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

That was a good team. Competing in CONCACAF doesn’t leave the US with many opportunities to play opponents the caliber of Uruguay and when we do get the chance, it’s usually a low stakes friendly. I know they didn’t start all their big guns, but that’s a formidable team and the draw was a fair result. There’s no way of knowing how the World Cup proper is going to turn out, but I’m feeling more confident after watching the USMNT look competent against two talented teams.

The overall grades are slightly low, but that’s to be expected given that no goals were scored and we were playing a tougher adversary. It’s a lot easier to put points up against Honduras than it is against Uruguay (sorry about the stray there, Catrachos). Anyhow, to the grades.

Grading Beverage: Old Forester Bourbon – possibly my favorite bottom shelf option. This glass tasted slightly sour to me though. The bottle is almost empty, so maybe that has something to do with it? I’ve always heard the “neck pour” was the one that tasted slightly different. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

Grades

MOTM – Yunus Musah (+6)

Musah is so good. He was in my “Room to Improve” section last time, but he looked like the USMNT’s best player on Sunday. His body movement on the ball is unlike anyone else on the team. He’s able to feint and dip to make room where there doesn’t seem to be any. Give him the ball in a tight spot and more than likely it’s going to work out just fine.

This play doesn’t go anywhere, but he keeps the ball and calms things down for the team. I’m a Lions fan that grew up watching Barry Sanders go on some truly impressive 2 yard runs. Musah could do some similar things for the US. It’s not a touchdown, but he didn’t lose yards and put the team in a bad spot.

I (and many others) have complained about his performance once he gets to the final third, but if he can do this sort of thing and even get the ball out to Pulisic or Weah in stride than that will be good enough.

This was our best chance of the match and Musah orchestrated almost the whole move. He doesn’t need to play Xavi-style through balls. More of this please.

Other Positive Performances

Walker Zimmerman (+5.5)

Zimmerman has been a very good MLS center back for a long time. Here’s where Zimmerman’s teams have ranked in MLS by goals allowed since he’s been a starter: 2015 – 5th, 2016 – 5th, 2017 – 10th, 2018 – 11th, 2019 – 1st, 2020 – 3rd, 2021 – 2nd.

If Zimmerman is one of your starting CBs, you are going to have a top half of the league defense. Not too shabby.

He’s an excellent athlete, very good in the air, and looks to be adding some distribution to his game. In years past, I’ve thought that Zimmerman’s mind was writing checks his right leg couldn’t cash, but that hasn’t been the case lately. Look at this nice little disguised line breaker:

I’m pretty confident we have at least one center back that can hack it come World Cup time…

Room to Improve

Non-Zimmerman CBs (-5)

I decided to combine Long and Palmer-Brown here because I am growing increasingly concerned about this spot on the field. Pre-Achilles I was happy enough with Long, but he hasn’t been the same guy since coming back. He was never great on the ball, but his defensive excellence made it palatable. However, lately the D hasn’t been there (*snickering slightly*) and he’s still panicky in possession. I docked him three separate times for “awareness” in this match. Not great.

This was Palmer-Brown’s first start for the US, so writing him off now would be silly, but he had a rough go of it against Uruguay. I hope he gets the start against Grenada so he can settle in against a lesser opponent. If I had to start one of these guys against Wales in a month…I’d be very nervous.

Joe Scally (-3.5)

If I could sum up Joe’s night in a song, I think it’d be this one:

He got knocked down a lot against Uruguay, but he always got up again and gave it another go. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a weirdly hopeful performance. He wasn’t without bright spots (wiped a guy out at 13′) and he’s going to go back to Gladbach and keep growing.

That being said…it was a rough night. Uruguay went after him and got him on several occasions. He also looked a little lost out there at times. The 93rd minute Uruguay chance was mostly because Scally kept the attacker on side.

I still have no idea who the USMNT’s backup left back is, but Scally could very well be it. I’m glad he got this learning experience now in a friendly instead of a must win game against Iran come November.

Nations League on Deck

I am completely without hype for this Grenada match. I’m gonna watch, because of course, but there’s nothing to be learned there. The away match in El Salvador is another matter. We consistently look atrocious in these away CONCACAF matches so any chance to get a rep in in that scenario is an opportunity. I’m hopeful we’ll get the A team again in San Salvador.

I probably won’t grade the Grenada match, but I’ll see y’all back here after El Salvador. Cheers.

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