USA v. Mexico Recap

USA beat Mexico 2-0 on Wednesday night. Both goals came from the Coach's son Michael Bradley.

The game got started quickly with Gio Dos Santos missing out on a golden opportunity in the box. Bocanegra had a poor clearance after dispossessing Castillo in the box, it fell right to Dos Santos and he shot it right at Howard.

After that the U.S. settled down a bit and started to control possession a little more. Bradley narrowly missed the goal on a 20 yard screamer and Donovan shot just wide on a free kick right outside the box. The first goal came late in the half as Beasley hit a corner to the far post. Donovan headed back in the middle to Onyewu. He headed on goal only for the shot to be parried by Sanchez. It fell right to Bradley who nailed it in. The defenders were lazily ball watching. Mexico has no one to blame for the first goal but themselves.

The second half was fairly uneventful. The U.S. held possession well and was doing a great job tackling in the midfield. Mexico started to go forward around the 60th minute and they had a golden opportunity off of a corner only to have Dos Santos miss twice. Rafa Marquez received a red card for hitting Howard with a spikes up kick. Marquez clearly wasn't going for the ball and he had no chance at getting it. It was a good call.

Mexico was at a big disadvantage and they weren't working very hard on top of that. USA tackled well and they got the second goal in the 90th minute. Altidore took the ball and ran for about 15 yards. He laid it off to Donovan, who saw Bradley running up field. He passed Bradley the ball who then shot from about 20 yards out. He hit it solid, but it was right at Sanchez. Sanchez let it slide right under him to put the game away.

Player ratings

USA

Tim Howard- 7 Did well when Mexico came at him, didn't have to save much though. Loses points for picking up a yellow for delay of game. He'll miss the next game.

Frankie Hejduk- 6.5 Was the most consistent defender on the day. Got forward well and didn't really let his man have much room. He is still going to be hampered by his lack of physical ability, not enough pace or skill to be a real threat on the flanks.

Oguchi Onyewu- 6 Not a great game for the big guy. He defended his man fairly well, but had some shaky clearances and let an untalented Ochoa slip by him once, but handled him the rest of the game. He stepped up to intercept a lot of balls late in the game though.

Carlos Bocanegra- 5 Very bad performance for the vet. Didn't communicate well with Gooch and looked very nervy when clearing the ball under pressure.

Heath Pearce- 5.5 Did nothing to separate himself from the left back field. Did ok covering Dos Santos, but he always looked as though he was going to get beat, even when he didn't. Got forward some, but as usual his crossing was atrocious.

Sacha Kljestan- 5 His worst performance in the shirt. He played as the second center mid. His defense was poor throughout and Bradley had to give extra effort to make up for it. His passing was surprisingly poor. He was never a threat offensively, he looked anxious throughout and was taken off late in the game.

Michael Bradley- 9 Immense! Early on he was a little untidy with his passing, but that proved to be just nerves. He is at his best when games a scrappy in the midfield. The game got scrappy and he became a bull in midfield. Tracked back very well to cover for the invisible man, Kljestan. Tackled very well, only giving up one foul. And obviously he scored twice.

Clint Dempsey- 6.5 You can tell his time playing for Roy Hodgson has improved his game. He is a much better defensive player because of it, he covered well on the flanks. He didn't try to do a whole lot offensively, I would lie to see him demand the ball more. Had a half chance in the first half. He seemed uninterested at times.

Demarcus Beasley- 6.5 Isn't quite in form yet as shown by some bad touches and shots, but played better than expected. Defended very well as usual and that's big considering the problems at left back. Hit the corner that scored the goal, even though it wasn't a very good one.

Landon Donovan- 7.5 Floated in and out of the game. Wasn't a threat enough of the time, but he had a hand in both goals and he was the biggest threat for the U.S. He required more attention than any other player.

Brian Ching- 6 Held the ball up well, but really didn't do anything else. He is simply doing a job out there, but I don't think it is enough. He did do his job though, so you can't really take much away from him.

Reserves

Jozy Altidore- 6 Didn't have too many touches. He caused more trouble than Ching because of his pace and his willingness to make runs. Gave the ball up to easily early on. He created the second goal though and if he didn't lay the ball off to Donovan he would have won a free kick and it was a tackle worthy of a yellow card. His physical attributes are too good to keep him off the field.

Ricardo Clark- 3 Not on the field long enough to give him a true rating, but he was bad in his time. He tackled ok as usual, but as usual his passing was off the mark and the game was always one step ahead of him. He shouldn't win many more caps in my opinion.


I am not going to do ratings for Mexico, but I will say that Marquez gets a 2 for being very stupid. He cost his team a chance at points in this game, and he hurts them for the next game. Also, why is Eriksson playing Oswaldo Sanchez and Carlos Ochoa. Sanchez is obviously not good any more and there are better keepers behind him. And Carlos Ochoa was never a threat, he looked awful, they need Carlos Vela and fast. I'm starting to think that Eriksson is not a good manager.