If you haven’t read one of these before click here for an explanation of the grading system.

Previous +/- game grades:

USA-Guyana

USA-Trinidad & Tobago

USA – Panama

USA – Curacao

That was a lot more fun to watch and more enjoyable to grade. The team came out to a +5.9 average which is the second highest average after the U20s +7.1 against Nigeria during the U20 World Cup.

It appears that Jozy is critical to the success of the system/team. The team played better and with more intensity than in the previous couple games, but play flowed so much better with Altidore to grease the wheels. Again, it makes one wonder about the inclusion of Zardes over Sargent. Josh is the closest player to Jozy in terms of touch, combination play, and passing that the USMNT has in the pool. Berhalter went with the safe choice in Zardes (and we’ve won five straight games so who am I to criticize?), but Sargent would’ve been a much more like-for-like replacement for Altidore.

To the grades.

Notes:

Completed +/- Grades:

15+ Excellent game 9-14 Played well to very well 5-8 Solid 0-4 Not great, Bob Below 0 Sailing by Christopher Cross (this is aimed at a very specific person)

*The Adjusted Total uses the Elo ratings to take into account opponent and competition factors.*

MOTM – Michael Bradley (+17)

Michael turned the clock back and had himself a game. The normal criticism of Bradley is that his defense is poor. That was emphatically not the case in this game. Usually when I grade the USMNT most of Bradley’s positive events are passes. He still did that this game, but he also had seven, notably good, defensive actions. I’m not sure what the difference was, but he was excellent on both sides of the ball against Jamaica. If you are a Bradley-disliker and this angers you…*shrug*

The long diagonal before the 1st goal will get most of the attention, but look at this sexy little dime.

Also Good

Weston McKennie (+14)

If Weston were a NFL quarterback the announcers would call him a “gunslinger.” This is code for a QB that takes risks and throws some interceptions, but backs himself to make the throw. That’s Weston. He’s never seen an aggressive, first-time, through ball that he doesn’t like. It’s part of what makes him so good, but he’s also gonna turn the ball over sometimes. He had a great game though. After an off performance against Curacao he was back to hitting penetrating passes and making aggressive runs. If Schalke jerks him around again this year and doesn’t give him a long look in central midfield somewhere I’m going to have to get rid of my Schalke t-shirt.

That’s a Mendez-esque ball right there.

Christian Pulisic (+13)

CP to Jamaican RBs

Christian was just torturing whatever right-sided Jamaican defender that dared attempt to guard him in the first half. Even with the two goals his performance during the second half wasn’t quite as electric, but that would have been near impossible to keep up. I’m not a big Paul Arriola fan, but the chemistry between Paul and Christian has been evident and beneficial to the team.

Christian Pulisic vs Jamaica



Happy 4th of July, folks. 🇺🇸



pic.twitter.com/e3hUmG28Dz — USMNT Videos (@USMNTvideos) July 4, 2019

Room for Improvement

Tim Ream (+1)

This feels harsh. Watching the game live I thought he was pretty good and I’ve heard a couple people I respect mention his performance was good. So it is certainly possible I’m wrong here, but I just didn’t see it on re-watch. His passing was noticeably better than the previous games, but he still had a couple of really dangerous, bad moments in defense. Those two moments (77′ and 81′) take him down into poor performance territory.

Bailey should have been gone. That’s a great counterattacking opportunity.

Gyasi Zardes (-5)

I’m not going to bother with gifs and frankly I’m not even sure what to say anymore. His bad touch led directly to Jamaica’s lone goal, his teammates look hesitant to play him the ball at times…Shawn Brooks has a nice article out that demonstrates what he does well, but imo it doesn’t add enough value that he should be a realistic option for a first choice NT roster ever again.

Conclusions

Development isn’t linear. I usually hear that phrase applied to youth player development, but I think it also applies to the growth of the USMNT under Gregg Berhalter. Maybe they’ll wet the bed against Mexico in the final and I’ll be all angry and negative again, but I would say the team’s performance has generally been trending upwards during this tournament. That’s basically what I was hoping for.

Mexico is a better team than the US and should probably win the final on Sunday. I hope that’s not the case, but after a couple hours of being buzzed and upset Sunday night…let’s look at the Gold Cup in the cold light of day and see what we think.

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