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USMNT Daily Update: A closer look at the FIFA14 player ratings

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Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

The release of EA Sports’ FIFA14 earlier this week may have given North American soccer fans a chance to finally play the newest version of their favorite video game. But it also gave them an opportunity to do something else they were looking forward to: Check out the player ratings of the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Gamers eager to learn what players like Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan were rated got to find out when FIFA14 dropped on Tuesday, and as is the case every year, there was quickly some debate about which players were rated too high and too low.

Howard and Dempsey are the best U.S. Men’s National Team players in the game (before any updated rosters drop), each of them boasting 81 overall ratings. The four players to follow are Brad Guzan with 79, Landon Donovan with 78 and both Jozy Altidore and Jermaine Jones with 77s.

Some of the U.S. players were rightfully rated by EA Sports but some were clearly slighted, including Michael Bradley and Fabian Johnson. Bradley, who many believe is the U.S.’s best field player currently, received a a 76, below midfield partner Jones. Johnson was given a 73, which still feels a point or two short despite him being the best-rated defender on the U.S. squad.

Of American players not on the U.S. roster in FIFA14, Brad Friedel once again is king with a 79. Following him are Timmy Chandler and Stuart Holden at 74, and then Danny Williams and Steve Cherundolo with 73.

Other notable American player ratings in the game are John Brooks and Aron Johannsson, both at 71, Brek Shea’s 70, Freddy Adu’s 69, Juan Agudelo’s 68 and Terrence Boyd’s 66.

Here are the FIFA14 player ratings of the U.S. Men’s National Team, other players in the pool and former and current youth national team players:

USMNT/American Player Ratings on FIFA 14

(FIFA14’s USMNT roster in bold)

Tim Howard – 81
Brad Guzan – 79
Nick Rimando – 71
Geoff Cameron – 72
Omar Gonzalez – 72
Matt Besler – 72
Fabian Johnson – 73
Clarence Goodson – 70
Michael Parkhurst – 67
Clint Dempsey – 81
Jermaine Jones – 77
Michael Bradley – 76
Graham Zusi – 73
Sacha Kljestan – 71
Alejandro Bedoya – 71
Mix Diskerud – 70
DaMarcus Beasley – 69
Brad Evans – 68
Joe Corona – 68
Landon Donovan – 78
Jozy Altidore – 77
Eddie Johnson – 72
Herculez Gomez – 71

Brad Friedel – 79
Timmy Chandler – 74
Stuart Holden – 74
Danny Williams – 73
Steve Cherundolo – 73
Chris Wondolowski – 72
John Brooks – 71
Aron Johannsson – 71
Maurice Edu – 71
Brad Davis – 71
Carlos Bocanegra – 71
Kyle Beckerman – 71
George John – 70
Brek Shea – 70
Jose Torres – 70
Josh Gatt – 69
Jack McInerney – 69
Dax McCarty – 69
Freddy Adu – 69
Juan Agudelo – 68
Eric Lichaj – 68
Benny Feilhaber – 68
Edgar Castillo – 68
Tim Ream – 67
Amobi Okugo – 67
Bill Hamid – 67
Terrence Boyd – 66
Sean Johnson – 66
Charlie Davies – 66
Jonathan Spector – 66
DeAndre Yedlin – 64
Connor Lade – 64
Alfredo Morales – 64
Teal Bunbury – 64
Jose Villarreal – 64
Ike Opara – 64
Benji Joya – 63
Zac MacMath – 63
Michael Orozco – 63
Gale Agbossoumonde – 62
Perry Kitchen – 60
Jared Jeffrey – 60

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What do think of the U.S. Men’s National Team FIFA14 player ratings? Whose do you think is too high, too low and just right? Who do you think plays better in the game than their overall rating states?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Bradley dropped too low. I feel he is a better player than jones. He should be a 79-82.
    Donavan also dropped a lot to a 78 wtf? I think all US players are way to underrated.
    ESPECIALLY DEFENDERS.

