My grades Howard-5
Not his best performance. Wasn't his fault on that goal by Ruiz. He dropped a ball and made up for it with a kick save however.
Defense-4 Steve Cherundolo-7.5
The only consistent defender. Set up the 2nd goal of the night with a nice pass to Eddie Johnson
Danny Williams-6
Played better than he has recently. Didn't hear his name much but he made good decisions.
Michael Bradley-8
Controlled the midfield and was huge with the attack. Had a nice chip to Dempsey for an easy goal
Graham Zusi-7
This guy has become a gem for Team USA. He did well attacking all night and has played well all around recently.
Eddie Johnson-6
Pretty good game from him. Set up Dempsey on a goal and hustled in the front half the whole night.
Hercules Gomez-6
Didn't do all that much as a forward. He was more of a midfielder this game. Had an open run to the goal but let the defender catch up to him and couldn't get the ball in.
Still had nice touch on his passes.
Dempsey-8.5
Brilliant performance. Had a questionable dive at the end where he got yellow carded but no big deal.
We need to defiantly work on our shape in the back. Our Holding Midfielders Bradley and Jones, need to work on supporting the back 4 and not leaving them exposed. Overall they just need more playing time together and earn to work with each other without having to verbally communicate and stuff, just knowing the other guys instincts. That's why Spain is so good, those guys have played with each other through the academy's since boys, Barca's camp all those guys have been together since preteens and it shows on the field.
Airraid, its tough on Bradley because he's a good defender, but he's also their best passer. Really, I think they need him more upfront than they do in back, but he needs to do both well! The lynchpin of the team and probably their best player for the foreseeable future.
Everyone thought Bradley was gonna have a significant drop off too just because daddy was leaving.
It's easy to see he's right behind Dempsey in importance to the attack