Top Stories

SBI USMNT Man of the Match: Brad Davis

Brad Davis

Photo by Rick Osentoski/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s trend of inserting substitute players who make an impact continued vs. Panama, and this time it was Brad Davis who came off the bench and provided a spark.

Davis helped the Americans end World Cup qualifying with a victory on Tuesday night, delivering two assists in their dramatic 3-2 victory against Panama at Estadio Rommel Fernandez. Davis hit the corner kick that Michael Orozco turned into the U.S.’s first equalizer and the veteran midfielder also whipped in the beautiful cross that Graham Zusi thundered home for another tying goal in the 92nd minute, timely contributions in a 34-minute performance that made Davis SBI’s choice for the Man of the Match award.

Honorable mention for the honors in a game in which no U.S. player was all that impressive from start to finish went to Zusi and substitute Aron Johannsson. Zusi was active on both sides of the ball even before he netted late with a great header that broke Panamanian hearts everywhere, and Johannsson showed well in his cameo before hitting the classy winner just seconds before the final whistle.

—–

What do you think of Davis winning SBI’s USMNT Man of the Match award? Impressed with his substitute performance vs. Panama? Should the honors have gone to someone else?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. How about more comments on Brad Davis? The responses here are mostly criticisms of other players and suggestions that other commenters need to “watch the game again”. I want to know what people think of Brad. I didn’t see the game, but I saw couple articles that said he made lots of good crosses, held up the ball well, rarely if ever lost it… Several media gave him motm. Does he make the team to Brazil?

    Reply
  2. I though that the man of the match should’ve been the official! Brad Davis played extremely well but the official made good calls and resisted giving the game away to Panama in front of a raucous crowd. He did very well!

    Reply
  3. Someone help me out. I missed the game. Evans came out for Davis…did Davis make those two assists from the back line? Davis played on the left, but Evans was on the right. If he went to midfield, did someone else slide to outside back? I’m confused.

    Reply
  4. Well earned on some brilliant service. Deserves to be there much more than Sacha or Castillo (two most inconsistent players in a nats uni we’ve had in years).

    Reply
      • Sacha was an abslute train wreck. He kept losing the ball time and time again. Can we please put this argument to rest. He had no composure and is to weak on the ball. Beckerman looked world class next to him.

      • dude, those two ended up with basically the exact same stats! just look at OPTA. both only gave away possession via tackle a few times (9 Kljestan, 6 Beckerman) and both only had 6 unsuccessful passes. both had the same number of interceptions and Kljestan actually had one more recovery than Beckerman.

  5. Agree with this 100%; From the moment he came in he looked Beckhamesque. All of a sudden we had these pinpoint crosses coming in from the left. I knew Panama was in trouble from his first touch.

    Reply
  6. Kudos to Klinsmann for putting Davis on the field. He’s a magician in that regard on most of his subs. I could see the logic in this one, though. Just a couple of minutes before adding Davis somebody (Evans perhaps?) found space on the left wing but he was right-footed and his attempt at the left-footed cross looked like a wounded duck.

    Reply
  7. Edgar Castillo killed it in the second half. Absolutely killed it. Davis wouldn’t of had the time to pick out the cross if it wouldn’t of been for Castillo. He dominated the left side.

    Reply
    • Really? Guy couldn’t complete a pass all night! His giveaway led directly to the first PAN goal. Just because he is fast enough to recover with a few slide tackles in the second half doesn’t mean he had a good game. His decision making in possession was horrendous all game long. I hope we have seen the last of Castillo (at least at LB) for quite a while. Bornstein version 2.0.

      Reply
      • Ridiculous. He played the pass, into space for Beckerman, who just stood there, but he was playing full throttle attacking football, and I won’t fault him for it. Couldn’t complete a pass. He was picking out ppl all night, playing like more of a winger in the final third then Zusi, who didn’t have a good,game, despite the goal. USA differed to the left hand side all night and especially in crunch time. I’m betting we will be seeming him again and if you hate it then I’m glad because you know shi*

      • You don’t play a slow player like Kyle Beckerman into space (and into pressure had he managed to get to the ball) on a wet field in his own defending third. That was an errant pa$s and I can think of at least 5 more examples from him on the night that were equally as bad but fortunately didn’t lead to goals. How do you justify the handful of times he dribbled into multiple defenders and lost the ball in his own half? Castillo is not an international caliber defender at this point in his career. He has proven that time and again.

      • Agree. That pass in the back third was horrendous, you do NOT play a player into space in that situation.

        With that said, he did provide some active moments on the ball in the offensive third in the second half. Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome defensive lapses and that abhorrent givaway.

