photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team enjoyed one of their most thorough performances under Jurgen Klinsmann in their victory over Jamaica on Tuesday night, and several players put forth strong showings in a 1-0 win that was not as close as the score indicates.
From Steve Cherundolo's marauding runs forward on the right flank to Danny Williams' ability to maintain possession and break up plays in his more natural defensive midfield role, there were a number of quality outings by the U.S. players in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier at Columbus Crew Stadium. Herculez Gomez also put in a hardworking shift that included the winning goal while Graham Zusi impressed on the right side of midfield in a match in which not many Americans set a foot wrong in.
That leaves us to pose the question: With so many Americans playing well in Tuesday's win, who was your Man of the Match? Was it Williams for his contributions in his first start for the U.S. as a defensive midfielder? Was it Cherundolo, who helped keep Jamaica on their heels with his surging runs? Was it someone else?
Cast your vote after the jump and let us know who you voted for and why in the comments section below.
Who did you vote for? Which performance surprised you the most on Tuesday?
Share your thoughts below.
Me likey
could easily go Williams, the guy was excellent when played in his best position. Favorite play was his shot…no hesitation this time, just keep it low and let it go! Almost too
But Dolo gets the vote. True leader last night from jump, just what the Dr. ordered. To me, he went out there and expressed what a leader does in big games. Late his game changed when Coach changed players and tactics and Jamaica finally came forward.
When Williams moved more outside with him, instead of having Zusi out there, it seemed to affect things in the negative to say the least for both MOTM players interestingly
Gomez scored in the WC vs. Algeria in that final group stage game, but of course it was waved off for a bogus offsides
He’s a gamer, whether off the bench or from the opening whistle in my book
no.
Keane, Wondo, Henry, EJ, Garcia, Nagbe, Rolfe, Gordon…there’s eight more in about 8 seconds of thought on the subject. Throw in the youngster Villareal out in LA too, kid making great runs already, just a kid
if you see the games as you say yet miss these players making these plays and runs…that’s on you man
did you catch Frankie before the game whooping up the crowd and generally expressing the incredibly intense person he is?
AWESOME!
great crowd Columbus!!!
+1 Dolo got the nod from me over Williams but both deserving. Dolo’s attacking confidence from the start set the tone, worked well with Zusi and I think helped Zusi feel comfortable right away. Dolo was a real leader last night
I’m not a fan of Jozy either.
Also you must remember, the reason he was the top scorer was b/c Bob Bradley played him every single game and we played crappy teams like Trinidad & Tobago so whoever was playing had an opportunity to score a lot of goals.
+1,000
#1 – One goal? This is Klinsy’s ‘new face of American attack oriented soccer’? Our offense totally disappeared in the second half once Jamaica stepped out of it’s shell and stopped giving us freebies. I hope goal differential doesn’t come back to bite us.
#2 – 3 DM’s again? How in the world are we supposed to achieve the ‘new face of American attack oriented soccer’ when Klinsy keeps on trotting out 3 DM’s onto the field? Sure it was the second half, but come on!!!
Gomez scored against a team called Brasil this year. Not sure if you heard of them. They won 5 world cups. The Dutch League is very unbalanced and if your a forward on a good team you get alot of scoring opportunities. Altidore has scored once under Klinnsman(a penalty kick). Gomez has scored 3 times. In addition Gomez has more skill(Altidore turns the ball over alot) and better work rate.
Agreed on all counts. People can say Gomez was lucky to be the one to score but his match overall is very much a case of making your own luck. What perhaps should have been kept out by the keeper only serves up justice wrt the other 2-3 plays where he might well have gotten a call (or just a luckier bounce) but didn’t. He worried the Jamaican defense all night, keeping up the pressure and intensity as Dempsey dropped off in those departments, and ultimately was the only one to net the ball. I guess this was his finest performance yet for the MNT?
That’s like 4 players. You see more man hacking, taking men down from behind and long balls than brilliant off the ball runs and I have season tickets so I see lots of games. More to support soccer in the US then enjoying the style and quality of play in MLS which I kind of don’t enjoy
+1 MLS gives young stars playing time but not much else. He won’t learn anything else here
He said “worthy” league not overly fast paced hack a man league with little technical ability
Red Bull fan hoping to crush the Crew Saturday but there is no other place I’d rather have the USMNT play than Crew Stadium. I’m hoping KC can equal that.
Yes because Slovenia was a pushover in the WC for us and Norway is a pushover too…:p
Does anyone miss JONATHAN BORSTEIN..????? lol worst mnt player
You really don’t know soccer. The funniest thing I’ve ever heard was how strong jozy is, yeah, it really showed last night, he kept giving up the ball every time. Also moving of the ball is a elite quality, which is what Gomez does. Gomez and Zusi, both play in N.America did more then Jozy did in months.
well, i agree that jozy is lacking in ways; he’s certainly not a world class striker. but i disagree that he’s ‘lazy and a robot’; he’s merely a good striker with the potential to be a great stiker.
Norway has a little bit of quality with the Riise brothers and Hangeland and Demidov in defense and that Nordveit kid is coming up for Gladbach too also the striker for Hannover….abdelloue i think it is? has a great strike rate….they are young but the team has talent they JUST missed qualifying for the Euro behind Denmark and Portugal, 2 quality sides….
Gomez is soooo overrated by all you mls watching idiots! He will do nothing…I repeat nothing against a non-concacaf back four. He’s a work horse and he is fearless. But he is not our answer for striker when 2014 rolls around. That freekick was just okay but any champions league keeper catches that ball and chucks it down the pitch for a counter attack.