    Reply
  2. Howard 82
    Guzan 80
    Rimando 72
    Cameron 73
    Cherundolo 75
    Chandler 74
    Evans 70
    Castillo 68
    Beasley 70
    Mix 72
    Donovan 80
    Dempsey 82
    Altidore 78
    Ice man 73
    Eddie johnson 72
    Fabian johnson 74
    Zusi 72
    Bedoya 71
    Parkhurst 68
    Orozco 67
    Besler 73
    Gonzo 72
    Goodson 71
    Herc 71
    Bradley 79
    Jones 77
    Boyd 69
    Williams 70
    Beckerman 71
    Edu 68
    Shea 71
    Sacha 71
    Brooks 71
    Corona 70

    Reply
    • Some things baffled me like how is chandler rated higher than cherundolo??? Cherundolo and Cameron are very good high league fullbacks. There ratings should show it. Also landon is at least an 80. At the prime of his career like 2008 2009 he was about an 83-84. Dempsey isn’t in form but when he is he can be an 82. Guzan should at least be an 80. And I love how a few years ago the fifa ratings for our CBs were bocanegra-75 and oneywu-77???? Wht??? These guys weren’t thatttt much better than the pairing we have now

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  3. Landon has been reduced to a 76 in the latest roster update. I’ve never been so appalled by FIFA ratings. They seemed to get it so right last year. This year they’ve bungled them

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  4. Look, EA bases their ratings off of certain categories. Speed, agility, first touch, defensive positioning (or skills), passing, shooting, etc. are all weighted into video game mode (where it matters more how fast and how much control you have), so players like Bradley, who have the tactical knowledge, and Parkhurst, who have the positioning, are going to be ranked lower simply because EA has their speed at a 67 instead of an 80. Therefore in EA’s mind, they are worse than Rooney at right back and Forlan at CM.

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    • the freddy adu thing is kinda complicated. he just doesnt play regularly. but then again, whenever he does… he tends to play well or make at least one really awesome play in limited time. i honestly cant tell if his skill level has dropped off at all. dude needs to play ANYWHERE thwy will let him at this point

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      • The problem for Adu is that the things he DOESN’T do subtract value from the things he DOES do, making him a net negative player on the field. As a Union fan, I know all about Adu’s game, and while I hope he pulls it together, I am quite glad I don’t have to watch him do his patented triple-stepover-boot-it-and-flop move anymore.

  5. Let’s just be hopeful that FIFA does update rankings more often now than before. I noticed now that more now in FIFA14 than in FIFA 13.

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  6. They barely changed any of the ratings since last update. I have FIFA 13 so I’ll pass. I’ll get the World Cup Edition next May.

    Also Bradley and Fabian Johnson are criminally underrated. Jozy scored 30+ goals last year and moved up one point.

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  7. Bradley is rated kind of low, but he does have a potential of 82 which is about right because at his peak of his potential he should be low to mid 80s at best. On another note I started a career mode with Sunderland and had to fork over 13 million just to get Roma to accept a bid, that’s the same amount Sunderland paid for Jozy I think.

    Reply
    • Didn’t Sunderland offer 10 million for Bradley and Roma turned it down? Roma must have some kind of plan for Bradley because that would have been a nice return on what they paid for him. Roma certainly could have used it to bring more attacking options where they are pretty thin. If they sit him on the bench that value is just going to drop so I still find it strange he wasn’t moved unless the plan is to rotate the midfielders game to game.

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  8. I love Friedel, and he can still stop shots with the best of him, but… is coming off the line not part of the goalkeeper ratings? Because the man isn’t just slow off the line – he (understandably) refuses to do it at all anymore…

    Bradley’s rating is just silly. Always underrated.

    Reply
      • I believe balance is an inverse of height to reflect the quickness advantage that shorter players have, so Bradley has a lower balance rating because he is relatively tall.

