Seems to be a recurring theme thus far. The Nats are consistently inconsistent. Although in this case they did get the win at home draw on the road so sit comfortably in second place at his juncture. The Ocho, at this point, has clearly separated into two groups.
Canada now sits in first with 16 points after their historic win over Mexico last night in frigid Edmonton, Alberta, The US is in second with 15 points and Mexico and Panama are tied for 3rd/4th with 14 points. Then there is a significant drop down to 5th where Costa Rica sits with 9 points. With 6 matches remaining its going to be difficult for teams sitting down in the standings to make moves into the qualifying level. Recall that the top 3 finishers earn berths in WC2022 while the 4th place finisher gets a home and home series with a country from a different region with one last chance to get in.
The plan for this window was simple. Play your best lineup and be consistent between the two matches. With “only” two matches (which is still hard) and an extra day of rest/training between matches compared to the 3 game windows this gave teams a chance to field lineups with fewer changes. And that is exactly what the US did. Well almost. More on that in a minute as we review our two matches.
US vs Mexico
The team came into the Mexico match in fair shape. But Gio Reyna and Sergino Dest were both out from with injuries and Christian Pulisic had only played 20 minutes with Chelsea after returning from his injury. The good news was they were playing in Ohio in front of a sell out crowd of mostly US fans (which is not a given when playing Mexico).
Mexico had two good chances the first 30 minutes even though the US was controlling play. They were caught a bit flat footed on quick counters but were able to recover well enough that they cut down much of the room the Mexican players had to shoot. But still Zack Steffen had to make two saves to keep the clean sheet. The good news for US fans was that they clearly had the right game plan. Their high press with Brenden Aaronson and Ricardo Pepi forced a lot of turnovers and Tim Weah was continually getting behind the Mexican defense down the right wing. Even though it was scoreless well into the second half it felt like it was just a matter of time. Keep doing what they were doing and they would fine the winner.
And find it they did. Pulisic came on as a sub for Aaronson around the 7oth minute and wasn’t on the field for 5 minutes before finding the winner. Once again Weah beat his defender down the wing and drove to the end line and put a superb cross to the middle of the field 6 yards out. Pulisic cut in front of his defender and headed it home.
And since the match was played in Ohio (ok it was Cincinnati and not Columbus) at this point you knew what was going to happen. Sure enough in the 85th minute Weston McKennie scored to make it another Dos a Cero. The US was firmly in control and played perhaps their best match under manager Gregg Berhalter!
Unfortunately there were some issues that would end up biting the side for the Jamaican match. In the 68th minute Luis Rodriquez fouled Aaronson and a scrum ensued. With Aaronson laying on the ground Rodriquez clawed Aaronson across his face and gouged his eyes. In the melee that followed 3 cards were handed out. Zach Steffen and Weston McKennie were shown yellow and for some who knows why Rodriquez was also shown yellow. So Mexico committed a foul then went on to commit Violent Conduct and the US gets more cards dished out than Mexico. But worse the Mexican player should be been sent off immediately. VC is a straight red. So once again the guys should have been playing with a man advantage but nope.
Then it got worse. In the 89th minute, with Chris Richards on the half line waiting to sub in for Miles Robinson (who had already been shown a yellow), Robinson got called for a ticky tacky foul AND was shown a second yellow. Two yellows turn red and MRob was out of the match and would have to sit out the Jamiaca match. As would McKennie due to the nonsensical card accumulation rules at play in this qualifying segment.
But at the end of the day it was hard to complain with a stellar 2-0 win over our main rivals. To pour salt in their wound, this was the first time since 1937 that we had beaten Mexico 3 times in a calendar year. Unlike the Nations League and Gold Cup wins this summer which relied on some set piece goals when we might not have been the better team that was not the case Friday night. The US was clearly the better team up and down the field. On to Jamaica.
US vs Jamaica
With 3 points in the bag this was one where the US was looking to steal a road win and move atop the standings. And as suggested several days before the match, Berhalter only made the required two changes. Putting in Richards for Robinson and Gianlucca Busio for McKennie. The match started out in a positive way. In the 10th minute Weah broke through in the left side of the area and made a nice finish to put the Nats up 1-0. For the next 10 minutes the US was in total control. But then along came Michail Antonio. The dangerous West Ham United striker unleashed a bomb from 35 yards out and tied the match at 1. Many fans were unhappy with Steffen thinking that he should have saved that and that Matt Turner would have. Maybe, maybe not. That was a world class strike.
