There were few standout performers in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s loss to Ireland, but one young midfielder put in a strong shift for the second straight match.
After going a full 90 in the win over Bolivia, Weston McKennie put in another solid 81 minute shift in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Ireland in Dublin. McKennie’s efforts were another demonstrated of his continued evolution with the U.S., and those efforts earned him SBI USMNT Man of the Match honors.
Once again, McKennie’s energy and workrate shined through as part of a midfield pairing with Tyler Adams. The two were all over the field on Saturday, covering ground ahead of Wil Trapp as part of a midfield three. With Trapp playing deep, McKennie was able to push further forward than he did on Monday, and he did just that through an energetic performance. When all was said and done, McKennie completed 23 of his 27 passes, with a large chunk coming in the Ireland half.
McKennie narrowly beat out Adams, Trapp and Timothy Weah for honors from Saturday’s match.
Who was your Man of the Match? What did you think of McKennie’s performance?
Share your thoughts below.
It is hard to give a substitute MOM, unless he scores some goals, but I thought Parker did very well. It will be interesting which two CBs Sarachan uses against France.
I don’t know about MotM BUT I did notice that after WMcK was subbed out, suddenly we couldn’t get the ball out of our half. You just sensed that they were giving up a goal. I wouldn’t call the winner a howler, but it was savable. The equalizer was shambolic keeping by Hamid. Either you grab the cross or you don’t come out of the net. Also, why wasn’t it offsides?
This is really easy, Weah.
Weah? The guy who had a ton of service and space but didn’t score or deliver an unlocking pass? Weah, had five long balls played to him in the air and he did not win one? Not even close to getting a head on the ball ? It was clearly in the gamelan for the goalie to play the ball to his side and he failed. I still think the future is bright for Weah if he transitions from playing with teens to against adult men. Many of the youngster specifically Weah and Adams get pushed off the ball or off a specific piece of turf. McKennie is the one player who imposed himself on the game and had influence. That one sequence around the 18 yard box where he did not have position but muscled the defender out of the way and got a touch, then fired a shot was brilliant
McKennie was in no way man of the match. He was caught out of position on several occasions, poor passing, poor support off the ball, beaten to the ball on several occasions and failed to shield the ball while in his possession.
Ryan you need to rewatch this game especially the first half. McKennie was almost as bad as Yedlin! Man of the match is Adams especially from his first half performance. The 2nd half Adams did not take control of the game as he should have. Players were passing the him the ball in the hope that he would lead with more attacking passes but he failed to do so. Still though Adams had a much stronger game than McKennie
Did any player play well enough to be crowned MOTM ⁉️ ?
We disagree often Bizzy, but 100% agree on this one. Adams and McKennie had some moments but they were few and far between.
Adams seems more like a wing. Problem is I can easily see Pulisic and Weah starting wide. People penciling him into the future might ponder what that means. I do think if Pulisic plays wide then we need someone to playmake and I am not sure we’re fixed centrally then. We then have some DMs but not a 10. Adams didn’t look like a 10. Nor did Green. We have too many wings and not enough cooks in the kitchen.