USA vs. Jamaica Match Diary and Player Ratings

Now we're playing the BIG small islands

The Gold Cup officially gets interesting tonight. Before now, it’s been about getting results, assessing players, and trying to answer the question: “How many goals should we score against Martinique?” The US and Jamaica have a recent history in the Gold Cup: The US eliminated Jamaica in 2019 and ‘17 (in 2017, it was in the final), and Jamaica knocked out the US in the 2015 semis. That was the Brad-Guzan-penalized-for-throwing-the-ball-outside-his-box game. That remains the only time I’ve ever seen that called in my life.

Berhalter has had some of his lineup decisions made for him in the first three games, and not necessarily in a good way. Lewis probably won’t see minutes. Cannon doesn’t seem fit. Pines is about as likely to play tonight as I am. Here’s the lineup; the big news is that Dike gets the nod over Zardes:

Hoppe | Dike | Arriola

Lletget | Busio | Acosta

Vines | Robinson | Sands | Moore

Turner

Paul Arriola is back! That’s great news for the national team, and also for DC United, who recently had one of their Let’s All Pull A Hamstring parties. Normally, you might try to slowly work Arriola back into the lineup, but we’ve gotten so little from the wings that Berhalter throws him right back in there.

Here’s kickoff from Dallas, featuring a grass field laid over a turf field, which -- much like supply-side economics -- never works but people keep trying it anyway.

1’ - Holy shit! We almost gave up a goal off the kickoff! I’ve seen teams score from the kickoff before -- we did it against Canada -- but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team score when the other team had the kick. That was almost historic.

9’ - It’s already a fast-paced, physical match -- there’s no space out there. Jamaica always play defense.

15’ - Diagonal ball from Hoppe finds Moore who can’t do anything with it! You could almost hear Moore thinking “I’m not a goal-scorer, I’m not a goal-scorer, I’m not a goal-scorer” while that ball was in the air.

21’ - Hoppe blasts a shot on goal, but Blake makes the save! Hoppe’s impressed me. I probably underrated him because he plays for Schalke, who this year were only able to employ guys willing to play for $12/hour and a free sandwich on game days.

26’ - Powell is down for the third time in five minutes. So: You have to go off, friend. We can’t just watch you stand up, then fall, stand up, fall like a one year-old for the next 64 minutes.

38’ - Shot by Jamaica leads to a good save from Turner! Hoppe forgot that beating three guys on the dribble does no good if the fourth guy steps up and starts a counter.

42’ - Turnover by the US leads to a chance for Jamaica, but Bobby Decordova-Reid puts a tame shot on goal. Here’s what I’ll say about Decordova-Reid: He plays for Fulham, my favorite English team, which means he’s good sometimes but will always find a way to disappoint me.

HALF TIME: 0-0. Pretty even match. I think we need to up the intensity; I don’t think beautiful soccer is possible on this pumpkin patch of a field, so let’s see if we can dig in and score an ugly goal.

47’ - Another tight-angle blast from Hoppe is saved by Blake! I think we’ve established: Blake > Hoppe volley from a tight angle.

51’ - US turning up the pressure now. Looking around the field, most guys are having pretty good matches -- we just can’t overcome Jamaica’s intensity.

55’ - Great defending from Robinson snuffs out a counter-attack! Robinson’s been great today, winning all his one-on-ones.

62’ - Here come subs: Zardes for Dike and Roldan for Arriola. I like these subs; Dike wasn’t finding the game, and I don’t think Arriola is 90-minutes fit.

64’ - Zardes with a blast but it’s saved! Jamaica have so many MLS guys that they’re easy to assess, and, yeah: Andre Blake is good.

72’ - We’re controlling the match but not looking too dangerous. I think the turf is a little bit to blame; we can play square balls, but anything intricate just isn’t on. Which is another way of saying: I blame the Dallas Cowboys.

77’ - A set piece for Jamaica bounces all the way through! YIIIIIIIIKES! One goal will probably win this game.

82’ - GOAL USA!!! It’s Matthew Hoppe, who has been about to come off for the last five minutes! We’ve been knocking, knocking, knocking…finally we’re able to unlock Jamaica. In the end, it wasn’t anything fancy, just possession and an overload. Nice floated ball from Roldan.

83’ - The only bad news is that Stu Holden had to make the inevitable “Hoppe shows he’s got some hoppies” pun. It’s almost enough to make me wish we hadn’t scored.

90’ + 1’ - Blake and Robinson bash heads - obviously, both took the Brian McBride Masterclass on Just Going Ahead And Sticking Your Head In There. They’re going through the concussion protocol, and I really, really want to believe that our concussion protocols are real.

90’ + 2’ - I just learned that Donovan Pines isn’t in uniform “for precautionary reasons”. Is the precaution that he had a really rough last match? Our next option is something called Henry Kessler.

FULL TIME: 1-0 USA! I’ll absolutely take that. Jamaica are tough, we’ve got a B-team, a 1-0 win where we looked pretty okay is a great result. Next up, that notorious Central American powerhouse: Qatar.

Ratings:

Berhalter: 8. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a deontological soccer blog, not a consequentialist soccer blog, so the fact that he tried to take off the goal-scorer just before he scored doesn’t count against him (because Hoppe was gassed).

Turner: 7.5. Had one big save to make, and made one big save. Was also good with his feet.

Vines: 5.5. Solid, though sometimes he couldn’t match the physicality of the Jamaican players. Also: I’m going to just pretend I didn’t see that blonde goatee.

Robinson: 8.5. Came up big in several big spots. This is his tournament now: If he’s healthy, he’s on the field, no doubt about it.

Sands: 5.5. The first somewhat-shaky match he’s had this tournament. He’s slightly undersized for a center back, and that showed tonight.

Moore: 6. He’s had a good tournament. It’s unlucky for him that our player pool is 70 percent right backs.

Lletget: 5.5. He definitely wasn’t helped by the fact that we were playing on a bunch of carpet samples laid over a parking lot.

Busio: 6.5. Stepped up the defensive side of his game tonight. He likes to play deep, but I’d like to see him pushed a bit higher.

Acosta: 6. Had a few bad touches, but did a ton of dirty work in midfield.

Hoppe: 7. That’s a huge goal for a guy who was obviously pumped up for this match. He’ll probably get mentioned on all the “helped his stock” lists after the tournament.

Arriola: 5. Couldn’t really get it going. Another player hurt by the field.

Dike: 4. I don’t know if his teammates weren’t finding him or if he wasn’t finding his teammates, but he just wasn’t involved.

Zardes: 5. Had one nice strike, but otherwise had the same problem as Dike. We should probably credit Jamaica’s defense: They’re physical, and they didn’t get caught out.

Roldan: 6. Since there’s a good chance we’ll play three games in a week, I think he’ll start against Qatar to give someone a breather. I’ll bet he’ll replace Arriola.

Gioacchini and Cannon: NR.