The rest of the way was mostly sloppy on both sides for two reasons. First, the field was atrocious. Far to soft with ankle deep holes all over the place. During the pregame the on field commentator was on the field pointing out the poor conditions. What was worse, if you looked in the back ground you could see that they were still watering the field! No excuse for that. Clearly Jamaica had a plan for this. Their attack was consistent. Launch long balls over the top and hope one of their big strikers could latch onto one and find a goal. The US’s passing game was pretty much negated by the conditions and their free kicks were just atrocious. The second problem was once again the refereeing. I was hopeful when the match official handed out a yellow in only the 7th minute. Thought perhaps he would not let Jamaica get away with hacking our players. But alas that just wasn’t the case. Numerous bad fouls occurred thought the match that were clear cardable offenses that weren’t. There were 3 fouls in particular that were poorly handled. Tyler Adams had the ball at the half line and had passed down the wing as the Jamaican player came in late and literally body checked him off the field. While the whistle was blown for the foul no card was shown. Twice late challenges were made where the Jamaican player came through cleats up. In the 40th minute Javain Brown hacked Adams. It was his second bad foul in a 5 minute span. While he was shown yellow it probably should have been a straight red.
Now to be fair, late in the match Jamaica had a corner and scored. The ref instantly waved it off calling the attacker that scored for pushing Walker Zimmerman in the back as he went up for the header. The replays were not from a very good angle but it was hard to see any foul. So perhaps we dodged a bullet there?
So while we would have like to have gotten the full 6 points we came away with a perfectly acceptable 4. Unlike Mexico which got 0.
Player Ratings
Zach Steffen – 6. Very solid game against Mexico. Controlled the area and was very good with playing out the back. Should he have stopped the Antonio shot? Maybe. He did appear a bit slow in his footwork to get at that ball. But again it was a terrific shot. Passing was much less effective against Jamaica but attribute that mostly to the horrid field conditions
DeAndre Yedlin – 6. Solid defensively both matches and very good working in the attack with Weah against Mexico. Just didn’t get much going attack wise against Jamaica.
Walker Zimmerman – 7. Terrific against Mexico and very solid against Jamaica. His passing was very good in the first match but not so much last night (field conditions). But where he stood out was in the air. He just was impeccable defending anything near him in the air. If he’s not in the top two center backs on the depth chart he’s certainly no further down than 3rd.
Miles Robinson – 7. First the good. He and Zimm were a flat stud tandem against Mexico. He is fast and strong and you just don’t beat him. His first foul against Mexico was not good but not bad but once he got the yellow he needed to be a bit more cautious. The foul late in the match that earned him a second yellow was weak. Probably wasn’t even a foul let alone cardable but he has to know there was no reason to risk something there. But overall tough to find fault with his play.
Antonee Robinson – 4. Played decently against Mexico and was solid supporting the attack although his crosses were nothing special. But his performance against Jamaica was one of the worst showings he has made in the US jersey. He was fair defensively but did very little supporting the attack. Couldn’t find any space on the left wing and when he did his passing was poor. Just a bad window for ARob. It happens but he’s still our best LB.
Chris Richards = 6. Solid in his few minutes against Mexico and fine last night. No major errors but no major positives either. The plan was clearly to have Zimmerman handle the ball in the back and Richards did fine supporting Zim with passing options when he needed to. No problem with him in future lineups.
Weston McKennie – 7.5. Was a total boss in the midfield against Mexico and he is clearly the guy who will make sure opponents know that we won’t take any of their crap. Unfortunately it also earned him a yellow which meant he had to sit out Jamaica. His passing and vision, especially in the second half was just great and the goal to make it Dos a Cero was clinical. Good to see as he has some tendency to sky those opportunities. Not this time. Buried it ending any hope Mexico had of getting back into the game. Clearly missed him against Jamaica.
Tyler Adams – 6. Was only so so in the first half of the Mexico game but came out strong the second half. Working with McKennie and Musah they just were way too much for the Mexican midfield. Was decent versus Jamaican but it was clear the field conditions were hard for him to adjust to.
