Welcome back. It’s been a little while. The US played Wales yesterday and it was pretty enjoyable as far as 0-0 draws go. Wales wasn’t playing their best players and the US hasn’t played a game since 2017 (it feels like it at least). That makes it tough to take anything we saw yesterday too seriously, but it doesn’t mean we learned nothing.
Imo, it was almost two separate games. In the first half, the USMNT looked aggressive and engaged. We still didn’t create much, but mostly controlled the game and allowed Wales almost nothing.
The second half was sloppy and very few players did much to earn a lot of credit. Tyler Adams might be the best example of this. In the first half he was all over the field and was at +8 for 45 minutes. In the second half he was -3 and came off after 20 minutes. Miazga was +3 in the first half and -1 after. And so on.
If you haven’t read one of these USMNT (+/-) Player Grades articles before click here for an explanation of the system.
*RANDOM NOTE* It’s really hard to do these grades without being influenced. I try not to read or listen to any of the post game analysis stuff before I grade and write, but even seeing stuff on Twitter seeps into my brain. For example, Joe Lowery tweeted something about how good Adams was. And I agree that Adams was good…in the first half. But I see his grade at +6 and I’m thinking should that be higher? Did I miss things? (I’m sure I do btw). Just know that I’m trying to ignore y’all, but I can’t quite do it completely.
Grades
If some of the gifs look funny it’s because I watched and recorded everything at .8 speed. Just FYI.
MOTM: John Brooks (+14)
The last time we saw Brooks it was against Canada and while I wasn’t exactly critical of him…he just didn’t do much. That was not the case in this match. He took on much of the distribution that usually falls to Bradley/Yueill and did it very well. Sure, he lost couple flicked on headers to a 6’5″ guy, but nothing came of them and he was only beaten once defensively (31′).
He hit two or three passes like the one above and also broke lines on the ground. I’ve been jealous lately watching players like Bonucci and Upamecano with their clubs teams, but Brooks did a fair imitation of them in this match.
Other Positive Performances
Weston McKennie (+12)
Weston had himself quite a first half. He was +9 at halftime and was pulling off stuff like this:
He slowed down a bit with the rest of the team after halftime, but McKennie was the dominant personality in this match. Brooks may have had a higher score, but McKennie was omnipresent and looked to be the team’s driving force. The Juventus move really seems to have produced growth and I think it’s going to pay big dividends for the USMNT going forward.
*McKennie was especially good (+9) in possession. I think that shows improvement from some of his previous performances with the NT*
Yunus Musah (+12)
So this kid can play a little. I was somewhat surprised that he came out near the top of the pile, but when you add up all the little, good moments throughout the game it’s pretty exciting. The way he sticks his rear out and holds guys off is almost comical. It’s nearly impossible to get around that booty to get the ball.
He also likes to do a little hip swivel and drive the ball upfield. This is really useful in breaking the press and he did it a couple times against Wales. His work rate is good. He’s GAM at 17. I really hope we can hang onto this dude. He’s a player.
Room for Improvement
Antonee Robinson (0)
Everyone needs to relax a little. Antonee had two really bad turnovers in the first 15 minutes and was at -5 by my calculations. The fact that he got back up to zero is a pretty good recovery really. If the turnovers become a hallmark of his game then it’s a problem. For now, I think we can chalk it up to nerves (who had more to gain/lose than him this match?) and a team that isn’t familiar with each other yet.
He got better as the match went along and wasn’t the defensive liability that some make him out to be. I’m still interested in seeing what the Cannon/Dest pairing looks like, but let’s not write Robinson off for a couple bad moments early in a friendly.
Konrad (0)
I don’t even think Konrad was exactly bad…he just didn’t do much (6 “events” in 71 minutes). He looked like he was in the right spot most of the time, but he didn’t do anything special with the chances that fell to him. Not hitting the net with his shot on when Wales turned the ball over is disappointing, but nothing crazy. It was reminiscent of his performances with the U20s at the 2019 World Cup. There’s certainly talent there. Let’s give it some time and see what grows. (Lllanez came on and immediately looked more dangerous imo)
Anything Else?
Nothing that I’m going to do a whole section on. Reyna was better than I thought on first watch. Remember this? I didn’t.
Johnny Soccer looks like he might have a little something. He was +3 in 20 minutes and looked very competent out there. I’d like to see more from him (I’m imagining him to be like Danny Rojas from Ted Lasso btw).
On to Panama. Looking forward to it.
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While the other grades pass the eyeball test, I was a little surprised to see Dest at a 7. He seemed to be balling. Certainly, he oozed talent and skills during the Wales match. Although I do recall hearing a couple comments from others that some of his moves were great razzle dazzle, but they didn’t necessarily produce a positive football result.
Ok, maybe we can’t write Robinson off after a couple bad moments in a friendly, but what about after looking like one of the worst players on the team in all but one or two of his eight caps so far? Like, maybe he’s a nega-Lletget – fine for a good club team, bad for country.