    • Roma being at the top of the Serie A has nothing to do with Bradley’s rating. Roma is at the top because of DDR, Strootman, and Pjanic. Bradley is a bench player at Roma.

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      • Bradley has been healthy for two league matches. He started and played 90 min in the first, and came on as a sub in the 72nd in the other.

        But hey, let’s all draw sweeping conclusions from a tiny sample.

  9. I’m thinking of managing a League One side and bringing over Yedlin, Lade, Opara, Okugo, Gatt, Diskerud, Deleon, Kitchen, Bunbury, and Zardes.

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  10. Realistically speaking… if these numbers are comparative against all players in world football–Jermaine Jones, Donovan, Howard, Guzan and Friedel are the only players that should be close to 80.

    Bradley is so key for us. But it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that before his current injury he was a bench player on a mid table Serie A squad. That’s not to take away from what he does for the stars and stripes, but on the global scale he’s pretty much a face in the crowd really.

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      • I’d appreciate you listing them.

        I’ll pre-empt you with the following:

        The last match before the FIFA break that Bradley was injured during was September 1st–immediately following the decision that Daniel De Rossi was staying.

        Bradley was dropped from the starting XI, making a substitute appearance late in the game. Roma has since gone on a huge winning streak.

        Roma finished last season in 6th place. Mid table.

      • Add DDR to the “overrated FIFA ranking” group. If Bradley is a 76, DDR is 79-80.
        Bradley’s statistics were not that far off DDR’s last year, for 1/6th of the cost.

      • So your argument is that because he came off the bench the game before he was injured that he should now be considered a bench player for his club? You don’t see a major flaw in that argument?

    • Its also pretty clear Roma values central midfielders above any other position with 4 players starting on top 20 international squads. Roma’s central midfield of De Rossi Strootman and Pjanic is probably a Champions League quality midfield. So to act as if they are just an average Serie A team isn’t really fair considering the players ahead of him.

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    • Nonsense.

      He was never a ‘bench player’ for Roma. He was never worse than regular squad rotation. And a fan favorite, at that. He was seriously underrated. Right now, I’d say he’s the best US player, period. Including our Goalkeepers.

      Reply
      • Then you’re wrong.

        No field player will come close to touching our goalkeeping stable for decades. This isn’t a debatable subject.

        And as I pointed out above, the moment De Rossi decided to stay Bradley was dropped from the starting XI.

        This is also not debatable. It’s factual. You can look that up anywhere.

      • “No field player will come close to touching our goalkeeping stable for decades.” Is factual? If I had a crystal ball I’d probably be picking stocks and lotto numbers but to each his own and it’s hard to debate with someone who can see the future so I guess that line is not debatable either.

      • One of your ‘facts’ is pure conjecture. The other assumes Di Rossi and Bradley were like for like. That’s in error as well.

        Bradley was a regular member of the 1st XI this season until the injury. That IS a fact. He was in rotation during the middle of the season, yes. But by the end of the season, he was starting again. I noted this. And the issue in mid-season was more than Di Rossi

      • Roma only had two matches before the injury. He started the first but was on the bench for the second against Hellas Verona. He replaced Pjanic in the 72 minute.

      • That’s not factual. He was starting because Strootman was injured. Their midfield is Strootman, Pjanic, and De Rossi with Bradley and Llajic. Pretty sick midfield.

      • I wanna argue with SubwayJarrod from the other side of his post. Our goalkeepers are very good but they are not beasts. When is the last time an American keeper got any attention from a major club? Not since Howard sunk Man U in the Champions league. What’s the biggest club starting an American goalie? Everton? I agree we have a couple good keepers, but let’s not overhype them as if they are champions league starting quality.

