US vs. Mexico 2 to 2

Most of you probably watched some or all of the game last night. It was a very... interesting game. There were a couple tactical problems that I was surprised to see and I'll list them first before I get to the actual player analysis.

1) There was too much space between the defenders and the midfield. This is particularly surprising considering we had Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark were both playing. Both of these players are nominally defensively minded players and yet there was alot of space in the midfield all night for Mexico. Combine that with the access they had down the flanks and you had a very wide open, attacking Mexican game. The US could have lost quite easily if Mexico had finished only a little better.

2) The service to our forwards was lacking. Dempsey was having to drop awfully deep to get to the ball. Altidore got few crosses in the run of play. There was good width. We just weren't making the clean passes and crosses that we normally make. This was largely due to the lack of a creative midfielder in the center (Donovan, Dempsey, Adu or Feilhaber) and true wingers (which we don't really have).

3) Terrible, Terrible, Terrible defending on the corner kicks. Mexico noticed that we weren't playing a man on the back post and they worked that on every single corner kick. I put the blame for this on Bob Bradley. He needs to notice that they're working that hole on the set pieces and compensate.


Tim Howard (7): Not much he could have done on either goal. Had some really great saves that I thought were sure goals. Organized the defense well at times but needs to communicate better during the play. It's hard to tell on TV but in watching it, it didn't look like he was talking much during the play (witness the collision with Bocanegra in the first half). Still, a better than average performance. Probably deserved a card for his little altercation in the second half. He needs to watch that side of his game because some referees would have given a straight red card for that little incident.

Bocanegra (7): He was everywhere all the time. He was rarely if ever beaten and he covered for some of Onyewu's mistakes. Neither of the goals were his fault and he was quite good all night.

Onyewu (5): His goal was both very good and also quite lucky (looping headers that go off the post and barely trickle in don't count as brilliant skill... they count as good skill and brilliant luck). The commentators kept harping on him going up for throw-ins but I liked it. A player coming in off the throw in is rarely marked well and a center back is rarely marked well. Combine those two and you've got a recipe for a very tall man to be completely unmarked in the opponent's penalty area. I think this is a nice weapon to have in our arsenal and not one that's going to be well scouted (more of a Bradley comment then an Onyewu comment, admittedly)

Moor (3/7): I'm giving my first ever split grade. Drew Moor continues to look very good on the flank in attack. His cross for the second goal was very nice and he looked good on the ball on the flank (providing width that Donovan was not at times). However, both goals were his fault and were the result of his man getting a good 2 feet of separation on plays which they should never get that much separation on (certainly not separation goal side). This is especially sinful of Moor because he has to know that there's no far post man and he's the last man on that side (meaning he should error more to the goal side. Let the guy have a bit of space to make a miracle bicycle kick... but don't let him have a running shot on goal).

Corrales (4): Looked good at times but also looked out classed on defense. I don't think he's a long term answer at that position and we'll likely see a return of other left backs into the national team.

Donovan (6): This was a weird night for Donovan. He played at an unusual position (wide right) and I think this was an odd game for Bradley to be experimenting in. I would prefer to have seen a Donovan /Altidore pairing up front and Dempsey wide right... but that's me. Having said that, these aren't complaints about Donovan. He was reasonably good all night and really won the battle against his marker in the first 60 minutes. Unlike Convey, did a very good job of getting wide and doing some things.

Convey (5): Bobby continues to show a preference for pinching into the center of the field rather than going down the wings and crossing. This works well when our forwards are Donovan and Dempsey. But when the attack is focused around Josi Altidore it doesn't work as well. Altidore needs crosses and space to get open for headers (or to lay the ball off for Dempsey) and Convey just clogs things up. There were several plays where he had Corrales streaking up to his left and he never noticed. Part of this is that he's out of practice but I still expected much better from him.

Bradley (5): At times looked good but at times looked uncertain again. He's GOT to stop making the weak "hospital" passes (passes that are too soft and get players into trouble). I don't think the communication / chemistry is there between Clark and Bradley. This game made me realize why we need Feilhaber/Donovan/Dempsey in the middle with either Clark or Bradley.

Clark (4): Virtually invisible for long stretches of the game. I think the plan was to have Clark play the "attacking" midfielder of the two central midfielders. However, Clark's natural tendency is to drift back and he ended up getting caught in no man's land. When Bradley went forward, he didn't cover for him and I think that Clark's poor positioning is a large reason why there was so much room in the middle. Once Benny came on in the second half he was playing a dedicated defensive midfield position and things became much more stable.

Altidore (7): Played very well. Showed good strength and an all-important ability to drift away from his defender (Marquez who plays for Barcelona in this case... not too shabby).
His link up play with Dempsey could have been better and he needs to improve on his ability to play with his back to goal (something we haven't had since McBride retired). I think the Donovan / Altidore combo could be pretty good.

Dempsey (5): Struggled to get into the game. Wasn't getting good service from the midfield and ended up dropping very deep to get the service. Never really linked up with Altidore. He did have the one goal called back but it was a good call (just very, very late).

Subs:
Feilhaber (6): Immediately settled the team. Didn't force passes forward like Bradley had been doing. Controlled the pace and started a slower style game in which we were stretching out Mexico's defense. Some of this change is probably just due to the more specialized roles that Clark and Feilhaber were asked to play. Part of it is that he's just a better field general than Bradley.

Adu (5): Streaky but considering his age and the lateness coming on this is to be expected. Needs to show that he's willing to go wide or else he's going to become very easy to defend. Also didn't link up with his wingers well.

Lewis and Edu (NR): Played for a short period of time and were just asked to fill in. Edu got into a few good tackles.

All in all we did pretty well. However, there's some tactical issues that Bradley needs to sort out before our next game. The gap in midfield in particular is unacceptable... Especially when we've got two sitting midfielders playing at the same time. My choice for top starting 11:

Howard:
Cherundulo, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Beasley
Donovan, Feilhaber, Bradley, Dempsey
Johnson, Altidore

I'd like to see us play Cherundulo and Beasley at the backs and just play to clog the midfield and get our width from our fullbacks. Donovan, Feilhaber and Depsey free in the midfield to wreak havoc and covered by Bradley could really be a site to behold. I think that that would create significant space for Altidore and Johnson and really help open up the defense (something we didn't do well against Mexico).