      • Chalkboard literally disproves everything you just said about his passing. while i agree it was a bad pack pass, you are not remembering the rest clearly. out of his 6 total unsuccessful passes, 3 of them were in OUR attacking half. so no, there was not “at least 5 more examples” because there are only 3 other unsuccessful passes left to discuss.

      • Really? Edgar was clearly the best player on either wing for the US. Bedoya was pretty decent as well. Castillo made tackles. He made forward runs. He applied pressure so much that at times both Panamanian Wingers (Quintero y Sanchez) were on the same wing opposite of Castillo and drifting into the middle multiple times to find space.

        Yes Castillo got up-field and caught out of position a few times … BECAUSE Beckerman can NOT hold the ball all that well when there are multiple defenders pressuring him. His speed of thought was slow and his executing quick and accurate passes was almost non existent. We have seen this before. 2nd Verse same as the 1st.

        Beckerman is excellent and getting stuck in, positioning and the time keeping elements of possession BUT the ability to play the deft one-two to create space for his teammates is lacking. “El Homie” should have known this so it was also his fault for asking Kyle to do something he does not excel at.

      • Both Beckerman and Castillo are at fault for that fault.

        Castillo shouldn’t have played the ball. Beckerman shouldn’t have been flatfooted.

      • you should look at chalkboard…Castillo had 6 unsuccessful passes the entire game…

        …and also had the most successful passes out of anyone else. you are incorrect.

      • Last time I checked 1+5=6. Reread my comment. How was I incorrect?

        The reason I remember his giveaways so specifically is because I was shocked that a player of USMNT quality kept making such elementary technical mistakes. They were all on short range passes under 15 yds. I remember one time when he blatantly passed the ball out of bounds under no pressure at all. And his dribbling out of the back once again got him in trouble. Those are mistakes you can’t afford to make as a left back. Esp against better opposition who will exploit those mistakes.

        For the guy who told me most of his incomplete passes were in the attacking 3rd, so what? If they were long balls or crosses that would be one thing. They were short to intermediate passes that should have been connected. Just because a giveaway isn’t in the defending 3rd doesn’t mean it can’t put the defense under pressure. Ever heard of a counterattack?

        I never said Castillo didn’t contribute at all to the attack. He had some good moments. But if you think about the flow of the game, his attacking play came in the 2nd half after Panama had bunkered and then when the game opened up as Panama searched for a winner. He didn’t get as involved as he should have in the first half when the US was getting killed on the flanks.

        Maybe yall got tripped up on my hyperbole when I said “he couldn’t complete a pass all night” because he very clearly did complete passes. But he had multiple bad giveaways on the night. That is a fact. I don’t even know why I’m arguing about this the tape speaks for itself.

      • Castillo had 1 unsuccessful dribble the whole night, that is to, take on a defenders, compared to his 4 successful dribbles.

        Do you know how many successful dribbles Zusi, Bedoya, Davis and Evans had combined? ZERO. Unsuccessful? 6. 1 for each besides Zusi who had 2.

        Castillo had 6 errant passes, 3 in his own half, to his 66 successful passes. Bedoya had 12 bad passes w/ 2 in his own half, to his 44 good passes. Brad Davis had 4 bad passes, non in his own half, to his 20 good passes. Brad Davis had 12 bad passes, 2 of which were in his own half to his 28 good passes. Zusi had 8 unsuccessful passes none of which were in his own half compared to his 46 good passes.

        I didn’t half to look at the stats when I said we was a monster. He was. In fact he was our best flank player and our seemingly only player capable of creating for himself, something the US doesn’t have in abundance A, B or C team.

        He had errant passes, one which directly lead to a goal, but it wasn’t as if it was a daring misguided pass. It was directly into Beckermans path, he just didn’t go forward.

        When I said you don’t know shi* it’s because you don’t and I didn’t need to look at the stats to prove it, but now I have and everyone can know how you know nothing.

      • Stats mean nothing without context. Example- Wondo is top scorer at Gold Cup, that means he was one of the best players at the tourney, right? No, his goals came against two teams made up of mostly amateurs.

        I don’t know sh-? That’s rich coming from the guy who is saying Castillo was MOTM….

      • ^ what he said

        and if you used hyperbole, you have to expect people to respond like that. im rejecting your notion that Castillo had a forgettable night. despite the mix up on the 1st goal, he was solid…specifically in the 2nd half. and i said the OPTA stats back that up, they do not back up what you said. so i said you were incorrect. and Panama never bunker ed…that was what they SHOULD have done. instead, like reported everywhere, they kept attacking and left the US space. then we scored not once, but twice.

  8. Hard to choose a MOTM. Jozy was our best player, but he didn’t play a part in the goals really, so I can see how he doesn’t get it.

