HalfSpaces Player (+/-) Grades: USMNT vs Jamaica

For what seems like the 10th straight Gold Cup the USMNT beat Jamaica in the quarterfinals. I guess it’s not always the quarters, but it sure seems like we play them in the knockouts at some point every single tournament. The 2019 edition was perhaps the best the team has played under Gregg Berhalter (before the weather delay anyhow).

The 2021 matchup was missing the big names from both sides, but still managed to be entertaining. And the way the US controlled the match for 20 minutes or so during the second half was, I think, due to the best in-game adjustment I’ve seen during the Berhalter regime. I’ll leave the tactical stuff to the folks better suited to it though (TSS, Scuffed, Bob, Susaeta, etc.).

Maybe I was being generous or something, but this game had a ton of events. For reference, the Haiti game had 126 plays that I deemed worth giving some sort of value to. In this match, I graded 186 events. No idea if I accidentally turned up the sensitivity setting on my brain or if this match just had more good/bad stuff going on than normal. Anyhow, let’s get to it. Shall we?

Grading Beverage: George Remus Bourbon – I got this as a gift. It’s not great and I have no idea how much it goes for. I probably won’t be buying it for myself though.

If you haven’t read one of these USMNT (+/-) Player Grades articles before click here for an explanation of the system.

Grades

MOTM – Kellyn Acosta (+12.5)

If you read the grades on the Canada match you might remember that one of my criticisms was that the US midfield was very uninvolved (only 23 total events between the three starters). That was emphatically not the case against Jamaica. Kellyn Acosta alone logged 34 graded events and the three starters together totaled 66 in this match.

I don’t know if this grade will surprise people or not because there were definitely poor moments from Acosta that could get “stuck in your mind” so to speak, but he more than balanced out the negatives with positives. He was huge in snuffing out potential counter attacks from Jamaica (+5 on Transition D) and that was a big deal since their plan of attack was to create turnovers and go. Tyler Adams is great at being the cork on the bottle in preventing counters. Acosta did that job about as well as Adams does in this match.

If you take a look at the clock on the gifs you’ll notice that these two plays take place less than 30 seconds apart. Acosta was everywhere for the entire 90+ minutes against Jamaica. He does need to be a little better with the ball, but if we see anyone other than Kellyn at the #6 for the rest of this tournament I’d be shocked. For me, the depth chart at defensive midfield is now Adams and then Acosta/Sands.

Acosta’s contract also expires on December 31st this year. A move in January could help him cement his status on the 23 man roster even further. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t improve a lot of lower to mid-level Bundesliga teams.

Other Positive Performances

Miles Robinson (+11)

Going into the grading process I really expected to see Robinson come out on top. That’s probably because this moment was the play of the game for me though (goal aside):

It’s not quite John Brooks single-handedly thwarting a three on one, but it’s pretty dang good. Robinson was a defensive and aerial rock all game long. Sands struggled a bit, but Robinson was there to pick him up for 90 minutes. He even carried the ball into the attacking half once and I love seeing that from center backs. Defenders have no idea what to do when the big guys start dribbling at them.😂

I’d say that Robinson has probably pushed his way into the top four on the center back depth chart with his showing so far in this tournament.

Gianluca Busio (+10)

After having his physicality/manhood questioned against Canada – Busio decided to play a little D against Jamaica. Busio put up a +7.5 in the “Transition Defense” game phase. I believe that’s the highest point total I’ve ever scored in that phase.

The USMNT could use a little more offense from one of these midfield spots, but Busio more than held his own from a defensive/physical perspective on Sunday night. I also think Busio should be taking free kicks for the team going forward. He hits the ball as sweetly as anyone on the team and Sebastian Lletget hasn’t distinguished himself with his set piece service.

Room to Improve

Daryl Dike (+2)

I actually thought Dike was going to come out a little lower than this when I initially watched the match, but in the end he was more uninvolved than bad. Dike just doesn’t offer anything dropping in to help with possession and he also wasn’t dangerous when the team aimed long balls at him. Even Hoppe’s opportunity in the 22nd minute was caused more by two Jamaican defenders fighting each other than anything Dike did.

Possibly the most damning criticism of Dike is that the USMNT immediately looked much more dangerous and cohesive when Gyasi Zardes subbed on. Maybe this is just a bad couple games for Dike, but it also appears that his current skillset isn’t a great fit for what the USMNT wants to do under Gregg Berhalter. The #9 position, perhaps more than any other, remains up for grabs.

James Sands (+2.5)

Sands wasn’t bad exactly, but that was the roughest game we’ve seen him play so far with the USMNT. Jamaica was targeting him with long balls and he struggled with it a couple times. Robinson’s moment of heroic defending in the 56th minute was required because Sands lost an aerial duel further up the field. If opposing teams can get Sands isolated with speedy attackers it might become an issue. He’s not Tim Ream targetable, but when the other option is going at Miles Robinson…Sands is going to get some business.

Sands also turned a couple balls over passing. Jamaica was pressing hard and he wasn’t exactly playing the ball into Gio Reyna, but it’s something that will bear watching in the next match or two.

On to Qatar

The UMNT has now made the semi-finals of the Gold Cup with a lineup that looks something like this when you put it in terms of where the players fall on the depth chart:

I may not be exactly correct on these rankings, but I’m in the ballpark. The semifinals were the bar and the US has hit it. We’ve identified 3ish players that look like they could play with the full team and played halfway decent soccer. I’m still going to be mad in the immediate aftermath of a loss to Qatar or Mexico in the final, but this team has done what it set out to do. Winning the thing with this team against Mexico would be pretty fun though, wouldn’t it?

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