The icy conditions at Allianz Field on Wednesday were supposed to lead to a game where neither team would be able to do much, but the U.S. men’s national team did not get that memo.
The Americans played through the freezing conditions to put together their most complete performance of the Octagonal, bossing an overmatched and weather-beaten Honduras.
As much as we can’t get too crazy about reading too much into a dominant win against the worst team in the group, there were still plenty of individual standout performances that merit praise, from SBI Man of the Match Weston McKennie, to surprise starter Luca De La Torre.
Here is a closer look at how the USMNT players performed in Wednesday’s win over Honduras, with SBI’s USMNT Player Ratings:
Matt Turner – 6
The New England Revolution goalkeeper had a miserable night dealing with the freezing temperatures, and while he didn’t have much to do on the night, he gets a decent grade for simply surviving the conditions.
Reggie Cannon – 6.5
When the two attacking players on your side of the field leave at halftime that’s usually a good sign you put in a strong shift, and Cannon showed why he is the best defensive right back in the pool. His good positioning and ability to snuff out threats made the right side of the field a no-fly zone for the Honduras attack, and while Cannon provided little in the attack, he still turned in a solid all-around shift.
Walker Zimmerman 8.5
You name it and Zimmerman did it. Score a goal? Help set up a goal? Distribute the ball effectively? Handle all attacking threats your way? Check to all on arguably Zimmerman’s best USMNT performance to date.
Miles Robinson – 6.5
Solid bounce-back performance by Robinson, and while he wasn’t exactly tested heavily by Honduras, the Atlanta United defender still showed poise and good positioning, playing with confidence.
Antonee Robinson – 6.5
Another strong shift from Robinson, who has made left back his position. His crossing wasn’t as accurate as you’d like to see, but he was a steady threat getting forward and continued to be solid defensively.
Kellyn Acosta – 8
His set-piece deliver helped set up all three USMNT goals and his crossing in general was excellent. Throw in his defensive work in the heart of the midfield and Acosta had the exact kind of performance he needed to have after going a good while without playing his best for the USMNT.
Luca De La Torre – 7
Composed and consistent shift from De La Torre, who played the connector role perfectly. His 11 recoveries and 6 duels won show how hard he worked, but his zero shots and zero key passes point to the big issue he needs to overcome, which is being more threatening in the final third.
Weston McKennie – 8.5
A man among boys, McKennie dominated play in midfield, winning 7 of 8 duels, completing 4 of 5 dribbles and adding eight recoveries. That’s not even counting his opening goal or his overall defensive work.
Jordan Morris – 5.5
A quiet shift from Morris, who put in some good defensive work but wasn’t the most impactful from an attacking standpoint.
Ricardo Pepi- 5.5
Not the best performance from the Augsburg striker, who failed to put a threatening shot on goal and didn’t register his customary levels of defensive effort, finishing with just one recovery and one duel won.
Tim Weah- 6
Very active, if not totally effective, Weah finished with four shots and seven crosses, but only one of them reached the target. Was 0-for-4 on his dribbles, and finished without a key pass, but he was a constant presence on the wing, keeping the Honduran defense honest.
Christian Pulisic – 7
Scored his goal two minutes after coming off the bench and the fresh legs made him a real threat against a Honduran side that had all but given up.
Brenden Aaronson – 5
Didn’t have much to do during his 14-minute shift besides stay warm.
Jesus Ferreira – 5
An even quieter 14 minutes than Aaronson.
Cristian Roldan – NR
Played just four minutes.
What do you think of these ratings? Who do you feel deserved a higher rating? Who received a rating that was too generous?
Share your thoughts below.
Weston mckennie played as perfect as anyone could play I agree with most of the ratings as well except Christian even though he did score the goal he was set up really well and outside was pretty selfish wanted to take everyone needs to spread the ball out a little bit more but I really like that they brought him off the bench Weston mckennie is the team’s best player when they play with him as the primary decision-maker the team plays better Christian pulisic would be a perfect Super Sub
I thought LDT was MOTM less Mck. His dribbling created tons of space, was all over the field, and he was often the pass that unlocked hondo.
So Turner, who has not much to do, gets a 6 will DLT, who had a high number of turnovers, when he wasnt getting knocked off the ball, gets a 7. Hard to figure
Good ratings, best I’ve seen, can’t argue with any of it really. Not sure I am buying Cannon as the best defensive right back though, after all Honduras was pretty bad and he didn’t have much of anything to do. And while Dest wasn’t his usual sharp self attacking-wise, I thought he was really good defensively against better teams, including shutting down new concacaf darling Buchanan against Canada.