      • Clubs don’t pay enough attention to goalkeepers. For example, Julio Cesar was Brazil’s #1 while playing for QPR

    • your rhetorical style is abrasive. relax. we’re all friends here meng.

      as for your arguments…as john pointed out– strootman, pjanic and de rossi’s ratings reflect the range where bradley’s rating should probably lie.

      and while 6th place might technically be mid-table, it’s very different from say 13th or 14th place mid-table. roma is a historically strong squad in a crack league. roma also has a rather stacked midfield.

      i’d add, whatever the game’s metric for determining player ratings, bradley should be rated above jj. imo he does everything better (some things way better) with the exception of jj’s edge in physicality.

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  11. Best part? Brooks is labeled American!

    Underrated: Bradley and Mix. While Bradley is lower than JJ, he’s more well rounded. JJ is only that high because he does a few things very well, whereas, Bradley is balanced. It also doesn’t help that Bradley hasn’t held down a starting role at Roma lately. Mix was fantastic in the Gold Cup so I thought he’d be at least a 73. Maybe we’ll see him inch upwards during the season. I think after Boyd’s season in Austria, he should be a 69. Getting lumped in with Davies who hasn’t scored in almost two years seems rather harsh.

    FJ gets the low end of the stick because he’s not standing out on a poor team. If he played the same way but for Bayern, they’d bump him up. Unfortunately, he gets thrown out with his teammate chumps.

    Guzan deserves his rating. Not sure Friedel does – it’s been too long since he’s played any meaningful games.

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  12. Bradley should be an 80 at LEAST. Donovan should at least be an 80 as well. Other than that the rankings are about what I would expect.

    On a side note, I wonder if the pros use their FIFA rating as locker room bragging rights. “Oh you think you’re a better dribbler than me? Well that’s funny because on FIFA14 my dribbling is an 83 and yours is only a 74. Haha suck on that!”

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  13. Bradley with a 76 is outrageous, underrated both in FIFA and real life I guess. give him an 80. Also, Besler and Eddie Johnson should be higher. I’d say 74/75 each.

    Cool feature btw, these are always fun to look at.

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  14. I also think Donovan is too low given his current form — should at least be rated as highly as Dempsey.

    *rubs hands together in anticipation of Dempsey-Donovan debate beginning on SBI*

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  15. Not much of a difference from last year’s rankings. I always thought their speed rankings were always a bit low for Americans, but I hear that won’t matter as much this year. I think Johannsson’s speed was in the mid 70’s last year, that seemed quite a bit off to me!

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    • Agreed, he is our best player. Unfortunately, heart/leadership are not taken into account. I’m guessing JJ’s score is higher due to his physicality. Otherwise, his skillset on the ball and knack for being dispossessed is reaching Gooch territory.

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      • most important player does not equal best player, IMHO… Donovan is still a far more skilled and dangerous player than Bradley. Given the teams strengths and weakness, alongside those of Bradley and where he plays, he plays a pivotal role. But woe is the international team whose “best player” is a defensive midfielder, who doesn’t get many assists or goals…can you name an international team whose best player was a deep lying tempo guy?

  16. I always, ALWAYS take over some small English League Two team and fill them up with young Americans and then take them through the leagues and build the USMNT. It’s just how the game has to be played at my house!

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      • I was FINALLY offered the USMNT coaching gig in ’13 after several seasons – unfortunately it was in between ’14 and ’15.

      • I always get offered the us job after WC 14. I usually take over Northern Ireland pretty early then leave before a big tourney and get the US offer.
        Ditto on GATT on the wing, plus that Span guy for the other wing and Zardes up top. I’m probably messed over this year since I obviously did everything based on speed!

      • I think it helps if you take on one of the weaker national teams first, even for just a year or two and then resign.

      • You must be right because i took Southend to the prem and made the champs league like 6 years in a row and Sweden was the best offer i ever got.

    • I did that in 10 when Brighton and Hove were in League Two. I brought over Robbie Rogers, Stu Holden, Edson Buddle, and Benny Feilhaber. It was pretty fun.

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