Darlington Nagbe has long been hailed as one of the most technical players in the U.S. Men’s National Team pool, and the Portland Timbers star certainly showed just how much he can impact a game on Sunday afternoon.
Playing on the left wing, Nagbe shined throughout his 87 minutes on the field during the USMNT’s 0-0 draw with Serbia. Nagbe’s efforts weren’t enough to lead the U.S. to a year-opening win, but it did earn the midfielder honors as SBI USMNT Man of the Match.
Nagbe was electric throughout the first half, routinely creating havoc down his side of the field. His attempts on goal were the best of the opening stanza, as Nagbe curled a pair of shots just wide midway through the opening half. The midfielder was routinely in dangerous positions, combining well with Sacha Kljestan to create in Serbia’s half of the field.
Sunday’s performance earned Nagbe Man of the Match honors ahead of debutante Sebastian Lletget and goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
What did you think of Nagbe’s performance? Which USMNT player stood out to you?
Share your thoughts below.
Unpopular opinion: Chad Marshall played better than i thought he would. Not saying he was a stand out player, but he did make some tackles that stopped good attacking moves, and was rarely out of position. He was caught out a couple times on the wing because he had to step when a fullback was working back during counters, and he is deff not fast enough to keep up with world class wingers or anyone with pace really, but I thought he played pretty good. Maybe it was just my low expectations, but he seemed like he could compete for a backup position in future camps. Yeah i know his distribution isnt great and he has the face of a 45 year old, but i was pleasantly surprised with is performance.
It could just be me, and opponent aside, but i thought we attacked more today than we ever did under JK. It wasn’t always pretty and the e d result left alto to be desired but I thought we had an attacking mentality the full ’90. Nagbe was obviously a bright spot but Lleget came in and pushed the game, and Feilhaber was more involved than Sasha in limited minutes. Klejstan just doesn’t do it for me, he holds on to the ball too long and seems indecisive on this level. All in all a decent start but much to improve on.
Hard to rate Benny as better than Sasha when he did it with fresh legs against tired defender. Additionally, I don’t think we attacked more and our opponents were really weak.
So at home in the loss the Mexico the possession was 42%/58% (US/Mex) however in that game the US had 11 total shots with 7 on target. 5 corner kicks. Seems like a pretty decent attacking game, albeit a little lighter on possession.
ITA. The team did more in the second half with SL and BF. Jozy again was meh. I think Wood and Morris, or Wood and Aguedelo stretch the defense more. We get very predictable with Jozy as a lone target forward.
I get the praise since he looked dangerous. But, going against Cirkovic and Maras who aren’t exactly international footballers isn’t impressive. With a 0-0 score against Serbia C-D team, I wouldn’t give man of the match to Nagbe. He blew more chances than he created. I would have given it to Marshall or Birnbaum.
Do u think that was a USA A team out there?…
Jozy Bedoya Bradley are the only consistent starters today. The rest were fringe guys fighting the euro starters for spots. I’d call it a USA C+ team at best
Are you trying to imply that Steve Birnbaum, Graham Zusi, Chad Marshall, Greg Garza and Nick Rimando had something to do with Nagbe’s inability to go 1v1 and get around an average Serbian League defense?
I’m saying it was a USA C+ team…. literally what I said….
Buddy, I think you replied to the wrong comment. I was referring to Nagbe being man of the match. I was not commenting whether or not it was a USA B, C, D, E or F team. I’m sorry that it can be confusing trying to stay on topic.
stop…. please
Hey Big Red, Nagbe got around the Serbians more than once today; you know that was when they fouled him. Try paying attention next time.
In the final 18, I did not see him beat a single Serbian. He cut the ball back every time. Please re-watch the match. If he got fouled in the final 18, obviously we would have had a penalty. Did we have a penalty?
Can’t really see nagbe playing there when WC qualifiers come March, though pairing him up Sasha and sitting in front of Bradley in a 4-3-3 with CP22, altidore and Wood up top might be the best choice. And Johnson at LB would be a pretty strong left side
In a 4-3-3? with Nagbe, Sasha, Bradley, CP22, Wood and Altidore, I cannot see who gives you width on the other side except if you stick Nagbe there. Johnson and Pulisic will give you width on the left, but neither Altidore or Wood play with width on the outside (they are both central players in ‘-2, ‘-1 or ‘-1-1 forward formation).
I see Nagbe/Sasha/Benny fighting for the same position. If Nagbe is to ever to fulfill his potential, he HAS TO BE ABLE to beat out Benny and Sasha. That being said, I see Zardes sitting on that right side due to the combination or offensive threat/speed/work on the right side. If you wanted, you could also play him and FJ in a 3-5-2 as the wingbacks bombing forward.
SK didn’t do himself any favors yesterday. BF did more in 15 minutes than SK did in 75.
I think we played well together as a team and liked that we were aggressive, but we still have a bunch to work on. Honestly, they shouldn’t let people who only watch US Soccer comment, they only criticize and sound like a bunch of twats.
We were not aggressive except for the last 15 min or so. However, it is a January game with rusty players playing against a Serbia B/C team.
Agree that DN was the man of the match and showed real promise. I wonder, however, if the usmnt line up can really fit a front 6 with Nagbe and Pulisic, when Bradley is an automatic starter (and Jones, except for the next WCQ)? I want to believe we can make that work, but history tells us otherwise.
Meh, not much to choose from. No one played really poorly, but no one was outstanding either.
Looked like a bunch of guys who haven’t played a competitive match in two months.
A agree this was the type of game where the MOTM should having “NONE”
Right on SBI. Sadly the Nagbe praise could have been used this past year when he was obviously superior to other options and ignored by JK. Some journalism questioning JK on the matter would have been nice but I digress….
Easy to say when you aren’t the one making decisions. To play him where he played today would mean benching Pulisic or Wood. Is Darlington better than those two? Having his speed come off the bench late against tired legs is a pretty tried and true strategy used by many managers, see Cobi Jones early USMNT career. Will Nagbe be a starter in March under Arena, seems 50/50 at best.
so true, would he replace CP after the performance today? i say no
Replace Pulisic or Wood? Klinsmann is not the coach anymore. Nagbe can do things neither Wood or Pulisic can do. There is a reason why the Bruce took Nagbe out after every other starting forward or attacking midfielder.
The guys refused a call up after getting beat out by Pulisic and Sacha. He let Sacha beat him. This is on him.
Revisionist history has been all the rage on SBI for years by fellow posters.