed to doing) and then making the pass way too late. I think most readers of this would make the pass earlier, let alone Musah. It was criticized by the game announcers & is a microcosm why he had 0 key passes against a pushover & has no goals and assists in his last 30 games. The ball progression provides functionality in some situations, but often times you’re going to need a better passer from cm, and more physical player if the opponent hasn’t given up + the ref isn’t irregularly calling the game tight in CCAF.