    Reply
    • What game were you watching? He stunk and should have been pulled in the first half. I credit him with zero chances and that’s bad if you’re the lone forward

      Reply
      • Apparently Ben James, I and the British announcer watched a different match than you did.

        I sometimes wonder if Jozy Altidore were to walk on water, how many posts would say it was because he was too lazy to swim?

      • Seriously. Jozy was nearly flawless. Not his fault no one around him took advantage of his great hold up play. Also not his fault that when the team didn’t build through him the they would rarely if ever advance far enough to get him service in the box.

      • When are people going to wake up and realize that Jozy is the best young striker we have ever had. I guess you trolls want to go back to the days of starting Duece as a lone striker or better yet Alan Gordon.

    • Areed, Jozy was our best player while he was on the field, every single dangerous foray into Panama’s final 3rd was completely initiated/set up by great hold up play by Jozy. Of course play like that gets no respect from the Jozy haters.

      Reply
  9. Ok. No offence Franco. I respect your incredible level of output and content. You are a valuable contributor and have done very well in ensuring that this site always has new pieces (Dan and others deserve credit, as well).

    But at some point somebody needs to tell us what is going on with Ives. At first it seemed reasonable that he picked up a gig with Goal.com that would be more lucrative and sustainable, and would allow him to maintain SBI, which seems more like a labor of love than a gold mine.

    But this isn’t happening. Goal.com features very soft and infrequent articles attributed to Ives. Typically they are match previews and brief in length. For some reason, there was an article posted 10/13 about how the US had usurped regional dominace from Mexico. This conclusion was stale 3 months ago, and even a casual fan would know this. Not Ives’s style.

    I guess the question is… is Ives okay?. He has never given any indication that would give rise to a perspective of a “lazy writer”.

    What is happening? If Ives is not okay, there are lots of people here who would love to help. Maybe more than you would think. It’s just becoming confusing. Any thoughts?

    Reply
    • I don’t think you’ll get an answer to this question, though it is a legitimate one to ask and without an answer, breeds rumors. It’s sad that we don’t get many breaking stories here any longer or in-depth analysis beyond match days and post games. I’ve been a visitor for four years now and have seen a change. Though, as apparent, this site is worth going to for the community its built for itself.

      An outsider’s perspective: He went to Fox Soccer, then left. His articles didn’t seem to connect too well with the audience (and they were obviously having financial problems with the channel), so it may have been “mutual.”

      Goal is a fluff soccer site; it’s a grab-all content farm. I’d imagine he’s there until he gets his feet off the ground again. He’s probably preoccupied with that aspect of his career, which takes away from this part of it. Ives has claimed many times that this site doesn’t make him much money, albeit, the ads they now show are far more aggressive.

      Saying all that, Ives is still traveling and watching games live so something must be going right! Maybe he’s finally writing his book?

      Reply
    • well after some thought its hard to argue anyone had a complete performance and 2 assists should count for something but I feel like thats just two plays but otherwise Davis wasn’t all that sharp while Jozy barely put a foot wrong and just didn’t get any help.

      Reply
    • Yeah, assists are stupid. This is a game of individual brilliance! If anything it’s assists that keep us from reaching that next level

      Reply
      • Like I said. I felt Jozy was a lone bright spot in the first half and could have gotten some assists or even goals if anyone else was playing sharp. Davis certainly put the ball in the right place to allow someone to make a play. But he only did it a couple of times while I thought Jozy advanced our play far more often and while Panama was being much or disciplined but in the first half no one was sharp enough to step up to take advantage.

      • Sorry but JA looked like the old lazy JA. He barely moved and often allowed three defenders to be between him and the ball without making an effort to move or show for a pass. He was walking and when he did get the ball kept passing the ball right back to the player who gave it to him instead of holding. Took him nearly 35 minutes to realize he needed to come back farther into the midfield and help (midfield was horrible and positioned too deep) and then he still kept passing the ball back to the player passing it on a one touch instead of holding and turning. When play came his way he made two nice passes in the first half. Second half better but I am afraid that the consequences of playing at Sunderland are starting to effect his game.

      • Rewatch the game. Jozy held possession just fine and played the ball around to each wing and to the midfield. You do know that back passes are the best option when everyone is behind the ball? I can’t really see the point of playing balls into space that no one is moving into or currently standing.

      • That is the job of the hold up man, act as the pivot man to allow the midfield and wingers to advance up the field. He did that very well too for like 25-30 minutes he received and laid off almost every pass that came his way. Pretty much every attacking sequence we had in the first half started with a Jozy hold up and lay off. Playing against a physical Baloy and regularly all by himself that is pretty impressive. If anything the isolation at Sunderland is just preparing him better for nights like these. I had never seen Jozy hold up play that well.

Leave a Comment