1. Heath Pearce’s performance against El Salvador won’t be enough to surpass Jonathan Bornstein. Bornstein will get the start, and despite looking lost out there for 65 minutes before getting replaced, he will still be widely regarded as our first-choice left back.
I pretty much nailed this one. Bornstein did get the start and looked completely lost out there (unless you have another word for giving up an unnecessary penalty and handling the ball in the box). Pearce came on in the 70th minute and looked far superior in his few touches. The only thing I missed here was Bornstein’s move to center back (after which he managed to deflect a ball into his own net). Good start. GRADE: A
2. Robbie Findley will finally get a chance to impress with something resembling our first team (let’s face it–our troops are depleted). Unfortunately, he won’t see much of the ball and will walk away from this game about where he was going in.
Again, I think this is about as close to correct as could reasonably be expected. He didn’t look bad, but he certainly didn’t do anything to solidify his place in this squad. I’m not sure if he’ll get more opportunities, but he’ll certainly have to make the most of them if he plans on going to South Africa. GRADE: A+
3. Someone in the American soccer media will regard Thomas Rongen as a key component to breaking down the Dutch in the lead-up to the game. They will be wrong.
I’m going to take a third of a grade deduction simply because I haven’t read or heard this yet, but I really have to assume it’s true. [UPDATE: I found it! Not exactly what I was talking about, but good enough. See here.] GRADE: B+
4. We get to see Maurice Edu as a starter. Despite the team’s struggles, he will do well enough to become the first-choice pairing with Michael Bradley.
He didn’t get the start. That honor went to Torres. But each got a half, and Edu certainly looked the better of the two. He was confident on the ball and strong on the challenge. Perhaps others disagree, but he proved to me that he should be our first-choice pairing with Michael Bradley. GRADE: B+
5. Holland wins this one easily, 2-0. It could be much worse. The Dutch will shove it down our left flank and we’ll have an extremely difficult time stringing passes together. We’ll have several good opportunities to score, but the finishing won’t be there. The good: Maurice Edu, despite not having much time on the ball; Altidore will play hard, but can’t find the finish; Torres will look good in his 25 minutes on the field; and DeMerit will be a huge reason the Dutch don’t score more goals. The bad: Bornstein gets torched and is completely ineffective offensively; Donovan has an off game and doesn’t make much of an impact; Holden will struggle a little bit; and Bocanegra won’t be at his best.
Considering how specific I got with prediction, I’m pretty pleased with the result. The game was very close to being 2-0 to the Dutch (though you could argue after the US goal it could have just as easily gone to 2-2). Could it have been worse? I’d say so. Tim Howard came up with a couple of key saves to keep it close, and Jonathan Bornstein’s handball in the box went uncalled. We strung some passes together for short stretches, but for the most part couldn’t keep the ball. We had some opportunities to score–particularly at the end–but couldn’t find the finish. The good: Edu – yes; Altidore – spot on; Torres – got 45, but did look okay (not great); and DeMerit – probably my Man of the Match. The bad: Bornstein – definitely; Donovan – dead on; Holden – broken leg, but looked alright before that; and Bocanegra – completely wrong–he had a great game. GRADE: A
Wow. I’m getting more and more adventurous with #5. Believe me when I say this: I would love nothing more than to score this one an F-. Come on USA!
Well, unfortunately I did not receive an F- this time around. The good new is, however, the US–particularly the players we really wanted to see step up (DeMerit, Beasley, Edu) did pretty well. De Jong should have been sent off for his nasty challenge, and if you factor out Bornstein’s pointless penalty, it was a fairly even match. Not bad when you consider how many starters we were missing.
OVERALL GRADE: A
bananas! that was pretty amazing, good job!