That said I want him on the roster for his work rate and tenacity. But as a sub when we have a lead
Altidore on the other hand has been crushing it in a league that is 2 times better than the mexican league and MLS. His touch and hold up play is better than ever and he scores quality goals against teams that are a hell of a lot better than anything concacaf has to offer (excluding mexico). When altidore is on the field the center backs of quality teams (PSV, AJAX, Brazil) locate him immediately and never let him out of their eyes..WHY? WHY? Cause he has world class strength and world class shot power! Gomez has no quality that is world class. That is a fact, well unless you consider DESIRE a soccer quality. Stop rooting for the rudy’s of the world American Soccer fans! I mean jesus, i like gomez but he is no altidore.
Folks who don’t rate Torres I think don’t understand that a player can be incredibly important in a match without ever putting a shot on frame. Torres’ game is about possession, tempo and passing–holding possession, switching point of attack, imposing our will on the opponent and springing opportunities for others. Now that he is tracking back and bossing a bit more I think he’s really beginning to find his niche. I don’t know if he’s a lock as a starter and I’m still not sold on him being a flank player (depends on the opponent maybe) but he’s certainly dresses for every match on my roster.
that’s racist
Has to be Herc. In addition to the game winner, he was pulled down in the penalty box in the first 10′ and it should have been a penalty kick. Plus several dangerous combines with others to set up shots.
isn’t that cheating?
If I could have voted for the “every last damn one of ’em” option I would have. Everyone brought their A game last night and the result was there for all to see.
I voted for Cherundolo because I can’t count how many times I’ve heard on this board how he’s washed up, time to go, blah blah.
HERC GOMEZ is another guy who just doesn’t get the love he should. Not only is he in amazing form and of the exact mindset this team should be aspiring to, but about 4 years ago this guy was nearly homeless and thinking about giving up the game. In a way he epitomizes so much of what many of us wanted Charlie Davies to be – a “never give up” attitude both on the field and off.
I don’t know if these two of them will be in Brasil in 2014, but now that I’m feeling a little better about our odds of the team making is, what I I will say is if they can maintain this form I don’t see any reason why the won’t be.
So you’re saying that if you watch RSL or Seattle or KC that we’ll never see Sabario or Montero or Zusi or Kamara make off the ball runs or distribute like you would like to see? Do you even watch the league?
I don’t think that Jozy “sucks for the national team.” He was the top scorer for the USMNT in the last WC qualifying and also led the team in scoring during the last Gold Cup until he was injured.
this is so true. I know I have — what I think is an undeserved — reputation about a certain player (ain’t that right, GW?), but I am sure that if a carbon copy of Jermaine Jones’s great game last night would have been played by a certain other midfielder who was not there and who enjoys a strong and highly vocal followers, that player would have been overwhelmingly voted man of the match and probably given a rating of 11 on a scale of 1-10 across the board. Jones bled last night for the shirt, his second 90 minutes in four days as a midfielder racing up and down the field at full speed, not to mention being a primary target of the Jamaican thugs who used him as a punching bag and he kept his cool. About the only thing he could of done to make an already outstanding game better is if he had headed the wonderful free kick from Herc Gomez into the back of the net. Jones flew to Mexico City last month for the friendly when 7 other starters couldn’t make it. We should be glad we have him and give him the respect he deserves.
Without Gomez, we don’t score that goal, nuff said.
Switch Donovan with Altidore. Switch Jones with Donovan. Then you are good to go.
serious lack of depth at CB and he just joined a CL team in La Liga
i’m not comparing positions, I’m comparing their overall quality. jozy is lacking in so many ways.
I mean, game winning goal against Mexico.
+1
Nagbe and Farfan might have something to say on that matter, as the future number ten. Nagbe is just so talented, we might have to wait because he is not a citizen, maybe next year.
People look at leagues way to much, Jozy play in Eredivisie, yet he sucks for the national team. Zusi plays in MLS and shined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Johannsson
I hope this leads to a decent crowd for Columbus crew.
Go dynamo!
I think Jemaine Jones needed to be on this list. He had an solid game, great passes, great possession, and was breaking up plays the whole 90.
Really, last time I check he created the game winning goal in MLS. You can’t judge a player coming in 10 minutes in a game. Zusi is getting better and better, I think USMNT fans are really uneducated. Cameroon struggled in MLS for awhile, you move to CB and got better.
Gomez needs to be on the roster for the WC. 20months until the final squad is prepared but still he’s getting us there.
we need 5 strikers.
Gomez, Jozy (though his MNT performances are rather weak, he’s useful), Boyd (coming along fine) and 2 other strikers. Young guys preferably
I blame Erik the Red. Bastard
Bam!
Boca and Cameron were equally solid; probably should both be in.
I also agree. This site tends to favor EPL type play. Nothing wrong with that (it is, of course, more fun to watch), but other national teams (like Mexico and Italy) rely on players like Torres to control tempo and maintain possession. He didn’t necessarily excel last night, and again, it isn’t always fun to watch games played at this tempo, but he did his job. And we won.
Honestly perfect lineup except just drop Donovan back on the right and Dempsey up a little even though he’ll drop back, (hopefully not to pick the ball up at midfield). Then we have Donovan and Dempsey presumably switching sides all game, making runs, Herc’s tireless work, and on set pieces we have Boca and Cameron to head one in. This is it!!! Well done.
Yes, they still allow whaling in Iceland. Most of it gets sold to Japan.
Hard to take this poll seriously if Jermaine Jones is not listed. I won’t go as far to say he was man-of-the-match, but he was one key to the victory and his performance was awesome up to the final whistle when he collapsed to the ground exhausted. He was definitely one of the top three players of the game, and I am not alone in thinking this:
US Player Ratings: Marked improvement in Jamaica win
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/09/11/us-player-ratings-marked-improvement-jamaica-win