Yunus Musah – 5. Not to sound like a broken record here but it is what it is. His dribbling and passing skills were on clear display against Mexico and its pretty clear that our starting midfield is the MMA (McKennie, Musah, and Adams). But last night was not his best showing. He didn’t adjust his approach to the field conditions. And while the field was crap they all play on the same one.
Gianlucca Busio – 5. Tough spot for the kid to come in and start but you have to make the most of your opportunities. He was ok defensively but never seemed to click on the left with Robinson. He did make a few nice passes down the wing but Robinson just never did much with them. He was ok with the ball but once again our skills were mitigated a bunch by the field.
Brenden Aaronson – 6. What a work horse. His energy and positioning were the keys to the high press against Mexico. He just never game then a chance to get organized. Force so many errors. Offensively he was ok in the attack but his free kicks were not very good. Against Jamaica his disruptive energy was on display again but never seemed in synch in the final third. Not his be match last night.
Ricardo Pepi – 6. Solid working with Aaronson pressing Mexico and had some good hold up play. Passing off his hold up was fine in both matches. Didn’t do much with the shots he had and tried to dish off the ball almost too much against Jamaica Film will show him that he had a couple of times when he should have kept the ball and made a quick turn to goal rather than one touch it off. But he’s only 18. He’ll continue to improve. Fans just have over the top expectations after his unreal half against Honduras.
Tim Weah 7.5. Overall our best player for the window. Was flat terrific against Mexico and solid last night. He did not have the dangerous play down the flank against Jamaica but again the conditions hindered that style of play. His move in the 18 to shield the ball from the defender and score the goal against Jamaica was classy to say the least.
Christian Pulisic – 6. Terrific in his 20 mintues against Mexico and his header was clinical if not superb. Came on as a sub against Jamaica but didn’t do much other than draw a couple of fouls. His free kicks were pretty dreadful. We’ll chalk that up to rust although that’s not his strong suit anyway. But you can see the dynamic play he brings as soon as he steps on the field. Against Jamaica he hadn’t been on the field for a minute when he made a quick inside turn and left the defender hanging. Leaving the defender in a position to either let him go or foul. Of course knowing how the ref was calling the match he choose the later and took Pulisic down. Yes called for the foul but no card came out. Poor on the referees part. Hopefully Pulisic is back to full strength the next window.
Paul Arriola, Jesus Ferreira, Kellyn Acosta – 5. Putting these guys in the same boat. They all came in against Jamaica with enough time to change the game. They didn’t. Either for the better or worse. They didn’t make any real mistakes but they didn’t seem to pick up the energy of the team either. Ferreira did looks solid in his minutes against Mexico and missed a solid chance. But I am sure he missed intentionally to keep the Dos a Cero in tact. LOL.
Gregg Berhalter – 6. Hard to find much fault with his approach. The team was well prepared and was at the top of their game against Mexico. And he was smart to play the same roster against Jamaica except for replacing the two players that had to sit out. Perhaps he could have made some different substitutions against Jamaica but at the time I felt they were good choices. The team just didn’t have the same energy last night and for sure the field conditions were less than ideal for their game. But credit Jamaica too. They are a solid team. The one error that Berhalter may have made is in not brining a big target striker. Perhaps the conditions in Jamaica called for a big guy to just hand in the middle and have us dump balls into the box to see if we could have gotten a banger goal.
There are two windows left with each window having three matches so once again roster selection and manipulation will be crucial. Let hope that the full roster is available for selection. Guys like Reyna and Dest who like to shoot from outside the box might have been difference makers last night. The one thing to remember going into the next window (late January and early February) is that the MLS will be in their offseason. MLS players will be well rested but out of practice but those playing in Europe will be at peak levels.
Soccer Analyst
Steve is an avid fan of all things soccer and the O’s. Originally from the west, he grew up in the Baltimore area. He returned to the west for college where he earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent 36 years working at the Idaho National Laboratory prior to retiring in 2013. It was during his school years in Baltimore where he learned to play soccer and that developed into a life long passion. He played competitively for over 40 years and was a four year starting goalkeeper at MSU. He also coached and refereed in the Idaho premier soccer and High School programs for many years.