USA vs. El Salvador Match Diary & Player Ratings

Another step on the road to redemption (or failure)

When is the USMNT “redeemed” from the failure in 2018? Did it come when they won the Nations League? Or the Gold Cup? Maybe it happened when they not only qualified for, but actually won the 2018 World Cup 5-0 over Germany when I recreated the tournament on my PS4. Many people agree that was the moment. But actually, maybe it doesn’t happen until they qualify for 2022.

In which case: Redemption starts tonight! It’s going to be a classic CONCACAF road qualifier: Heat, a less-than-perfect field, rabid fans, and opponents who are playing in maybe the biggest game of their lives. We always go into these games thinking they’ll be easy; I usually see a couple USL Championship players on the other roster and think “we’ve got this”. But for my entire life -- not just in 2018 -- these games have been tough.

Tonight’s lineup:

Aaronson | Sargent | De La Fuente

McKennie | Reyna | Adams

Dest | Ream | Miles Robinson | Yedlin

Turner

Some surprises: Ream, not Brooks, and Yedlin, not Antonee Robinson. Turner’s not a surprise because Steffen is hurt. I’m pretty happy with this because I wanted Reyna to play centrally (which is where he’s been playing for Dortmund) and Aaronson’s been in good form. I probably would have gone with Antonee Robinson and Brooks but who cares what I think?

Here’s a kickoff from a stadium full of really, really, REALLY pumped-up fans -- they didn’t sing the anthem, they SCREAMED it.

8’ - Robinson misses a wide open header! Wow, he really should have finished that. It was basically a carbon copy of his game-winner header against Mexico, except for the part where it goes in and everyone is happy.

12’ - Tyler Adams gets smashed into in mid air. He’ll live, so according to CONCACAF rules, that’s not a yellow.

15’ - El Salvador with a header over the bar! The thing we usually say in this situation is “that’s a wake-up call,” but if you’re not awake in this atmosphere, you can’t be woken up.

20’ - Okay: That was a lousy first 20. No rhythm, no possession, El Salvador are closing down the space and we’re not dealing with it.

35’ - This match is…boring. Yep: Boring. A big midfield mess, no possession, not many chances.

39’ - How much of this type of match can be blamed on the field? I hesitate to bring this up -- it’s so lame to say “oh, the field, that’s the problem” -- but, really: How much? The ball’s bouncing everywhere. McKennie just hit a shot that went pretty much straight up in the air. Would we be able to establish some possession if the field was better?

Half time: 0-0. Well that was a bunch of nothing! My wife decided to watch The Chair in the other room and I feel like maybe I should have joined her. FWIW, her review: “Meh”. That’s also my review of the first half.

49’ - A better start to the second half. You have to think that El Salvador can’t sustain that level of defensive energy for 90 minutes -- you’d think the second half would be easier.

50’ - CONCACAF qualifying in one photo:

55’ - Critical intervention from Yedlin on an El Salvador counter. At least our defense is showing up -- good commitment, no mistakes.

60’ - How’s this game going? Well, we have one shot on target, and the crowd has started the “ole!”s. Positives? Um…no injuries. No on-field arrests. Nobody’s pants have fallen down. I’m struggling to find positives.

63’ - Okay, triple change; I guess I’m not the only one who noticed that this isn’t working: Acosta, Pefok, and Antonee Robinson on for de la Fuente, Sargent, and Dest. This seems like a “try anything different” change.

66’ - If you’re wondering if Miles and Antonee Robinson are related, the answer is yes; they are Siamese twins separated shortly before kickoff.

75’ - Acosta forces a save with a header! That’s more like it! Good work by Pefok and McKennie to create the chance, and Acosta almost made it count. I believe that’s the first actual soccer we’ve played tonight.

78’ - More subs: Lletget and Roldan on for Aaronson and Yedlin. If you’re wondering why the Roldan brothers play for different countries, it’s because both are deep-cover spies, like in The Americans, but they received different assignments. They are from Kyrgyzstan.

87’ - The main thing I’m thinking as we stumble to an uninspired 0-0 draw: I knew we were screwed when Robinson missed that chance in the 8th minute. You don’t get many of those in this type of game.

Full time: 0-0. Well, that sucked. This game was like Fleet Foxes’ last album: I came in with high hopes, but it ended up being an uninspired pile of nothing.

Ratings:

Berhalter: 4. I can’t point to any obvious mistakes, but clearly nothing worked.

Turner: 5. One shaky moment with his feet, otherwise sound.

Dest: 4. He couldn’t really overlap because we didn’t ever possess the ball.

Ream: 6. Not for nothin’: Tim Ream has had a great start to the season for Fulham. He probably got the start today because of his recent form, and he did well.

Miles Robinson: 4. Solid defensively, but you’ve got to finish that chance. Also didn’t connect on many long balls.

Yedlin: 4. Same problem as Dest: No real opportunities to get forward.

McKennie: 5. Brought some energy and some bite, but we had a possession problem and I would have liked to see him commit at some point to just connecting a few simple passes.

Adams: 4.5. Same as McKennie, though I thought he was a little less effective defensively.

Reyna: 4. I feel like physicality can take him out of games. His Dortmund team has a million attacking weapons and he’s always in space; it’s going to be different at the national team level.

Aaronson: 3.5. Got into some good spots but was wasteful in the final third.

de la Fuente: 4. Let’s talk about the most important thing: It’s weird that he doesn’t capitalize the first letter of his last name. It looks like a typo -- frankly, he’s making me look like an asshole. Anyway: 4. He didn’t create much in the attacking third.

Sargent: 5. Good movement, had a few good turns. The guys on CBS Sports are saying he was wasteful…wasteful of what? He didn’t have any chances.

Acosta: 5.5. I thought we finally had better possession and chances after he came in.

Antonee Robinson: 5. Another guy who’s started well for Fulham. I know nobody cares, but Fulham are the Real Madrid of the Championship. Unfortunately, they’re also the Fulham of the Premier League.

Pefok: 6. One of the few players I thought actually played well. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts against Canada.

Lletget: 4. Add him to the long list of players who couldn’t help us establish possession. I’ll say it one last time…maybe the field was partly to blame?

Roldan: 4.5. It’s a shame this game ended in a draw; Roldan’s mom could have settled the “which son do I love more?” question once and for all.