By DAN KARELL
The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team has plenty of players to thank for its 4-0 rout of New Zealand, but the main man who stood out was at the top of the formation.
Rubio Rubin scored two of the U.S. team’s four goals, but it was his overall contribution that helped him earn SBI U.S. Man of the Match honors on Tuesday.
On both sides of the ball, Rubin proved to be more than a handful for the New Zealand defense. On many occasions, Rubin single-handedly beat his defender to a long ball, dribbled by his mark, or floated around the defensive line, pulling out centerbacks to help give teammates Bradford Jamieson and Emerson Hyndman space to attack from out wide.
Rubin opened the match with a sixth-minute goal, finishing off a Jamieson shot, and then capped off a stellar performance on the night in the 83rd minute with a tap-in goal. Rubin snuck in between two New Zealand defenders to poke home a cross to make it 4-0 for the U.S.
Rubin beat out Emerson Hyndman, Gedion Zelalem and Cameron Carter-Vickers for Man of the Match honors.
What did you think of Rubin’s performance vs. New Zealand? How impressed were you by his two-goal outing? Think the award should have gone to someone else?
Share your thoughts below.
Man of the match could have gone to several , i was very impressed with Zelalem, his reading of the
game was excellent. Rubin & Hyndman’s work rate were great , on defense, Miazga cleared almost
everything ,made some good outlet passes
Could be the first Mx-Am player to finally contribute to the Nats.
You don’t consider Bocanegra Mx-Am?
I don’t think there is a wrong answer here. Rubin, Hyndman, Zelalem, and Carter-Vickers were all excellent. This is a fun group to watch. They work hard, play an attractive style of football, and have the potential to do well in this tournament. It will be fun to watch this group of guys as they progress over the next 5-10 years.
I think Rubin poached the first goal from JBIV. It appears the ball was over the goal line when rubio tapped it in. The ball was pass the Goalkeeper and their were no defensive players in front of, or behind RR. I thought the official scorekeeper should have given the goal to JB, but with no goal line camera or replay, it will go to whom the official rules ir, in this case RR.
I have no problem with teammates tapping in a ball when they have an opportunity to. In this case better safe than sorry. But I think the official scorer should at least review a close goal like that.
Tough one. GZ EH CCV RR and BJ all stood out. I would give now to Rubin. I think he was dominant and maybe the most active and aggressive player on the pitch despite being on the receiving end of a couple hard knocks
Good to see an all around center forward being groomed for the future.
MOTM = Zelalem
Hyndman and CCV a close second
Rubin 4th best imo
Zelalem was impressive. His touch and ability to move away from pressure, create space and make passes is impressive.
Watching Zelelam and Hyndman play together was a joy. Going forward I see Hyndman moving up in a more attacking role while Zelalem seems more comfortable making passes and dictating pace.
hopefully this core group of players continues to improve and push to the higher level and become or core for the full national team
That Rabona gz had was sick. That pivot and pass he had to Arriola for his goal…a thing of beauty.
Remember, though, New Zealand.
New Zealand.
They are the host and managed to draw Ukraine, so still a nice win, especially how easily we took them down
them being the host has nothing to do with them being a good or bad team… the draw vs Ukraine, sure, but the host team doesn’t necessitate anything.
A lot of great stuff from a number of players, including Rubin.
But no.
Zelalem.
Agree. He looked silky smooth on the ball, was confident conducting the sphere in traffic and made some really beautiful passes to slice open the Kiwi defense. GZ overall looked much more integrated into the US attack and midfield possession game.
Compared to his sub role appearance v. Myanmar he looked more at home in his USA uniform, like he was settling in. My one or two criticisms are that he was at times too unselfish, he could have taken some more shots. He was maybe trying a little too hard to please his new teammates and coaches. And, at times he held on to the ball for too long, That may be a function of not being familiar with his teammates and vice versa, i.e. no runners anticipating his turns and cuts over the ball to make the runs for him to feed, or making runs to him. So he was left hanging on to the sphere surrounded by white shirts waiting for someone to appear square to him, or in space. Time will fix that.
But yeah – he and Hyndman are head and shoulders above their teammates in terms of composure, skill, and vision. They are heirs apparent to the classic #10 role the USMNT so sorely lacks at this current time. As the Mexicans like to say about their young prospects, “No le estorba el esferico al correr, ey!?” (“..da ball don’t bother him when he run, ey!?”)